FAQ

No on both counts. You should be generally healthy - i.e. eat plenty of fresh produce, not too much processed food, and a decent number of fruits, vegetables and fibre, but the quantity of food (i.e. the calories and macros) is much more important than supposed ‘quality.’ Make sure to eat foods you enjoy while keeping your health in mind.

It’s unlikely, unless again, you’re in the initial stages of your training career.

Those who’ve taken some time out, or are coming back from an injury may do, but on the whole, it’s best to shoot for losing fat or building muscle, rather than doing both simultaneously.

We'll control your calorie intake, but you'll be able to apply your own personal preferences to the way your macros are structured on a day to day basis. Go to the Nutrition section of the Dashboard, enter the new data or change your goals, change the carb/ fat preferences if you need to, and let the platform do it for you.

MyPhysique does not currently offer a ketogenic option. Put simply, we don't believe you'll be able to follow a diet that virtually eliminates an entire macronutrient from your life, so we don't offer it as an option. We'd rather you ate carbs - they're delicious and will probably make you train better & enjoy life a hell of a lot more.

In theory, yes. But in practice, it always makes sense from a health & satiety standpoint to ensure you’re getting enough fresh produce, fruits & vegetables, fibre & not overdoing the processed foods. At the end of the day, flexible dieting is more so about understanding the caloric consequences of the food choices you make, rather than the opportunity to fit as much junk food into your diet as possible. In saying that, the only restrictions on the food choices you're able to make, will be the ones that are dictated by your macronutrient targets.

If following a self-created meal plan works for you because it makes your life easier, then feel free to do so, however MyPhysique uses macro tracking & flexible nutrition to control your diet via macronutrient targets & nutritional guidelines, rather than asking you to eat the same foods each & every day. We have a number of extensive resources to help you with the transition into flexible dieting & tracking your macros if you've never done it before in order to teach you how to eat with your goals in mind whilst enjoying your diet.

No. All these diets still need to have the right balance of calories and macros, so you should still hit these as-written, even if you want to have additional rules around your food choices or eating windows or both.

It's highly unlikely that you'll be able to follow a meal plan for the rest of your life and for that reason we don't write them for you. The main benefit of flexible dieting is that you’ll have the opportunity to eat foods you love in moderation whilst moving closer to your goals without ever having to rely on the rigidity of a set menu.

Life happens, and being chained to a set of meals every day and eating the same foods all the time will only work for so long before driving you to eat all of the foods you've been craving and making sticking to your diet all that more challenging. For this reason, MyPhysique does not offer meal plans.

If you're looking to make your life easier for short periods of time or cut down on time spent tracking your food, there's nothing stopping you from creating a meal plan of your own using the macro targets that MyPhysique calculates for you - that way you'll be in full control of the foods you eat at all times.

We use extensive algorithms and formulas, and take into account things like your activity levels, goals, & food preferences to give us a starting point in addition to your dieting history - this is why the registration process is so extensive.

That is what it is though - a starting point. Our formula is generally very accurate, but everybody is individual, and that’s why the weekly check-in updates and making sure you input the correct data for your workouts is vital. Doing this allows the platform to keep you on track, and change anything as needs be to keep it that way.

Just aim to hit your target macros in a smaller window. There’s no need to change your calories & macros at all, you’ll just be eating them in fewer meals.

As close as possible without obsessing over it. 

Aim to be within 10% of each macro every day - that's what the MyPhysique system will see as adequate compliance, as if you're below that it will struggle to make educated decisions in regards to how best to move forward.

As many as you like, whilst still hitting your daily calorie & macronutrient requirements.

Manipulating your body composition is all about calories and macros, not when you eat. When you eat your meals might influence your mood, energy levels, training intensity and performance, but in the grand scheme of things, hitting your macros and calories is the most important thing you can do as far as improving your body composition is concerned, so eat as many meals as you find convenient in hitting your daily macros & calories.

Absolutely. There's no difference between losing a little weight or a lot - simply the amount of time involved in an active fat loss phase. You'll be able to remain in an active fat loss phase using the MyPhysique system for as long as you want, so if getting on stage is your aim you'll be able to achieve that.

Absolutely. Whether or not you have rigid dietary guidelines, meeting daily calorie & macronutrient requirements will still be paramount to improving your body composition & improving performance inside the gym. You'll still need to hit your daily target macros even if you do have additional rules around the food choices you're able to make, but as you're in complete control of what you eat you won't have any issues using MyPhysique whatsoever.

Every single users' nutritional requirements & macronutrient targets are tailored to them as an individual & once they've chosen the appropriate evidence-based training program it will be tailored to their individual strength requirements. Each training program has been formulated with the latest evidence-based research in mind, to ensure you optimise the time you spend in the gym.

Your macronutrient targets are calculated after first determining your calorie requirements, which means if you hit your macros you’ll automatically hit your calories.

The reverse however, isn't always true. If you're looking to take close control over your body composition, then you'll do far better by tracking your macros, so that you can be sure you're getting enough of each specific macronutrient. If your body composition isn't overly important or you don't have the time or energy to track your macros, tracking your calories will give you the best opportunity to ensure you're eating enough to manipulate your body weight in line with your goals, without necessarily giving you the opportunity to build muscle or lose fat as effectively as possible.

Something to keep in mind...

Due to rounding on food labels, the macros and calories when tracking food on your app may not always line up. To eliminate confusion, if you're interested in manipulating your body composition (building muscle and losing fat etc) focus solely on your macros and hitting your calories will take care of itself.

One final thing to note, is that there are lots of user-generated entires in food-tracking applications like MyFitnessPal, which means some of them might be incorrect, or have macronutrient information that doesn't correspond with the calorie count.

Macros are macronutrients.

Macronutrients are the nutrients in food that supply the body with energy (calories).

The three macronutrients are protein, fat and carbohydrates.

It’s tough to give flexible dieting a firm definition.

People tend to have differing views and opinions over what exactly is involved, and what exactly is and isn’t classified as flexible dieting.

This is hardly surprising though – think about the ‘arch nemesis’ of flexible dieting – the ever-present ‘clean eating’ – and you’ll realise that quite often in the nutrition game, it’s impossible to perfectly define any eating style or concept.

That being said, the closest we can get to a definition of flexible dieting is something along these lines:

“A diet that doesn’t impose any restrictions on food sources or choices, and employs a monitoring system that looks at quantitative data – i.e. calories and macronutrients.

The degree and strictness of the monitoring can be altered and changed depending on the individual’s goals, preferences and lifestyle.”

Flexible dieting doesn’t ban or restrict any foods, and it doesn’t even judge foods or food groups as good or bad. Each individual item can only be viewed in the context of a diet as a whole.

For instance, let’s look at ice cream and broccoli. Ask someone on the street which is the healthier food, and they’d most likely respond with broccoli.

But what if that broccoli only made up a tiny portion of a person’s diet?

What if they were already over-consuming calories and gaining weight and that by adding the broccoli they were taking themselves further into a calorie surplus?

What about the ice cream?

What if having a small bowl of ice cream every few days helped somebody dieting avoid binging on a whole tub of ice cream once a week? Or, said person dieting had already eaten enough protein one day, got in plenty of vitamins, minerals and fibre, yet had carbs and fats left to eat – would having a bowl of ice cream within their calorie allowance be unhealthy or cause them to gain fat?

The answer is no.

“Hold on, so you’re telling me I should stop eating broccoli and go for ice cream instead?”

If only that were the case.

No.

That’s taking a slightly short-sighted view, as, unfortunately, many ‘clean eaters’, or those from outside of the industry tend to do.

All we’re saying is that flexible dieting doesn’t demonise any foods, and that you take a view of your diet as a whole before looking at the semantics, and tiny, often insignificant details.

One of the main concepts behind flexible dieting is that you get better results from being less strict. Don’t misinterpret this – if you’re looking to progress in a consistent and calculated fashion then strict compliance in terms of macro and calorie management is imperative, but food choice certainly needn’t be as rigid as most think.

To quote Alan Aragon - “Ultimately, it’s impossible to judge a food in isolation from the rest of the diet. Furthermore, it’s impossible to judge a diet without considering the training protocol, goals, preferences, and tolerances of the individual.”

(From: “Research Review: The Dirt on Clean Eating” - http://www.simplyshredded.com/research-review-the-dirt-on-clean-eating-written-by-nutrition-expert-alan-aragon.html)

Reverse dieting is the process of removing you from a calorie deficit after you finish a period of deficit dieting.

While most people finish their diet and binge, or go straight into ‘bulking,’ reverse dieting encourages a slower, steadier transition where you raise calories gradually.

This prevents overloading your body with calories and gaining too much fat in a quick fashion. Where your metabolism drops when you diet, going straight back to a theoretical maintenance level can result in excess fat gain. Reverse dieting prevents this, as it will allow you to more gradually enter a surplus and control the rate at which you do so, rather than diving head first into eating at a surplus.

If you've finished a period of dieting & are happy with your body composition but no longer wish to continue dieting, simply change your goal inside the Dashboard & we'll look to increase your intake at the desired rate (based on the specific rate you choose to reverse diet).

Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of fuel. All tissues and cells are capable of using glucose (the end product of carb breakdown) as their energy source.

While it has been popular to demonize carbs for our obesity epidemic, the evils attributed to carbs are often the result of eating too many calories. In a standard non-ketogenic diet, carbohydrates are necessary for proper muscular, cardiac, kidney, and brain function, and for keeping you satisfied while powering intense workouts. To build muscle and burn as many calories as possible, you’ll need to train with plenty of fuel in the tank.

Fats are important for overall health and serve many essential functions. Fat is used in the production of new cells and hormones and is critical for brain development and nerve function. Fat is also necessary for absorbing vitamins A, D, E, and K and for carrying them throughout the body. Because it’s a structural component of hormones that impact metabolism (among other functions), failing to eat enough fat could wreak havoc on your body.

Go ahead and drop the old myth that “eating fat makes you fat” right now - getting enough dietary fat is crucial to your health and neglecting to eat the right amount could sabotage your goals.

Protein is a combination of amino acids that aid in the structure, function, and regulation of tissues, cells, and organs. They play a lot of different roles in the body, mainly supporting muscle growth and recovery, working to repair damaged tissue, forming antibodies for your immune system, and making enzymes to help drive reactions in your body.

Higher protein intake is critical for exercisers and dieters to help build, repair, and preserve muscle, especially when trying to lose weight.

For someone trying to lean down, protein can be very beneficial for a few reasons. First, as mentioned, protein helps spare muscle mass. It’s also very thermogenic, meaning your body burns extra calories to process and digest it.

In addition, protein may help keep you full, inhibiting hunger better than the other macros.

If the user is not a legal adult, he or she must receive parental consent before using the system, as well as consult a physician before following the nutritional recommendations & training programs provided by MyPhysique.

There is no ‘best’ macronutrient ratio. Macronutrients should always be worked out on an individual basis, and be relevant to your weight, activity levels, training status, goals and a whole lot of other factors, which is why we asked you so many questions during the registration process. If however you don't particularly like the macro targets we've calculated for you, you can revise them inside the Nutrition section of the dashboard. You'll be able to tweak your diet to your personal preferences, whilst we make sure you don't make changes that could negatively impact your health.

Nothing.

Some people might suggest that the term 'flexible dieting' considers nutrition in a more holistic fashion than simply hitting your three macronutrient targets each day, but so long as you're hitting your macros, consuming plenty of healthy foods and consuming adequate fibre, it won't matter what you call it.

To aid with energy and performance. Being in a calorie deficit can be draining, and if carbs/ calories are too low, you’ll find you lack energy and enthusiasm for sessions, which can result in slower fat loss and greater losses in strength. Plus, in order to fit those higher calorie days into your plan, you'll find your lower calorie days are a little lower than they would otherwise be, so your weekly calories end up being the same.