#IIFYM. You’ve probably seen it on Instagram dozens of times by now. There’s a reason so many people have jumped on the flexible dieting train, and it’s because it works. Flexible dieting says that you can manipulate your macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat and protein) to achieve a certain body composition — meaning how much of your body is muscle or fat; and it’s called flexible dieting because it allows so much room for… flexibility. For some people, that means chicken and rice. For others, it means donuts. For some people, it means several small meals a day. For Dave Schratz, it means one giant meal a day.
Yes. This man eats one meal a day and hits his macros, consuming close to 4,000 calories in one sitting. He shares his whole journey — preparing the food, eating it, how he logs it in My Fitness Pal, etc. — on his Instagram page, and people are absolutely, utterly, 100% obsessed with him.
There’s really no way to do it justice. See for yourself.
Schratz practices both flexible dieting and intermittent fasting, meaning he refrains from eating the rest of the day.
At first, it’s almost difficult to watch. How can any person consume that much food at once, not get sick and still maintain such a lean physique? While it might take your body some adjusting, Schratz isn’t some special breed of human (although obviously dedicated!). This is the beauty of flexible dieting. Your body recognizes macros/calories, plain and simple; and body composition comes down to calories in and calories out. It doesn’t matter that Schratz is eating everything at once; he’s still found the right balance to maintain his specific body composition.
It’s not for everyone; in fact, it’s probably not for most of us. Maybe that’s why we’re so obsessed with his videos. With thousands upon thousands of followers and video views every day, Schratz has formed a nice little fanbase who is in awe of his #epicmacrofriendlymeals.
Main image: Dave Schratz/Instagram