Clean Eating And IIFYM/CICO Are Actually The Same Thing
Clean Eating is a type of diet where you can eat as much as you want as long as the foods are “clean.” If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) is a diet where the specific foods don’t matter as long as you’re meeting certain calorie and macronutrient numbers. Both of these approaches are incomplete or unsustainable over the long term. Clean eating needs to be more flexible in the types of food that people eat either because for ease or enjoyment, and IIFYM has to include a wide variety of foods to ensure proper fiber and micronutrients.
Calories Matter, Even When You Think They Don't
It's common to doubt the validity of the calories in, calories out model by saying "well, this worked for me." The reality is that CICO is always in play, whether you realize it or not - it's a basic framework that explains how diets work, not necessarily a dietary approach in and of itself. Here are a few ways that the CICO model may seem less accurate than it actually is.