In a perfect world, dieting is simple.
If you want to transform from a caterpillar to a butterfly, you should eat less and move more. Lather, rinse, and repeat until satisfied.
However, for some reason, the calories you consume versus the calories you burn becomes unclear. We all know someone who has trouble losing weight, it might even be ourselves. They try and try. They seem to do all the right things. They track, restrict, and fail. What’s going on?
That reason is called “life.” And I don’t just mean the roller coaster ups-and-downs of family, work, traffic, and potato chips. I mean biology. The fat loss formula is that you need to burn more calories than you consume. The issue is that when we track macros, we are only focusing on the calories that we consume. The other side of the equation is your metabolism—the part of your body that burns energy each day. Sometimes that’s the problem.
But what if you could control that side, too? Wouldn't it be great if you could increase your body's metabolism to the point where dieting becomes not only possible, but easy? If you did that, you would be closer to achieving your ideal world.
Well, you can. It’s called “reverse dieting.”
What is Reverse Dieting?
I’m going to tell you a secret.
You've probably heard people say they have a “slow metabolism” that makes it difficult for them to lose weight. Some people act as if being poor is their destiny and there's nothing they can do about it.
But here’s the secret: It’s not really true. What I'm saying is that although their metabolism may be slow right now, it doesn't have to be that way! Metabolisms change over time; they adapt.
We are always living with the consequences of that. When we limit food intake, our metabolism adjusts by becoming more efficient at running on fewer calories. A deficit to your body is a challenge to its survival. So, it adapts. If you restrict your body's energy intake for a long period of time, or yo-yo between restricting and overeating, your body will start to burn less energy. This can be a problem when you're dieting and trying to burn as many calories as possible.
There are lots of ways your body can “downregulate” your metabolism:
You can control your metabolism rate to be either thrifty or extravagant.
And that’s where reverse dieting comes in. You can increase your calorie or macro intake each week and train your metabolism to work in the opposite direction. It will take some time (we will discuss how long later) but when it is finished you will be able to consume more calories… one step closer to that ideal world.
What a Reverse Diet Isn’t
The first few weeks of a reverse diet should be a very slow and gradual increase in calories A reverse diet is not an opportunity to eat everything in sight. It is a way to slowly and gradually increase your calorie intake after dieting. A reverse diet is a more gradual way of getting your body back to its usual level of functioning over time.
Tracking your intake is still involved in a reverse diet. It may not be as relaxing to not worry about every calorie you consume, but it may be what is best for you if you have finished cutting weight and want to be able to eat more calories. This will lead to better performance in the gym.
How to Set Up a Reverse Diet
If you have some experience with getting rid of fat for summer season or making weight for a powerlifting meet, you should be able to understand the process of a reverse diet pretty easily. In essence, all you’re doing is retracing your steps. Here are those exact steps broken down for you.
Step 1 — Determine How You’ll Track
You can't just rely on your memory, it's not going to be enough. You need to keep track of what you eat throughout the day if you want to successfully reverse diet. Most nutritional tracking apps will provide you with the information you need to maintain your weight, but whatever method you used to get to your current weight is probably enough.
Remember, though, that precision is key. To gain weight at a slow and steady pace without gaining any extra fat, your caloric intake must be closely monitored. Make sure you track diligently.
Step 2 — Figure Out Your Calories
If you have been dieting, you should generally have an idea of how many calories you have been consuming. Make sure to closely monitor your calorie intake and average your body weight for at least a couple of weeks to get a more accurate view of your progress with your diet.
After deciding that your diet is keeping your weight stable, start adding extra nutrients to begin gaining weight. The goal is to slowly increase your caloric intake from your current level in order to eventually reach a maintenance level. A modest increase of 1-5% is recommended to start the diet. (2)
If you aren't sure how many calories you should be eating, you can use a calculator to figure it out.
Step 3 — Set Up Your Macros
Protein is important for a reverse diet because it helps maintain muscle and promotes growth. Your protein intake should be a priority, and you should consume 1.8-2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
Dietary fat is essential for healthy bodily function. Dietary fat should make up 20 to 35% of your total caloric intake.
The last part of your daily calorie intake should come from carbohydrates such as grains and starchy vegetables. However, there’s some flexibility here. You are free to change the amount of fat, protein and carbs you consume as long as you are meeting the minimum requirements.
Ultimately, a sample reverse diet for an 80-kilogram athlete, whose maintenance calories are 2600 per day, could look something like this:
- Total Calories — 2730 (+5%)
- Total Protein — 176 grams (2.2g/kg)
- Total Fat — 75 grams (25% total calories)
- Total Carbohydrate — 337 grams (the remainder of available calories)
Step 5 — Evaluate and Monitor
The best way to track your progress on a reverse diet is to weigh yourself daily and take an average of your weight each week. Body weight is expected to increase when carb intake is increased. If too much weight is gained, carb intake can be decreased.
You will get the most accurate weight reading if you weigh yourself first thing in the morning, before you have eaten or drunk anything.
You should not only focus on the numbers on the scale, but also on your performance in the gym and how you look in the mirror to determine your progress. The amount of calories you eat above what you need to maintain your current weight should result in increased strength when lifting weights, with only a small amount of extra fat.
Benefits of a Reverse Diet
A reverse diet is not a cure-all, but it can help a lot if it is done correctly. This type of diet can help you transition out of a weight cut and get you back to working out.
You Get More Food
This means that you get to eat more food when you add calories back in. Provided you're gradually reintroducing calories, you can minimize fat gain while maximizing your quality of life and general mood.
Mental Wellbeing
Not having enough calories can make it hard to focus and think clearly. Sometimes it can make you feel sluggish, tired, and irritable. If you have been dieting for a while and are ready to stop, reverse dieting may be a good option for you. This will help you end your caloric deficit safely, and may also help improve your mental state.
Steady Weight Gain
A common mistake people make after they finish a diet is going back to their old eating habits, which causes them to consume more calories. This typically results in rapid weight gain.
A reverse diet can help you slowly and steadily increase your weight without having such large fluctuations on the scale. Don't be afraid of making slow, gradual changes to your diet. This will help you eventually reach your goal diet.
Who Should Do a Reverse Diet
A reverse diet isn’t right for everyone. If you cut your calories by a small amount for a couple of weeks, you likely won't need a reverse diet. If you've lost weight by cutting out soda and refined sugars, you probably don't need a reverse diet. If you have been eating very few calories for a long time, a reverse diet may be right for you.
Physique Athletes
Bodybuilders or physique athletes who have been following a strict diet in preparation for a contest could benefit from a reverse diet afterwards. Some athletes who compete in sports that require them to be lean often drop their daily calorie intake to very low levels. The drastic decrease in calories can have a negative impact on their metabolism, making them more prone to gaining weight after the show. A reverse diet can help to slowly add back calories and reduce the amount of weight lost.
If you are a bodybuilder or physique competitor who has just finished a show, you are a good candidate for a reverse diet. This means that you will be eating very few calories in order to lose weight. If you don't manage your calories properly when you reintroduce them into your diet, you are likely to gain weight because your metabolic rate will be lowered.
Chronic Dieters
If you keep starting new diets but never stick to any of them, a reverse diet may be a good option for you. If you're constantly switching between eating very little and then overeating, it can make it difficult to figure out how much food your body actually needs. A diet that is controlled and reversed should give you a starting point from which you can make better choices about your nutrition.
Those On a Plateau
If you have been eating very few calories for months but have not seen any more weight loss, it is possible that your body has adjusted to the lower calorie intake. reversing your recent weight loss progress may help you jump-start your weight loss again
A gradual increase in calories can improve your metabolism and mental wellbeing over time. A reverse diet will have the opposite effect of a normal diet in the short term, but will be more beneficial in the long term.
The Effects of Dieting
There’s more to dieting than just getting shredded. If you want to improve your quality of life, you should try to maintain a healthy body weight. If you are overweight or have let your dietary habits lapse, getting a handle on your nutrition can improve your health. Weight control has been shown to improve blood pressure, body composition, and life expectancy. (4)(5)(6)
If you want to improve your appearance on the bodybuilding stage, you should diet down. However, the benefits of doing this go far beyond just looking good. So long as you take the time to recover after working out hard, you will be able to improve your physical appearance as well as your health.
What to Expect While Reverse Dieting
In many cases, eating junk food will lead to consuming more calories than usual, resulting in weight gain. This is the part that is most difficult for most people to accept. If your goal is to lose weight, why would you purposely eat more and gain weight? Because you have to set yourself up for success. In order to achieve your long-term goal, you must be willing to do what it takes in the long-term. If you're struggling and making no progress, where else can you turn? You will have to gain a few pounds now if you want to lose dozens more pounds later.
(It’s worth talking about that a little more. Let’s get something straight: It’s not easy to forget about the scale or to convince yourself that it’s okay to gain a few pounds. We’re not saying it will be easy, but we are saying it’s necessary. Ultimately, the scale is a scale, so don’t do it for the number on the dial—do it for you! Reverse dieting puts the power back in your hands.
I have a lot going on.” You may be tempted to say that you want to reverse diet, but that now is not a good time because you have a lot going on. I have an upcoming event that I want to lose weight for. When I am finished with my diet, I would like to gradually increase my food intake back to normal rather than stop dieting abruptly. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. There's always an event or special occasion coming up where you want to look your best by losing weight. There's always another event to set goals for. We would tell you to go for it if you didn't need to reverse! What you do now will impact what happens after you get married and if you continue to damage your metabolism, it will be harder to fix later on. There’s never a “good time,” there’s just now.)
This process is designed to limit weight gain as much as possible and is slow and systematic. In some cases, people don't gain any weight.
