The Ultimate Guide to Reverse Dieting: What You Need to Know
What is Reverse Dieting?
Reverse dieting is a strategic method of reintroducing calories into your diet after a period of caloric restriction. It was popular among bodybuilders and athletes after competitions, reverse dieting is now gaining traction with anyone looking to maintain their weight loss and support metabolic health. The fundamental principle is to increase your daily calorie intake gradually, usually by 100-400 calories every 2-4 weeks for around 8-16 weeks. The purpose of this Reverse Diet is to increase your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) so it is easier to maintain the Fat Loss you made and gets you ready for another Fat Loss Phase.
Who Should Reverse Diet?
There are 4 types of people that need to Reverse Diet
The Yo-Yo dieter
Someone who gains and loses the same weight every year. They only know how to restrict calories heavily then rebound
Lost 20+lbs through calorie restriction
Someone who has recently lost a good amount of weight through restricting calories and can’t restrict anymore but simply can not lose anymore weight
Dieting for 4months+
Someone who has been dieting for 4 months or more and they are stuck with their weight loss and don’t know what to do
Fatigue/Hormonal
Someone who struggles with serious Fatigue/Cravings and struggles with constantly overeating and snacking. As well as has low energy levels and getting weaker in the gym.
The Science behind it all
Have you ever heard of Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total amount of calories your body needs in a day to maintain your current fat stores. TDEE is made up of four main components:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR):
This is the number of calories your body needs to perform basic, life-sustaining functions like breathing, circulating blood, and cell production while at rest.
BMR accounts for the largest portion of TDEE, usually around 60-70%.
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)
This includes all the calories you burn through structured physical activities such as exercise and sports.
EAT varies depending on the frequency, intensity, and duration of your workouts and typically accounts for about 5-10% of TDEE.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF):
TEF is the energy your body uses to digest, absorb, and process the nutrients from the food you eat.
It typically accounts for about 10% of your TDEE.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT):
NEAT encompasses the calories burned through non-exercise activities like walking, typing, fidgeting, and any other daily tasks.
NEAT can vary greatly between individuals and can contribute significantly to TDEE, particularly in those with highly active lifestyles outside of formal exercise.
This is why hitting a weight loss plateau is common when you cut calories and shed a substantial amount of weight. When you decrease your calorie intake, your body adapts by lowering its Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), as it needs less energy to maintain a smaller body size.
Over time, prolonged calorie restriction can also lead to a decrease in Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), causing you to become less active throughout the day as your body conserves energy.
Additionally, if your workouts become less intense due to reduced energy levels, Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT) can also decline. Moreover, consuming fewer calories can lower the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). These adjustments collectively slow down your metabolism, resulting in a plateau in your weight loss journey, despite continued calorie restriction.
How to Start?
I am going to keep this very simple so you can start today!
Step 1: Find your Starting Calorie/Protein Goal- Here is what I recommend
Male: 2000-2400 calories/ 150g-200g Protein
Female: 1500-1800/ 120g-160g Protein
Step 2: Set your end goal Calorie Intake- Here is a baseline of what I recommend
Male: 2700-3100 calories
Female: 2000-2400 calories
Step 3: You will increase your starting calorie goal by 100-400 calories every 2-4 weeks
Step 4: This Reverse diet will be no longer than 8-16 weeks
Step 5: You are now ready for your Fat Loss Phase or you can maintain here
Now, Will a Reverse Diet make you gain weight?
Let me give you the short answer: It Depends person to person, but any weight that is gained is not going to be fat tissue. It is going to be new muscle as well as Water and Glycogen stores being filled.
Now let me show you 2 different weight logs from 2 different clients I had go through a Reverse Diet so you can see what I mean.
In this weight log, you can see that my client here actually ended up putting on about 10lbs.
Does this mean that she put on Fat? No..
Her progress photos told us a different story as well as prior to starting the reverse diet she was under eating calories drastically so weight gain was inevitable when we had more volume of food come in as well as the development of new muscle tissue!
In this weight log, we followed a Reverse Diet and by the end of the Reverse Diet she ended up losing weight.
And the main reason why she lost the weight was because she struggled with yo-yo dieting and prior to starting this reverse diet she was overeating calories drastically due to prior dieting habits as well as having a higher body fat percentage to muscle tissue ratio.
All in All
You shouldn’t see an increase of more than 10lbs in weight gain if you have done this properly!
I hope this helped you get started on your reverse diet today and be sure to share this with a friend so you both can start this reverse diet together!
