Blog Post: How To Reverse Diet.

How To Reverse Diet. How To Eat More Food. How To Eat More Without Gaining Fat. How To Change Body Composition.

WHAT IS A REVERSE DIET?

Reverse diets are actually exactly what they sound like – they are the opposite of a calorie deficit. Reverse dieting is the process of slowly increasing calories in the diet until you reach your body’s maintenance calories.

Maintenance calories can be generally determined by an abundance of macro calculators found on the internet. It’s important to understand, though, that this just a guideline and also varies person to person.

WHEN WOULD I REVERSE DIET?

There comes a point after spending a period of time in a calorie deficit (usually 8-12 weeks) that you would need to start building back up your calories to help maintain that level of body composition.

If you have spent the majority of your life in a calorie deficit and haven’t achieved the results you want, this is also a sign it might be time to reverse diet instead of trying to reduce calories further.

Reverse diets are often paired with a strength and conditioning program or body building program.

HOW DO I REVERSE DIET?

Reverse dieting can feel stressful if you are so used to constantly trying to eat less food. Reverse dieting is often best best done when tracking your intake, because it is the easiest way to ensure you are staying consistent week over week – that consistency is what can make a reverse diet successful.

Recommended Apps for tracking: MyFitnessPal

Start by tracking your current intake (don’t change anything) to get an idea of where you are starting.

HOW DO I FIND MAINTENANCE CALORIES?

Once you have identified how much you are currently eating, you can calculate your maintenance macros by going to Macro Calculator and:

Choose “Body Recomposition”
Enter your information (Height, Weight, Activity Levels)

This will give you an estimate for your required maintenance calories.

HOW TO START INCREASING INTAKE?

Now that you have your current intake of food and your target maintenance calories, you can start to slowly increase your intake to get there.

Start small, with 100-150 calorie increases week over week until you get to your targeted maintenance, and monitor how your body is adapting.

** You may notice the scale slowly go up, this is natural because you are eating more. Pay attention to your body composition as well by using photos to see how your body changes.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT REVERSE DIETS:

Reverse dieting is necessary if you are looking to find food freedom, body composition change or increase performance/ fitness.

This means that your body will change in this process, and thats OKAY – you are allowing your body the opportunity to get stronger, fitter and happier, instead of shrinking to fit into an unrealistic mold.

This is also a great time to focus on your strength and conditioning. Meaning, if you are averaging two classes a week, and then adding 2-3 walks or light activity to your weekly activity – you are unlikely to achieve body recomposition goals.

Studies show that in order to build lean muscle (which in turn burns body fat), 3-4 strength biased sessions should be completed weekly in conjunction with your Reverse Diet program.

Speak to MOV.E Coach today if you need help with your nutrition.