Reverse Dieting – Is It Really Helpful?

The concept of a reverse diet has been around for a long time in the bodybuilding and weightlifting community. Almost every professional in this field considers this strategy an important aspect of their training regimen. However, this concept has started to garner attention among regular folk looking to lose some weight. Most people don’t understand what reverse dieting is and think it might be counterproductive to their routine. This article provides a clear idea of what to expect and whether reverse dieting is really helpful.

What is Reverse Diet?

A reverse diet is a process of gradually increasing your caloric content after getting off a strict diet regime. For example, if you've been on a strict diet to shed weight and reached your weight loss goal, you might need to get on reverse dieting after it. Instead of consuming a regular amount of food immediately after getting off a diet, you can slowly build up to give your metabolism some time to adjust.

How Does It Work?

This process is quite easy to understand. After you have reached your fitness goals and are at the end of your calorie restrictive diet, you need to follow the process mentioned below:

·         Slowly increase your caloric intake for the week by 50 to 100 calories from your baseline. For example, if you were on 1,500 calories, increase it to 1,550 to 1,600 during the first week.

·         Increase the caloric intake by the same number the following week. If your baseline is 1,550 to 1,600, you should increase it by the same number. The intake during the second week should be anywhere between 1,600 and 1,700.

·         Continue this gradual climb for 4 to 10 weeks until you reach healthy calorie consumption levels.

·         Stop consuming additional calories at this point and maintain a healthy diet.

This process will help you avoid binging, sudden weight gain, and other issues that can pop up after getting off a diet.

Does It Really Work?

While there aren't many in-depth studies done on the reverse diet, there are several professional weight lifters and bodybuilders who swear by this strategy. However, science does back the diet strategy and that is illustrated below:

·         Gradually increasing the calorie intake can boost metabolism, which will burn more calories. This doesn't just promote healthy weight loss and maintenance but also stabilizes hormone levels.

·         Restricting calories lowers leptin levels, which increases appetite and slows down the rate of calorie burning. The reverse diet increases the leptin levels and boosts the system once again.

·         When you increase your calories, you also burn more of them during regular activities. This is called non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT and it helps promote weight loss even after you have stopped your calorie-restrictive diet.

All of these factors show that reverse dieting is highly effective. When you combine this with macro coaching, you get even better results over time. Macro coaching helps you choose the best calories to consume to maintain your weight loss and still remain energetic.