In today’s episode, we’re talking about reverse dieting. Reverse dieting is the process we go through to reverse the effects of our diet, which is going to look different for different people (3:01). One of the reasons we go through a reverse diet is because at the end of a dieting phase, our actual metabolic rate is lower than our predicted metabolic rate (3:20). Therefore, we want to slowly add calories back in so our body realizes that it doesn’t need to be as conservative as it was before. This isn’t something “magical,” which some people tend to believe. Like we previously said, this is just to get our bodies back to a level of intake that makes sense for our body weight and composition at the time.

Moving forward, let’s discuss the biggest thing to consider prior to entering a reverse dieting phase (9:05) and that is that you’re going to be expending less energy throughout the day. Since you’re moving a smaller body, you’re going to need less energy to maintain that weight and you most likely won’t be able to eat like you did before. Taking that into consideration, you’ll have to recalculate your maintenance calories. The first step to doing that is to get a conservative estimate of what you’ll need to eat and when you get there, know that it’s okay to put on a little bit of weight. The second step will be to wait until your weight stabilizes for a little while, then increase your calories some more. Let us preface this by saying that some people will have a higher response to more food, so you’ll want to check in with yourself constantly. Reverse dieting is a slow, planned out process.

Now to wrap this episode up, we take you through two different examples. The first being a male (18:33) and the second being a female (26:57). With each example, we take you through what it’ll look like, as well as how and when to increase calories. The process and numbers will be slightly different because females have smaller bodies than males do. One of the biggest things to remember is that you don’t need to increase your calories on a “schedule” because everyone’s going to go through a different process (38:05). Don’t think you need to match other people’s intakes because you don’t.

Show Notes/All Resources from Episode:

https://www.flexibledietinglifestyle.com/podcast-show-notes/

• Zach’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theflexibledietinglifestyle/
• The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle website - https://www.flexibledietinglifestyle.com
• Miguel’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mblacutt/
• Miguel’s website - https://miguelblacutt.com
• Miguel’s coaching - http://revivestronger.com/online-coaching/