Reverse Dieting

Reverse Dieting

By Michael Branin

What is reverse dieting you say? Reverse dieting is a controlled, gradual increase in total daily calories intake with the purpose of increasing metabolic rate and health. Basically we are going to wing you off your diet so you don’t gain all that weight back and shock your digestive system.

When you are on your diet your body is looking to conserve as many calories as possible, meaning if you don’t eat the proper foods when you are looking to end your diet your body will gain fat at an accelerated rate. This is called post starvation obesity.

Which means the only thing you want to do is the worst thing you can do when ending your diet. But you also don’t want to keep staving your self. What you need is a strategy for raising your food intake back to normal without gaining fat, enters reverse dieting.

Although you may not get to eat as much as you want, as quickly as you want to; you will get to eat more. Social events become more bearable, You can fit better tasting food into your meal plan, and no more hunger pangs.

You will also get an extra boost of energy, there is no denying the fatigue of training on a calorie deficit. This will boost your mood, mental function, and you get to enjoy workouts again.

How to Reverse Diet

1. Heavy Resistance Training (preferably weight training) 3-5 Times a Week: Resistance training boost your metabolism significantly and builds muscle. Which speeds up your metabolic rate long term.

  2. Increase Your Calories Each Week Until You Have Reached Your Preferred Daily Intake: I like to increase my calories in increments of about 100-150 calories per week. Most of these calories should be coming from carbs.

3. Eat Plenty of Protein: High protein diets promote muscle growth, shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound in your body.

  4. Take in a Moderate Amount of Fat: Your fat intake should be about half of your protein intake.  Make sure you are eating good sources of fat like nuts, avocado, and fish.

5. Use flexible Dieting: Remember you have achieved a goal here in reaching your weight so it is ok to treat yourself sometimes.