Reverse dieting:
- Dietitian.Lauren Hmede
- May 2, 2019
- 3 min read
What Is Reverse Dieting?
Reverse dieting is often described as “the diet after the diet.”
It’s particularly popular among bodybuilders and competitive athletes looking to increase their energy levels while maintaining weight loss and body composition.
While some claim that reverse dieting can be an effective method to ramp up weight loss and energy levels, others dismiss it as unnecessary and ineffective.
What is reverse dieting?
It involves a gradual intake after dieting in order to boost metabolism so it is common among bodybuilders looking to ease their transition back to a normal diet.
How does it work?
In order to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit diet but with time this lead to slow metabolism and could be problematic especially if you want to maintain weight or you have a plateau.
How to reverse diet
In involves an increase of 50-100 calories about your needs per week which is actually the number of calories needed for weight maintenance. The period lasts for 4-10 weeks unti lyou reach your goals. Portien needs are calculated per body weight and this will keep protein intake the same throughout the diet.
Increasing your calorie intake may boost metabolism and help your body burn more through non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which includes everyday actions like walking, talking, and fidgeting.
In addition, reverse dieting may normalize levels of circulating hormones, such as leptin, which regulates appetite and body weight.
Research shows thatleptin which is produced and excreted by the fat cells in your body, decreases in response to reduced calorie intake. When leptin levels fall, appetite is increased and calorie burning is reduced.
Does it work for weight loss?
Reasearch is limited but increasing calories could increase burning effect and help in weight maintenance.
Because calorie restriction can reduce NEAT as well as leptin levels, it stands to reason that gradually increasing your intake may slow or reverse these effects.
Reverse dieting could reduce binge eating as it has slow transition to normal diet but stil more research is needed to show the effect of reverse dieting on weight loss.
Other benefits
Research is lacking on the potential health benefits of reverse dieting.
Still, proponents claim that its effects extend beyond weight loss.
Allows you to eat more
One good reason for starting reverse dieting is to increase calorie intake throughout the day after weeks or month of dieting.
Increased energy levels
Overly restrictive diets are often accompanied by symptoms like mood disturbances, difficulty concentrating, and decreased energy levels.
This may be caused by either inadequate calorie intake or nutritional deficiencies.
Because reverse dieting focuses on slowly increasing your calorie intake, it could resolve several downsides related to restricted dieting.
Reduced hunger
Cutting calories can alter the levels of several hormones that influence hunger and appetite.
While leptin promotes fullness, ghrelin stimulates feelings of hunger.
Slowly increasing calorie intake may balance levels of these hormones and reduce hunger levels. However, no studies have yet proven this theory.
Potential downsides
Reverse dieting may have several drawbacks.
Hard to execute
It is difficult to precise your calorie needs and it is more challenging to increase your intake by small increments of 50–100 calories each week.
Moreover, over estimating portion size could lead to weight gain,
What’s more, this plan can be time-consuming, as it requires you to meticulously track your daily calorie intake.
Focuses on calories
One issue with reverse dieting is that it focuses solely on calorie intake without taking other factors into consideration.
Weight loss is incredibly complex, with many components playing a role.
Not only do various nutrients impact metabolism, hunger, and appetite differently, but factors like sleep, stress, and hormone fluctuations also affect body weight and need to be taken into consideration.
Lack of research
All in all, very little research supports reverse dieting.
As case reports and anecdotal evidence are all that exists, it’s unclear if reverse dieting works — or whether it’s effective for the general population or just specific groups, such as bodybuilders or competitive athletes.
Therefore, until further research is conducted, reverse dieting cannot be considered an effective tool for weight management.
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