A year ago, I didn’t know anything about reverse dieting. What I did know was my sporadic attempts to get in shape were too stressful. A month of committed running here. Six weeks of non-stop gymming there. Four weeks without sugar roughly once a year.
It was all the right stuff, but in the wrong quantities. Exercise-wise I was often over-doing it, and diet-wise I was being too strict with myself, holding myself to a standard I could just about hold for a month, but had no chance of keeping up long term.
I decided to relax things a bit. Instead of running 30 miles a week on top of gymming and bouldering, I’d fit in runs when I could, opting for HIIT sessions at home if the weather was ropey. Diet-wise, I allowed myself the proper fuel with which to work out. I’ve never wanted to get in ridiculously good shape – life’s too short. But if I could look something like Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, I’d be happy.
Strangely, when I weighed myself after a few months of my new regime, I was 6kg heavier than I thought I was. With my belly flab much reduced, I realised for the first time my new diet had allowed me to put on some muscle. I’d inadvertently done a bulk. The next thing was to try and get a bit more toned. Again, by adjusting my diet I managed to lose a few further kgs. I hadn’t bothered to track calories and macros, nor did I speak to a PT.
Here’s my reverse dieting story, naturally written in reverse order.
What is reverse dieting?
Chris Antoni, founder of Tailor Made Fitness was the man to turn to for this one. “Reverse dieting is slowly adding more calories back into your diet after a period (generally weeks or months) of calorie restriction,” he says. “The goal is to prevent weight gain, maintain weight loss and restore metabolism.”
Simple enough, right? If you aren’t winging it like me, Antoni recommends increasing your calorie intake by 50–100 calories per week above your baseline, which is the number of calories you’re currently consuming to maintain your weight. Keep doing it until you reach your target weight, or as long as you’re comfortable.
Antoni explains that the good news is that because your protein needs are typically calculated for body weight rather than calorie consumption, it can remain the same throughout the diet.
Are there other benefits?
If you’ve cut calories, you’ll naturally notice your energy levels are flagging – something I really noticed when my usual 5 mile run loop almost defeated me. I tried it again the next day and felt like I was trying back to back marathons. Clearly I needed more carbs. That’s not all.
“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,” says Antoni. In other words, by eating more, you might actually end up burning more calories simply because you now have the energy to move.
“In addition, reverse dieting may normalise levels of circulating hormones, such as leptin, which regulates appetite and body weight,” says Antoni, adding that: “Research shows that leptin, 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. In fact, in a 6-month study in 48 people, calorie restriction decreased leptin concentrations by 44%.”
There are downsides to be wary of
A big one is that, much like this article, Antoni says most info around reverse dieting is anecdotal, and that few studies have been done on it.