Reverse dieting

brirod45
brirod45 Posts: 15 Member
edited September 2015 in Food and Nutrition
I have been in a deficit for 8 months and with it being September i want to reverse diet for the winter time. I never have reverse dieted before. Is it better to increase slowly from your deficit calories and at what pace? Id love to hear someone's success with reverse dieting.
Thanks

Replies

  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
    I read up on this last week. Try adding 100 calories for a week or two. Let your body adjust. Then add another 100.
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    How large of a deficit?
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    Great question! I'm in the same boat! Hopefully someone ot there has actually successfully done this!
  • brirod45
    brirod45 Posts: 15 Member
    How large of a deficit?
    I was eating at 1600 cals. Im 5'3 and 126 lbs. I increased my calories to 1720 and upped my fats and carbs and lowered my protein. Id loke to know if im on the right track
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    brirod45 wrote: »
    How large of a deficit?
    I was eating at 1600 cals. Im 5'3 and 126 lbs. I increased my calories to 1720 and upped my fats and carbs and lowered my protein. Id loke to know if im on the right track

    If you really want to be conservative you can move it up 100 calories per week. Otherwise, if you're not afraid of the scale, you can jump to about 90% of maintenance calories and shave a few weeks off the process.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    I've never heard of it before, is it a new name for a small bulk or something?
  • brirod45
    brirod45 Posts: 15 Member
    brirod45 wrote: »
    How large of a deficit?
    I was eating at 1600 cals. Im 5'3 and 126 lbs. I increased my calories to 1720 and upped my fats and carbs and lowered my protein. Id loke to know if im on the right track

    If you really want to be conservative you can move it up 100 calories per week. Otherwise, if you're not afraid of the scale, you can jump to about 90% of maintenance calories and shave a few weeks off the process.

    Ok i think i will do it gradually. Thanks for your help
  • piperdown44
    piperdown44 Posts: 958 Member
    edited September 2015
    I've never heard of it before, is it a new name for a small bulk or something?

    No, not a small bulk.

    When you've been in a deficit for a while it's not a bad idea to gradually move the calories the calories up over a period of time. Two things that helps with is one: finding your true maintenance calories and, two: ramping up slowly so you don't gain 6lbs (just a number to throw out) in water weight which freaks some people out.

    So, say you've been at 1600 cals a day. You can approach it by adding a few extra calories in a day. Maybe 20-50. Or, if you just look at your weekly cals, you make sure you're over a bit.
    I prefer to use 100 per day per week. So if I was at 1600 per day, for week 1 I'd bump that to 1700 per day, then week 2 would be 1800 per day and so on, tracking the scale and mirror along the way. Once see a fairly static number over a couple weeks then I know what my maintenance calories are and can either stick with that number or use it to create a plan for a slow bulk.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    I've never heard of it before, is it a new name for a small bulk or something?

    No, not a small bulk.

    When you've been in a deficit for a while it's not a bad idea to gradually move the calories the calories up over a period of time. Two things that helps with is one: finding your true maintenance calories and, two: ramping up slowly so you don't gain 6lbs (just a number to throw out) in water weight which freaks some people out.

    So, say you've been at 1600 cals a day. You can approach it by adding a few extra calories in a day. Maybe 20-50. Or, if you just look at your weekly cals, you make sure you're over a bit.
    I prefer to use 100 per day per week. So if I was at 1600 per day, for week 1 I'd bump that to 1700 per day, then week 2 would be 1800 per day and so on, tracking the scale and mirror along the way. Once see a fairly static number over a couple weeks then I know what my maintenance calories are and can either stick with that number or use it to create a plan for a slow bulk.
    Thanks for that, I really had never heard the term before. I've heard of people sort of doing that to find the deficit they are happy with, say start at 1200 and add 100 till they find their comfort point.
  • joannab44
    joannab44 Posts: 15 Member
    brirod45 wrote: »
    I have been in a deficit for 8 months and with it being September i want to reverse diet for the winter time. I never have reverse dieted before. Is it better to increase slowly from your deficit calories and at what pace? Id love to hear someone's success with reverse dieting.
    Thanks

    I read you should be upping your carbs by 10-15g and fats by 1-2g increments every week to avoid gaining weight (slow and steady wins the race right?). If you lose weight, add 20g carbs and 3g fat.
    Just started reverse dieting myself as of 3 days ago, 5'3 125lbs and I cant seem to stabilize at 118. Ive been eating around 1500kcals for over a year so hopefully this works!! add me if you want support =)
  • HilTri
    HilTri Posts: 378 Member
    I started reverse dieting with my nutritionist about 6 mos ago. I started at 1760 and am now at 2000. It is fantastic. I am a little freakish about scale numbers so I choose not to weigh too often. My size has stayed the same but my composition has definitely improved and I have gotten a lot stronger.