reverse dieting...i get it but I dont
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zfitgal
Posts: 492 Member
I understand the whole concept of reverse dieting but I don't get how one can lose 1 pound a week at 1550 and then after reverse dieting they can still lose that one pound at 2000 calories. Does this makes sense? I see all these people on Instagram talking about how they reverse diet and can now lose more weight and eat so much more.
my next question is...when hitting my goal weight, I'd like to lessen cardio and reverse diet to maintnance...how do I do that? how would I illuminate 1 hour of cardio a week and start adding more calories in...do I start adding calories first and then start to illuminate some cardio? do I do it at the same time? #confused
my next question is...when hitting my goal weight, I'd like to lessen cardio and reverse diet to maintnance...how do I do that? how would I illuminate 1 hour of cardio a week and start adding more calories in...do I start adding calories first and then start to illuminate some cardio? do I do it at the same time? #confused
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If you want lose weight you just need to be in a deficit.
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I reverse diet after shows when I'm ridiculously lean and I've cut calories low. I usually do the bmr tests at the start and end of prep, and find my bmr has dropped - I use the info the determine a new "maintenance", increase calories to that straight away, then increase in small increments usually weekly. I find my body starts to adapt to the small increments, not so I keep losing, but so I maintain on higher amounts.
I wouldn't cut cardio straight away - I usually do the reverse from food, and slowly minimise the cardio by small increments....1 -
It takes time for the metabolism to shift when changing calories. The idea behind reverse dieting is SLOWLY adding calories in till maintenance is achieved.
Look up Layne Norton reverse dieting and read up on his blog and podcasts. You'll learn quite a bit.0 -
My experience was that I ate 1200 calories per day, more or less, for several months and I lost about 40 pounds to get down to my goal weight. After that I began increasing my calories by the week, approximately 50 calories per week. The calories weren't exactly 50, up and down a bit, but not more than 100 more per week. After a few months of gradually increasing calories I got up to eating around 1600 calories per day. I stopped losing weight but I haven't gained either. Now I eat more than 1600 a day some days and some days a bit less. So I'm pushing myself to see how much I can eat without gaining.
I was eating about 1800 to 2300 a day at my former higher weight before I started to cut calories to 1200 for weight loss.
My personal evidence is that I am now able to eat more than I used to and maintain my lower weight, so in fact I believe I have reverse dieted.2 -
@zfitgal No, it doesn't make sense, and if these people don't have charts and data to support their claims, don't give them credence.
An individual's NEAT can vary, and may rise in the presence of a surplus and fall in the presence of a deficit. I suspect that people invent ways of describing this because weight loss is not linear.5 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »@zfitgal No, it doesn't make sense, and if these people don't have charts and data to support their claims, don't give them credence.
An individual's NEAT can vary, and may rise in the presence of a surplus and fall in the presence of a deficit. I suspect that people invent ways of describing this because weight loss is not linear.
You are perfectly right, I have no charts. Nobody answered the topic though, so I just gave my positive experience to say that I did it and have read that a few others had similar experiences. My experience with calorie counting wasn't linear and not very exact, nevertheless I never thought I would be eating this much and maintaining my weight!
Better to give it a try than be afraid to hope.
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livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I reverse diet after shows when I'm ridiculously lean and I've cut calories low. I usually do the bmr tests at the start and end of prep, and find my bmr has dropped - I use the info the determine a new "maintenance", increase calories to that straight away, then increase in small increments usually weekly. I find my body starts to adapt to the small increments, not so I keep losing, but so I maintain on higher amounts.
I wouldn't cut cardio straight away - I usually do the reverse from food, and slowly minimise the cardio by small increments....
Do you do cardio when you are not in prep? and just start the increase in calories by 100 a week? and just drop cardio0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I reverse diet after shows when I'm ridiculously lean and I've cut calories low. I usually do the bmr tests at the start and end of prep, and find my bmr has dropped - I use the info the determine a new "maintenance", increase calories to that straight away, then increase in small increments usually weekly. I find my body starts to adapt to the small increments, not so I keep losing, but so I maintain on higher amounts.
I wouldn't cut cardio straight away - I usually do the reverse from food, and slowly minimise the cardio by small increments....
Do you do cardio when you are not in prep? and just start the increase in calories by 100 a week? and just drop cardio
I do some cardio even when not in prep, because I think maintaining some level of cardio fitness is important for good health. It's usually something like the 30min classes my gym runs a couple of times a week...
My last reverse involved adding 500 cals straight away to the cals I ended up on at the end of prep. After that, I generally went up about 20-30g carbs, and occasionally 5g fat, a week depending on weight/Skinfolds.
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livingleanlivingclean wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I reverse diet after shows when I'm ridiculously lean and I've cut calories low. I usually do the bmr tests at the start and end of prep, and find my bmr has dropped - I use the info the determine a new "maintenance", increase calories to that straight away, then increase in small increments usually weekly. I find my body starts to adapt to the small increments, not so I keep losing, but so I maintain on higher amounts.
I wouldn't cut cardio straight away - I usually do the reverse from food, and slowly minimise the cardio by small increments....
Do you do cardio when you are not in prep? and just start the increase in calories by 100 a week? and just drop cardio
I do some cardio even when not in prep, because I think maintaining some level of cardio fitness is important for good health. It's usually something like the 30min classes my gym runs a couple of times a week...
My last reverse involved adding 500 cals straight away to the cals I ended up on at the end of prep. After that, I generally went up about 20-30g carbs, and occasionally 5g fat, a week depending on weight/Skinfolds.
I would like to maintain some cardio too but I'd like to eliminate 1 hour a week...im currently doing 4 days weights and 180 mins of cardio (3 hours) a week. I'm at a good deficit right now...So the day after you competed you added 500 calories right away? did you see a weight gain because your body was shocked? And how do I know what my maintenance is...never been there before...thanks for ur help1 -
My personal opinion is once you hit goal adjust amount of cardio or food to start with not both at the same time. I would start with adjusting the amount of activity you want to do per week and then look at food adjustments.
One big reason I see on the forums for reverse dieting is to avoid the sudden jump in glucose stores (which may show as a jump in scales). This doesn't happen for everyone though so some people have no issue going from a deficit to maintenance. But you often see people overshoot their goal so if they experience a jump its taking them up to their goal weight.1 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I reverse diet after shows when I'm ridiculously lean and I've cut calories low. I usually do the bmr tests at the start and end of prep, and find my bmr has dropped - I use the info the determine a new "maintenance", increase calories to that straight away, then increase in small increments usually weekly. I find my body starts to adapt to the small increments, not so I keep losing, but so I maintain on higher amounts.
I wouldn't cut cardio straight away - I usually do the reverse from food, and slowly minimise the cardio by small increments....
Do you do cardio when you are not in prep? and just start the increase in calories by 100 a week? and just drop cardio
I do some cardio even when not in prep, because I think maintaining some level of cardio fitness is important for good health. It's usually something like the 30min classes my gym runs a couple of times a week...
My last reverse involved adding 500 cals straight away to the cals I ended up on at the end of prep. After that, I generally went up about 20-30g carbs, and occasionally 5g fat, a week depending on weight/Skinfolds.
I would like to maintain some cardio too but I'd like to eliminate 1 hour a week...im currently doing 4 days weights and 180 mins of cardio (3 hours) a week. I'm at a good deficit right now...So the day after you competed you added 500 calories right away? did you see a weight gain because your body was shocked? And how do I know what my maintenance is...never been there before...thanks for ur help
I would maybe maintain the cardio initially, for a couple of weeks, then reduce 15 mins at a time...
Yup, I added that much straight away - I was on ridiculously low cals by the end of prep though. I don't remember what my weight did, but my skin folds went down... So, more food! (I attribute this to more carbs getting more water in to the muscles, so they get fuller and push the skin out more.... But I wasn't complaining about more food)
I determined a maintenance level from having a bmr test done (where you breath in to a machine for 10 mins),and going from there... It was a lot lower than my maintenance pre comp prep. If I'd gone to old maintenance I would have stacked weight on quickly...0 -
so you dont go by scale weight more body fat? so I guess I'm going to have to do this gradually...so 100 calories more a week and 15 mins less of that one hr cardio until no more..how do I know I got my maintenance weight especially with TOM fluctuations? Thank u for taking the time and answering me0
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I prefer skinfolds and measurements to weight,but you can use a trending app to see what your weight is doing. Even with daily fluctuations it shouldn't be going up or down drastically...
It is definitely a gradual process. Probably harder than dieting in the first place!1 -
oh gosh, so a weight trending app is more like something where i weigh myself daily? and it tells me if I'm losing?
I weigh myself once a month now, weekaweek after my period because otherwise I'll make myself crazy...im currently eating 1550, I'm thinking 2000-2200 would be my maintenance. does that make sense...5"4.5 active and lifting hard and heavy in the gym, she 30, nd I'm female0 -
My experience was that I ate 1200 calories per day, more or less, for several months and I lost about 40 pounds to get down to my goal weight. After that I began increasing my calories by the week, approximately 50 calories per week. The calories weren't exactly 50, up and down a bit, but not more than 100 more per week. After a few months of gradually increasing calories I got up to eating around 1600 calories per day. I stopped losing weight but I haven't gained either. Now I eat more than 1600 a day some days and some days a bit less. So I'm pushing myself to see how much I can eat without gaining.
I was eating about 1800 to 2300 a day at my former higher weight before I started to cut calories to 1200 for weight loss.
My personal evidence is that I am now able to eat more than I used to and maintain my lower weight, so in fact I believe I have reverse dieted.
I'm curious, how would I track to see if I'm losing or gaining from TOM fluctuations? because there will be weeks I will be heavier...and if I'm increasing about 100 calories a week until I get to maintenance, how would I determine what's a good number for me...is MFP pretty accurate with maintenance calories?0 -
My experience was that I ate 1200 calories per day, more or less, for several months and I lost about 40 pounds to get down to my goal weight. After that I began increasing my calories by the week, approximately 50 calories per week. The calories weren't exactly 50, up and down a bit, but not more than 100 more per week. After a few months of gradually increasing calories I got up to eating around 1600 calories per day. I stopped losing weight but I haven't gained either. Now I eat more than 1600 a day some days and some days a bit less. So I'm pushing myself to see how much I can eat without gaining.
I was eating about 1800 to 2300 a day at my former higher weight before I started to cut calories to 1200 for weight loss.
My personal evidence is that I am now able to eat more than I used to and maintain my lower weight, so in fact I believe I have reverse dieted.
I'm curious, how would I track to see if I'm losing or gaining from TOM fluctuations? because there will be weeks I will be heavier...and if I'm increasing about 100 calories a week until I get to maintenance, how would I determine what's a good number for me...is MFP pretty accurate with maintenance calories?
Download a weight trending app, I use Trendweight, and weigh yourself everyday.
Phone apps:
Libra- Android
Happy scale- i-phone0 -
I don't have a lot of experience with this, just a thought. When I eat too low I know that my energy levels go way down and I end up feeling cold, tired, and achey all the time. Maybe these people that have found it works need those calories in order to have energy to burn calories. So they might feel sluggish and lousy at the lower amount, less likely to be generally active throughout the day. Whereas when they have the fuel they have energy to just plain be active. 2000 is a lot of calories for dieters but for quite a few people (myself included) still low enough to lose weight while not feeling too deprived.
I've got a budget of 2000 and have not consistently stayed under so I have mostly maintained. When I eat 2000 or slightly under of nutritious food I end up having a lot of energy and losing weight. Sticking with nutritious food is my downfall though as eating 2000 calories of crap does not lend itself to being active.1 -
Reverse dieting, in my mind, is just another term for "trying to pinpoint maintenance". It's not what people are claiming it to be. There are several factors why one would lose on a higher calorie budget ranging from cortisol and water retention to increased NEAT to a slight bump in metabolic rate (not as big as these people claim it to be), to fewer "binges" that bump up the average calories and all the way to psychological factors where having more freedom might make you perceive food as more plentiful when in reality you haven't increased the calories as much as you assume you have (especially if tracking involves lots of eyeballing).
As for the second part of the question: you do as you see fit. There are no rules. You could both increase calories and reduce cardio together or do one at a time. You could increase your calories gradually until you hit the sweet spot for maintenance, or increase them in bigger chunks and lower them again if necessary if you find yourself gaining again. It's just an individual process of hunting for your individual maintenance. Personally, I would reduce activity first to establish how my general activity will look like for the foreseeable future and then increase my calories gradually to a predicted maintenance based on my new activity level, then tweak the calories up or down as needed.0 -
This is interesting. So transitioning from weight loss to maintenance by slowly increasing calories is now called "reverse dieting"?0
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from the articles ive seen reverse dieting is for people that are bodybuilders or doing competitions getting on stage here is a article on reverse dieting https://breakingmuscle.com/fuel/reverse-dieting-what-it-is-and-why-you-should-try-it, if your on a regular diet i dont think you need to reverse diet, reverse dieting is for very lean people that have been on low calorie diet getting ready for a contest , after a contest you slowly and in more carbs and fat until you get to maintenance, after that alot of people go into a surplus and try to and muscle, if you have ever seen some one thats at 6% body fat or lower , if they start shoveling in the food like crazy ive seen people gain 20 pounds in a few days, thats what reverse dieting is for so you dont blow up after a show1
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