Reverse Dieting Questions

knot_enough
knot_enough Posts: 176 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on a calorie deficit for about 11 weeks now. I've gone down 17-20lbs from 176-178lbs to 155-158lbs. The weight loss has really slowed down family parties have kind of slowed my progress. No complaints there really. I've been at this weight for about 2 weeks, which is the longest I've stayed at since I began the weight loss.

Anyway, I kind of miss the strength I had when I was heavier, so I want to stop the weight loss and work on building leaner muscle. I figured that the best way to do this was to slowly increase caloric intake, then changing the macro nutrient ratio as the calories rise. Then I found out that this had already been invented lol. Reverse dieting as it's called. Has anyone had success with this?

Replies

  • knot_enough
    knot_enough Posts: 176 Member
    Oh yeah. Here are some details:
    I currently work at limit of 1800 cal, with a 40/30/30 carb/protein/fat ratio.
    I lift 4 times a week and run 3-4 miles on 2 or 3 different days.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
    What's your TDEE?
  • knot_enough
    knot_enough Posts: 176 Member
    lol thanks! youre a sweetheart.

    anyway according to the iifym.com calculator it's 2200.. i find it to be more around 2000
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    There's really good info in the Eat Train Progress group.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
    lol thanks! youre a sweetheart.

    anyway according to the iifym.com calculator it's 2200.. i find it to be more around 2000

    Okay. My TDEE is between 2000-2200 and I'm doing a slow bulk right now (eating 2200-2400). I suggest that you up your intake to 2000 for 3-4 weeks and see if you're still losing, maintaining your weight, or gaining. At that time you can reevaluate and decide if 2000 is good for you or if you should up the cals to 2200. If you up them, stick with that for the same period before making any changes to your diet.
  • knot_enough
    knot_enough Posts: 176 Member
    thanks again! thats good enough verification for me. i was pretty much planning to do something very similar.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
    thanks again! thats good enough verification for me. i was pretty much planning to do something very similar.

    You're welcome.
  • Samalama34
    Samalama34 Posts: 6
    are you lean enough to reverse diet or are you just doing this cause youve plateu"d?
  • knot_enough
    knot_enough Posts: 176 Member
    are you lean enough to reverse diet or are you just doing this cause youve plateu"d?

    oh see thats what i'm trying to figure out.. whats a good bf% to start reverse dieting. i'm at about 16% at the moment.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
    are you lean enough to reverse diet or are you just doing this cause youve plateu"d?

    oh see thats what i'm trying to figure out.. whats a good bf% to start reverse dieting. i'm at about 16% at the moment.

    It depends on your goals. If you clean bulk you'll add muscle and minimize fat gains.
  • knot_enough
    knot_enough Posts: 176 Member
    are you lean enough to reverse diet or are you just doing this cause youve plateu"d?

    oh see thats what i'm trying to figure out.. whats a good bf% to start reverse dieting. i'm at about 16% at the moment.

    It depends on your goals. If you clean bulk you'll add muscle and minimize fat gains.

    great! im so eager to start
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    Slowly increasing calories (100ish per week) out of a deficit is good for limiting rapid weight regain.

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html
    2. It would be ideal, if, after dieting, the trainee took two weeks at maintenance to stabilize at the new body fat level. The reasons for this are numerous but revolve around letting some of the hormonal adaptations to dieting normalize. I’ve written about this endlessly on the site and my full diet break concept is outlined in detail in both The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook and A Guide to Flexible Dieting. Briefly, take two weeks at roughly maintenance calories with at least 150 grams/day of carbohydrate.

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