Truth about Reverse Dieting?

youngcalorieburner
youngcalorieburner Posts: 45
in Health and Weight Loss
So for those who know about reverse dieting it apparently helps metabolism increase by slowly eating more and staying around the same weight. But by this logic, if a person is sedentary and their maintenance according to online calculators is 2000 calories, isnt it possible to go from eating 1500 calories to 2800 calories overtime while staying in the same 5lb range, making 2800 calories the new maintenance and thus being able to lose fat on 2100 calories which would previously cause fat gain? I watched a video where this youtuber claimed that from reverse dieting after his bodybuilding competition that he built up calories slowly and ate at the amount he used to eat when he was 20lbs heavier in his bulking season and he still appears to be almost as lean as he was around his competition, so he obviously gained a little fat, maybe around 3lbs. I forgot who it was though if i find the video i will put the link. But others say this is a myth. So what is the truth to all this? Is reverse dieting really the ticket to having an ectomorph or fast metabolism, or is it just a method to raise it to what it should be?

Replies

  • GretaGirl8
    GretaGirl8 Posts: 274 Member
    I believe metabolism can be boosted to some extent by eating more. I believe this to be applicable when someone currently is eating below what they should be eating (thus, there metabolism has slowed). The calorie increase signals to the body to burn more. Personally, I have increased my calorie intake the last couple of weeks by about 700 calories and have found my weight to be unaffected. I haven't increased my activity either. If anything, I have decreased my activity. Note: I am underweight. This could be a temporary state, but I am trying to keep up the increased calorie intake.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    The only way you magically increase your maintenance number is to add more activity or more muscle. If you go from a deficit to maintenance you will usually gain around 5 pounds due to glycogen and water.

    Reverse dieting is simply slowly increasing calories to find out where your TDEE is. After bodybuilding competitions we often jump right into eating whatever we want, causing fat gains because we are over our TDEE.
  • Mutant13
    Mutant13 Posts: 2,485 Member
    This can absolutely work.

    All you have to do is defy the laws of physics, chemistry and biology.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    ectomorph or fast metabolism, or is it just a method to raise it to what it should be?

    Somatotypes are a myth. "Ectomorphs" are usually very active and undereat for their activity level.
  • GretaGirl8
    GretaGirl8 Posts: 274 Member
    What about people who have been eating too low for a long time? their metabolism does slow down. Once they begin eating normal amounts again, their metabolism will speed up. Obviously, this isn't true for every person. It doesn't take into consideration medical or medication issues that might play a role in one's metabolism. I am not suggesting one will lose weight by eating more, but rather someone who has been eating too little for too long may be able to eat more and maintain. Well, so far it has been true for me, but obviously things can change.

    Note: I realize I am talking about metabolism generally and not in the body builder scenario as OP describes. Sorry.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i think it would depend on many factors, one of which being how sensitive their leptin receptors are. SOME people are able to respond to increased calories by their body burning off those extra calories but those people are fairly rare from what i understand because from an evolutionary standpoint, this isn't really a good thing.

    also everyone who gains weight at a surplus does so at some ration of lean body mass (muscle, connective tissue, etc) and fat. the ratio of that would be determined by genetics. but i would think most people would lean more towards gaining fat than muscle. it's quite possible that this guy was one of the genetic outliers, but then again he's a bodybuilder and usually the (natural ones) who do well at that are genetically predisposed to easily gain muscle.

    but really, if you dont know exactly what your TDEE is from the begnning , it's hard to verify that you are boosting your metabolism.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    but then again he's a bodybuilder and usually the (natural ones) who do well at that are genetically predisposed to easily gain muscle.

    Coming off contest diet some of us do make gains a bit easier for the first couple of months. Many bodybuilders (even "natural" ones) take steroids or hormones of some sort.
  • youngcalorieburner
    youngcalorieburner Posts: 45
    I believe metabolism can be boosted to some extent by eating more. I believe this to be applicable when someone currently is eating below what they should be eating (thus, there metabolism has slowed). The calorie increase signals to the body to burn more. Personally, I have increased my calorie intake the last couple of weeks by about 700 calories and have found my weight to be unaffected. I haven't increased my activity either. If anything, I have decreased my activity. Note: I am underweight. This could be a temporary state, but I am trying to keep up the increased calorie intake.
    So are you saying that you increased your tdee, by reverse dieting? So i think my maintenance is or should be 1900 according to calculators, so if i add 100 cals per week from 1600 which i am currently on, to lets say 2200 cals, then could i actually eat the 2100 cals everyday without gaining much weight and being sedentary like you? Also did u use refeeds during your reverse diet?
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    It's been a while since I watched Layne Norton's v-log on reverse dieting but from what I understand it is anecdotal based on his experience in training and being involved with physique competitors over a number of years.

    Essentially reverse dieting is a way of mitigating the effects of chronic and excessive calorie deficits (usually coupled with inordinate amounts of cardio) on metabolism (such as adaptive thermogenesis) and restore it back to where it would have been had the inappropriate dieting regime not have taken place.

    Not much scientific evidence to back the method from what I recall but in many cases what happens in the lab lags along way behind what is happening on the gym floor...
  • youngcalorieburner
    youngcalorieburner Posts: 45
    i think it would depend on many factors, one of which being how sensitive their leptin receptors are. SOME people are able to respond to increased calories by their body burning off those extra calories but those people are fairly rare from what i understand because from an evolutionary standpoint, this isn't really a good thing.

    also everyone who gains weight at a surplus does so at some ration of lean body mass (muscle, connective tissue, etc) and fat. the ratio of that would be determined by genetics. but i would think most people would lean more towards gaining fat than muscle. it's quite possible that this guy was one of the genetic outliers, but then again he's a bodybuilder and usually the (natural ones) who do well at that are genetically predisposed to easily gain muscle.

    but really, if you dont know exactly what your TDEE is from the begnning , it's hard to verify that you are boosting your metabolism.
    So boosting leptin sensitivity can let someone eat maybe 100-200 calories over maintenance and they'll just burn it off?
  • GretaGirl8
    GretaGirl8 Posts: 274 Member
    I believe metabolism can be boosted to some extent by eating more. I believe this to be applicable when someone currently is eating below what they should be eating (thus, there metabolism has slowed). The calorie increase signals to the body to burn more. Personally, I have increased my calorie intake the last couple of weeks by about 700 calories and have found my weight to be unaffected. I haven't increased my activity either. If anything, I have decreased my activity. Note: I am underweight. This could be a temporary state, but I am trying to keep up the increased calorie intake.
    So are you saying that you increased your tdee, by reverse dieting? So i think my maintenance is or should be 1900 according to calculators, so if i add 100 cals per week from 1600 which i am currently on, to lets say 2200 cals, then could i actually eat the 2100 cals everyday without gaining much weight and being sedentary like you? Also did u use refeeds during your reverse diet?

    Ugh, I hope I don't state anything wrong or misleading. I can only speak from my experience. I am underweight by about 15 pounds. I used to eat around 1300-1400 calories a day. I am in my mid-thirties. I do not currently exercise. I started eating around 2000 calories and my weight has not shifted in two weeks--not even water weight or glycogen stores. In my case, I believe my metabolism had slowed to a near crawl. When I started to eat more, I believe my metabolism "woke up" (for lack of a better term). Now, maybe I will start to gain soon. Not sure. Because I am uncertain, I hesitate to give advice. Sorry, I am not very helpful.
  • youngcalorieburner
    youngcalorieburner Posts: 45
    I believe metabolism can be boosted to some extent by eating more. I believe this to be applicable when someone currently is eating below what they should be eating (thus, there metabolism has slowed). The calorie increase signals to the body to burn more. Personally, I have increased my calorie intake the last couple of weeks by about 700 calories and have found my weight to be unaffected. I haven't increased my activity either. If anything, I have decreased my activity. Note: I am underweight. This could be a temporary state, but I am trying to keep up the increased calorie intake.
    So are you saying that you increased your tdee, by reverse dieting? So i think my maintenance is or should be 1900 according to calculators, so if i add 100 cals per week from 1600 which i am currently on, to lets say 2200 cals, then could i actually eat the 2100 cals everyday without gaining much weight and being sedentary like you? Also did u use refeeds during your reverse diet?

    Ugh, I hope I don't state anything wrong or misleading. I can only speak from my experience. I am underweight by about 15 pounds. I used to eat around 1300-1400 calories a day. I am in my mid-thirties. I do not currently exercise. I started eating around 2000 calories and my weight has not shifted in two weeks--not even water weight or glycogen stores. In my case, I believe my metabolism had slowed to a near crawl. When I started to eat more, I believe my metabolism "woke up" (for lack of a better term). Now, maybe I will start to gain soon. Not sure. Because I am uncertain, I hesitate to give advice. Sorry, I am not very helpful.
    No this was helpful because from what i understand you managed to just jump from deficit to maintenance without much weight gain which i thought was almost impossible to do without exercise.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i think it would depend on many factors, one of which being how sensitive their leptin receptors are. SOME people are able to respond to increased calories by their body burning off those extra calories but those people are fairly rare from what i understand because from an evolutionary standpoint, this isn't really a good thing.

    also everyone who gains weight at a surplus does so at some ration of lean body mass (muscle, connective tissue, etc) and fat. the ratio of that would be determined by genetics. but i would think most people would lean more towards gaining fat than muscle. it's quite possible that this guy was one of the genetic outliers, but then again he's a bodybuilder and usually the (natural ones) who do well at that are genetically predisposed to easily gain muscle.

    but really, if you dont know exactly what your TDEE is from the begnning , it's hard to verify that you are boosting your metabolism.
    So boosting leptin sensitivity can let someone eat maybe 100-200 calories over maintenance and they'll just burn it off?

    not necessarily, it's not all about leptin.

    i think more specific to this thread is whether or not the OP can and i'd wager a guess that since she isnt even that sure what her maintenance amount is, it's impossible to say if eating 100-200 calories more will increase her metabolism.
  • iPlatano
    iPlatano Posts: 487 Member
    It wont change your metabolic capacity. Your metabolism just will go back to normal since it always slows down when we are dieting. The purpose of this is to only be able to eat the same amount of calories you ate before dieting period.
  • coloursofcaroline
    coloursofcaroline Posts: 1
    Well, from my own experience I can tell you it DOES work. I used to be on 1000kcal diets, doing long hours of cardio...ANd now? I lift heavy 4 times a week and eat 2000kcal a day including over 200g of carbs! And guess what? Not only my weight dropped a little bit (it wasnt my goal for now) but I look better!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Well, from my own experience I can tell you it DOES work. I used to be on 1000kcal diets, doing long hours of cardio...ANd now? I lift heavy 4 times a week and eat 2000kcal a day including over 200g of carbs! And guess what? Not only my weight dropped a little bit (it wasnt my goal for now) but I look better!

    that is from lifting heavy...ie exercise...

    My TDEE has gone up from lifting as well...exercise does that...but you have to maintain that level of exercise otherwise your metabolism will return to it's normal state.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    This can absolutely work.

    All you have to do is defy the laws of physics, chemistry and biology.

    scotty.jpg
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
    for most, it is unneccessary , the largest ever recorded metabolic slowdown from bmr was only 15% and that was after 6 months of near starvation, anyone spending more than a couple weeks reverse dieting is wasting their time
  • DoodlePuff2014
    DoodlePuff2014 Posts: 1
    Why is it inactive please reactivate it I would like the information from myfitnesspal...I trust them
  • ctizzle614
    ctizzle614 Posts: 1
    This should help you.

    http://corinanielsen.com/livefit/?p=1802

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