Reverse Dieting

erickavalos96
erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Has anyone done a reverse diet successfully and restored their metabolism? If so how have you done so? Im almost done with mt cut and Id like to fix my metabolism before I start a clean bulk.

Replies

  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    edited February 2016
    What do you think is wrong with your metabolism?
  • AnabolicKyle
    AnabolicKyle Posts: 489 Member
    The only person who I know who talks about this is natty norton. Iam pretty sure reverse dieting/ restoring metabolism is make believe but iam not sure.


    in for what others say

  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    Your metabolism isn't broken, the changes that occur to your metabolism from cutting are a result of adaptive thermogenesis, and they are normal and important for survival of the species:
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-2.html/

    At the end of your cut, these hormonal changes create an ideal environment for rapidly accumulating more bodyfat, so yes, jumping straight into a surplus will lead to unnecessary initial fat gain:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/
    http://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-11-7

    It is beneficial to take a couple of weeks at maintenance before going into surplus to give time for the hormonal adaptations to normalize (see the last section):
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html
    The problem with this approach is that you don't know what your new maintenance TDEE is after you have been cutting for a long time, and you will bloat up substantially, especially if you have been low-carbing. If you do this, it is best to low-ball your TDEE estimate, then work up slowly after a couple of weeks until you hit your desired gain rate.

    Another popular approach is to just add 50-100 cals per week to your cut level, which is a little slower, but takes the guesswork out of estimating your new TDEE and reduces the initial bloating.
  • pbryd
    pbryd Posts: 364 Member
    edited February 2016
    Before I started my lean bulk I cut down to 1400 (estimated BMR) calorie by reducing my daily calories by 100 every 5 days, I hit 1400 for 5 days then started adding 100 calories back on every 5 days.

    I got to 2600 calories before I started to see a weight increase. Notably, while adding the calories back on, I continued to lose weight.

    Because this was my first cut/bulk I have nothing to compare it too, but I think I'd do it again after this bulk has finished.
  • erickavalos96
    erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
    @queenliz99 Well when i mean restore metabolism i really mean optimize it so i can eat more lol
  • erickavalos96
    erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
    @richln well i havent been low carbing ive been at 45%. So i shouldnt expect a big rebound at all. If i go for the second method you mentioned would it be beneficial for me to maintain that weight for a few weeks first or can I just start slowly bumping my calories every week once i hit my goal?
  • erickavalos96
    erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
    @pbryd thats *kitten* awesome so you managed to increase your total maintaince calories while still maintaining your leaness???
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    I like reverse dieting just for the simple reason that I don't see a spike on the scale and it allows me to get my intake in check. If you've been cutting at a normal rate, and not going for extended periods of time with an extreme deficit, or yo-yo dieting while constantly losing and gaining back weight, I doubt you have to worry about metabolic adaptation.
  • pbryd
    pbryd Posts: 364 Member
    erickavalos96 wrote: »
    @pbryd thats *kitten* awesome so you managed to increase your total maintaince calories while still maintaining your leaness???

    Well I can't for sure, I began counting calories when i started dieting, so I have no way of knowing if my maintenance has gone up.
  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    erickavalos96 wrote: »
    @richln well i havent been low carbing ive been at 45%. So i shouldnt expect a big rebound at all. If i go for the second method you mentioned would it be beneficial for me to maintain that weight for a few weeks first or can I just start slowly bumping my calories every week once i hit my goal?

    Method 1: go straight to maintenance calories, hang out there for two weeks, then bump up 50 or 100 calories every week until you get to your desired rate of gain.

    Method 2: whenever you are done cutting, bump up 50 or 100 calories, then keep bumping up 50 or 100 calories every week until you get to desired rate of gain.

    Either way should give you about the same results.
  • erickavalos96
    erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
    @arditarose well i have been yo yo dieting for a pretty long time now where i would lose weight during the week and gain it all back on the weekends, not sure if my metabolism is messed up or not
  • erickavalos96
    erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
    @richln thanks for all the articles and advice ill probably maintain for at least a week before bumping ! Reverse dieting aounds too good too be true haha cant wait
  • pbryd
    pbryd Posts: 364 Member
    erickavalos96 wrote: »
    @richln thanks for all the articles and advice ill probably maintain for at least a week before bumping ! Reverse dieting aounds too good too be true haha cant wait

    If you're at maintenance now, you can reverse diet out. Adding calories from maintenance will be a bulk.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    erickavalos96 wrote: »
    @queenliz99 Well when i mean restore metabolism i really mean optimize it so i can eat more lol

    why do you think it needs to be restored?

    the only way to be able to eat more calories is to add weight so that your TDEE increases, or increase physical activity.

    unless you are concerned because you have been chronically under eating for a year or more...?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Okay, I'm pretty sure there is not true empirical research for reverse dieting. The info we have is mostly based on case studies of people, many of them being competing bodybuilders/physique athlete and people with eating disorders, who have undergone "metabolic adaptation" from extremely low calorie diets, and yo-yo dieting with significant weight loss and regain. Basically it is believed that what was once, or what could be their TDEE, has decreased due to the adaptation and the goal is to get back to a "normal" calorie level without gaining much fat by reverse dieting. In many cases, I guess it has been shown to work. So someone who could maintain only on 1400 calories after years of low calorie dieting (speaking of a female obviously), reverses back to 1400, then beyond-adding calories slowly in order to reduce fat gains as they try to get their TDEE back to normal and more comfortable level.

    For the most part, the average dieter is not doing significant damage to their metabolism. If you start adding 100 calories every week, you won't suddenly increase your TDEE. You will just reduce the amount of water weight you put on as you find the appropriate calorie level for you.

    This is my understanding of it. Layne Norton dedicates an episode of his podcast to the topic. It is a good listen if you are interested.

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