Reverse Dieting Newb

pbandalyssa
pbandalyssa Posts: 86 Member
edited December 2 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone! To start out - I'm 5'0", 115 lbs, and I lost 100 pounds thanks to clean eating, weekly cheat meals, 1200 calories, and weight lifting (see: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10410040/mfp-thank-you-100lbs-gone-forever-pic-and-feels-heavy/p1).

I've hit a 6-8 month plateau, both on the scale and in the gym. I'm trying to cut around 5% BF (sitting rigidly at 20% right now) eventually. I've been eating 1200 calories for so long and I've recently became obsessed with food. I'm always hungry and it's easy for me to gain. I binge on the weekends and suffer through hours of cardio with no results.

After much deliberation and SO MUCH RESEARCH, I've decided to start implementing IIFYM and reverse dieting to help rebuild my (probably damaged) metabolism.

I used the knowledge gained from several articles and calculators to start with the following numbers:
Calories: 1300
Macros: 114P/98C/51F

I feel great! I decreased my cardio to one day this week. It's only been a week but I already feel drastically different than I did eating 1200 calories and not thinking about macros.

That being said, my question is:
I am planning on increasing my calories 25-50 per week. Does that seem like a good choice?
Do those macro percentages (35%P, 35%F, 30%C) sound about right?
Should I increase my protein or keep it the same as my calories increase each week?



TLDR: I'm 5'0", 115lb, 20% BF macros are 114P/98C/51F at 1300 cal. Halp with reverse.

Replies

  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    YES!!! Flexible and reverse dieting for the win :)

    I'm actually doing a reverse diet also. I've had really good success so far and have been doing up ~40-50 calories/week. If you do that and have a week where your average weight and body fat spikes a bit, then hold at your current calorie intake for another week.

    As for macros, here is what I have been doing.
    Protein: ~0.8-1.2 g/lb of body weight
    Fat: 20-30% of calories
    Carbs: the rest of your calories

    The protein requirement doesn't really change, so the added calories go into carbs (mostly) and fat.

    Have you seen Layne Norton's video on reverse dieting? He's the guy that pretty much brought it onto the map. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

    Also, I have found through experience that the more heavy and intense weight lifting workouts you do, the better your RD will go. Also, high intensity cardio intervals (max effort sprints for example) instead of low intensity steady state cardio work so much better too.

    Hit me up if you have more questions. It'd be good to have people doing the same thing to chat with.
  • pbandalyssa
    pbandalyssa Posts: 86 Member
    terbusha wrote: »
    YES!!! Flexible and reverse dieting for the win :)

    I'm actually doing a reverse diet also. I've had really good success so far and have been doing up ~40-50 calories/week. If you do that and have a week where your average weight and body fat spikes a bit, then hold at your current calorie intake for another week.

    As for macros, here is what I have been doing.
    Protein: ~0.8-1.2 g/lb of body weight
    Fat: 20-30% of calories
    Carbs: the rest of your calories

    The protein requirement doesn't really change, so the added calories go into carbs (mostly) and fat.

    Have you seen Layne Norton's video on reverse dieting? He's the guy that pretty much brought it onto the map. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

    Also, I have found through experience that the more heavy and intense weight lifting workouts you do, the better your RD will go. Also, high intensity cardio intervals (max effort sprints for example) instead of low intensity steady state cardio work so much better too.

    Hit me up if you have more questions. It'd be good to have people doing the same thing to chat with.

    THANK YOU!!! This was so incredibly helpful. Especially: "If you do that and have a week where your average weight and body fat spikes a bit, then hold at your current calorie intake for another week."

    I'm excited to progress with this! Heavy weights and HIIT it is!!! :)

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