The Reverse Diet: How To Come Off Restricted Calories in a Way That Makes Sense
Nova Health Club • October 30, 2019
In the personal training industry, we are constantly exposed to people wanting to lose weight and improve their body composition. Nutritional changes and diet behaviour are a constant. But what do you do after the diet is over? Or how do you know when it’s time to stop or take a break?
Enter the diet break.
A diet break is when you increase your calories back up to your maintenance calories and remain there temporarily to give your body and mind a break from the stress of dieting. Hitting your weight loss goal is a quick and simple way to know you are ready to stop calorie restriction, but it’s not the only reason to take a break. The diet break can be used when you hit a plateau, are mentally struggling to stick to your plan, are going on an extended vacation, or feel your workouts aren’t as productive.
The benefits of the diet break include better workouts, more energy, a decreased chance of unwanted weight gain on vacation, decreased mental stress, and decreased physical stress (dieting increases cortisol levels). Lastly, once you have built yourself back up to these maintenance calories, the next time you decide you would like to decrease body fat, you don’t have to drop your calories nearly as much because your body is used to eating so much food.
While this sounds too good to be true, it is challenging to achieve properly. If you have been in a caloric deficit long enough to lose weight you cannot just jump back up to maintenance calories (calories needed to maintain your current weight). Instead, you have to calculate your maintenance calories and slowly build back up to that value.
This is why many people gain weight back after a “diet.” Your metabolism cannot be ruined, but it can adapt. For example, if you have been consuming 1500 calories for a period of time, your body slowly adapts to that value. If you quickly jump to 2000 calories (which is what your body may technically need to maintain your weight) you will put on weight because your body is efficient. On the other hand, if you reverse diet back up to your maintenance calories you allow your body the time it needs to get used to the increased calories.
The Reverse Diet:
Step 1:
Determine your maintenance calories (also known as Total Daily Energy Expenditure or (TDEE)
Step 2:
Calculate out the difference between your current calories and your TDEE
Step 3:
Divide Step 2 by 125. This number is the minimum number of weeks it will take to reach maintenance calories
Step 4:
Increase your calories consumed by 100-125 calories per week. At the end of each week weigh yourself, if you have not increased in weight you can increase your calories again the next week. If your weight has increased then stay at those calories for another week
Step 5:
Repeat Step 4 until you hit your desired calories
Are you interested in increasing your calories for a while, maintaining your weight and having better workouts? Talk to one of our coaches at Nova Health Club and they can point you in the right direction.
By: Kate Irwin
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