Episode 72- Reverse Dieting-The Secret to Long-Term Fat Loss and Metabolism Health
Episode 72 Show Notes
Are you eating less and less but still not seeing results?
If you've been stuck in the cycle of chronic dieting, constantly reducing calories, and feeling like your metabolism is broken, there's a solution you probably haven't heard of: reverse dieting.
In this episode, I'm breaking down how slowly increasing your calories can actually help heal your metabolism, boost your energy, and set you up for sustainable fat loss success (and yes, I'm doing it right now and loving the results!).
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
What reverse dieting is and why it might be the metabolic reset you need
How to tell if you're stuck in a cycle of chronic dieting that's damaging your metabolism
The step-by-step process to increase your calories without gaining excess fat
Why eating MORE food might be the key to your long-term fat loss success
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Tiffany Wickes (00:01.312)
Okay, welcome back to the Strong Over Skinny podcast. I'm your host, Tiffany Wicks, and as always, I'm here to help you build strength, lose fat, and create a sustainable, balanced lifestyle. Today, we're gonna dive into a topic that might just change the way you think about dieting forever. It's called reverse dieting. And if you've ever been stuck at a plateau or felt like your metabolism was working against you, this episode is absolutely going to be for you. So let's talk about how to heal your metabolism. Get off.
the YoYo Diet roller coaster and finally set yourself up for success long term. Let's go.
What exactly is reverse dieting? So think of it as the opposite of a traditional diet. Instead of gradually reducing your calories to lose weight, we're actually gonna slowly increase the amount of calories you intake over time. So the goal here is to restore your metabolism and increase your energy so that you can work out a little bit more aggressively and repair any metabolic damage caused by chronic dieting.
an extreme calorie restriction, which by the way is a case for 100 % of my clients so far have all had massive caloric restriction or they've just had macros that were completely out of balance. And it has been a minute here trying to get them to just eat enough and they're all still in a deficit. And I'm like, we have to move you up, have to move you up. So let me tell you a little bit how this works.
and why. So when you've been dieting for a long time, restricting your calories and overworking, your body will adapt by lowering your metabolic rate. Okay. It's like your body's defense mechanism to conserve energy. So reverse dieting gives your metabolism a chance to recover while minimizing your fat gain because we're going to reverse you in a whole foods diet. All right. It's particularly useful if you've been stuck in a plateau or feel like eating less isn't helping anymore.
Tiffany Wickes (01:58.254)
Because if you're already eating like 1400 calories, you're to go down to a thousand, 800, 500. Like how low can you go before you're just starving? All right. So, so who needs a reverse diet? Well, reverse dieting isn't for everyone, but here is who might benefit from it. So if you're a chronic dieter, if you've been on and off diets for years and you're like one minute you're paleo, one minute you're vegan, one minute you're doing Whole30 or whatever, you need to eat
You know, if you feel like you need to eat a super low calorie just to maintain your weight, then this is probably gonna be a good idea for you. So if you've recently finished a fat loss phase, it's a phase, not a life, then reverse dieting can help you transition back into maintenance or go into a gain cycle where you're building bigger muscles because you've got to have food to build big muscles. So if you increase your calories slowly over time,
then you can build big muscles without adding a whole bunch of extra body fat because your muscles, like it's an expensive tissue. Your muscles require so much in the terms of caloric energy that you have to eat enough calories to maintain them or your body's just gonna be like, okay, we don't need these muscles and it's gonna start chewing into them for energy to sustain all the other metabolic processes in your body, like your brain, your heart, your lungs, your kidneys and all the other things. All right, so another, you know,
cohort of people that would probably benefit from this is like athletes or really active individuals. So if you've noticed that there's a drop in your performance, you're not lifting as well. Your energy is dumpy. Your recovery is crap. Like reverse dieting can help you restore that energy balance and help you recover better from your workouts. So the main takeaway here is if you feel like your metabolism is broken or you're afraid to eat more food, reverse dieting can really be a game changer for you.
All right, so let's talk about the hows of reverse dining. So it isn't just about eating more calories randomly, all right? That's a really good way to put on extra body fat, which is what you're trying to avoid. So first you need to know how much calories you're taking in right now. So start by tracking exactly what you're eating. Don't change anything. Just, that's your baseline, okay? You need to know what you're eating. And then you need to increase your calories gradually. So add 50 to 100 calories per week. That's really low, by the way.
Tiffany Wickes (04:20.43)
And then start with carbs or fats, depending on your preference, unless your protein isn't where it should be, which is 1.75 grams to one gram per pound of ideal body weight. So if your protein's not already there, get your protein where it needs to be, and then start with carbs or fats, depending on your preference. And then your goal is to keep these increases small enough that your body can adjust without being like,
So many calories, what do I do with it? Because it's not gonna just waste it, it's gonna put it somewhere and it's gonna store it as fat. All right, so you need to monitor your progress. Keep an eye on your weight. Generally, I say don't look at a scale, all right? However, in this case, you do wanna monitor your weight and make sure that you're not putting on fat at the same time. If you are, then you've probably moved up too quickly or you might wanna focus on a different macro. So keep an eye on your weight, your energy levels, performance.
you know, even things like your mood, your hunger, weight gain will probably happen. I mean, you will put on a little bit of body fat, but it should be super minimal, like barely noticeable. All right, so focus on strength training. Reverse dieting works phenomenally well when you pair it with strength training. So building muscle helps boost your metabolic rate even further. So currently that's the cycle I'm in. I increased my calories by almost a thousand.
And now I am lifting way heavier in the gym and I'm keeping an eye on my weight. And in fact, I mean, when I weighed myself yesterday, I was 154 and I typically bounce between 154, 156, you know, it really just depends on the day. So a two or three pounds sway either direction is really nominal. Okay. So if you're focusing on strength training and listen, you need to lift heavy too, because the whole point of this is to
get increased muscle so that you can increase your metabolism. So when you go back down to a cut, which, you know, we're not totally going to talk about today, then your muscles are bigger and then you can dive into that fat so much faster because your body will have prioritized muscle above cutting anything else. When you boost your calories back down to go into a cut and then lose any body fat you might've accumulated during the gain and then boost yourself right back up to maintenance and boom, you are looking freaking hot over here.
Tiffany Wickes (06:40.374)
All right, also, please be patient. All right, this process takes weeks and months depending how long you've been dieting, but trust me, it's worth it. If you've been a chronic dieter and under consumer of calories for years, it's going to take longer than a couple of months to start turning that around. Okay, and you have to move your calories up more slowly. Otherwise your body is just gonna wig out. Like not ideal, that's not what we want. All right, so.
So here's some benefits that reverse dieting can do for you. So, and here's what you can expect. So your metabolism will be boosted. So over time, like I said, your body can become more efficient at burning those extra calories. I'm totally in that zone right now. It feels amazing. You will have improved energy and mood because more food equals more fuel for your brain and body. So your brain loves glucose, loves carbohydrates. And you guys, we're not talking about donuts. We're talking about things like squash and potatoes and...
beans and stuff like that and fruit. Your body loves that stuff. All right. You will also develop a way better relationship with food. I had one of my clients tell me that she still, when I said, Hey, you need to eat more, eat more, eat more. You know, she's like, yeah, I still have it in my brain though, that I should not be eating carbohydrates. And I was like, I hate what the world has done to nutrition and has villainized a banana. Like what did the banana ever do to you except fuel your body and give you all sorts of great micronutrients. So
It will improve your relationship with food when you pair the mindset and the physical activity with the nutrition that will make you way less afraid of eating and even enjoy going out to dinner and not bothering to track anything. Just get what you want to eat and then you can feel free to move on for the rest of your life. All right. Another benefit I think is a sustainable weight management. So once your metabolism is restored,
and it is using calories most effectively and efficiently, you'll find it easier to maintain weight without doing these extreme measures of, I'm going to go keto for six months or these like opposite end of the spectrum sort of feast and famine stuff. Like your body doesn't like that. So it's not just about calories. It's about creating a body that works for you, not against you every single day. All right. What does that sound? How's that sound to you guys?
Tiffany Wickes (09:01.194)
Reverse dieting is such a powerful tool and like with any other fitness journey, it's going to take some time. You're going to have to be patient and you're going to have to be consistent. So if you've been struggling with fat loss or feel like stuck in this cycle of restriction, I really encourage you to give it a try. I am doing it right now. I am loving it and I'm to love the next season I go into. And if you need some help with that, then make sure you get back with me. You can follow me on all the social channels.
You can get on my website, send me a message there. It's TiffanyWicks.com. And as always, thank you for tuning into this episode of Strong Over Skinny. And if you found this helpful, please make sure you share it with someone who might need it. And don't forget to leave a review. You can also connect with me on Instagram or like I said, website, Facebook for more tips and personalized coaching. I have new rounds starting every two weeks or so. Let me know how I can help you. And until next time, remember.
Always stay strong over skinny and I'll catch you guys next time. Bye.