Why Reverse Diet

Reverse dieting is a strategic approach to gradually increasing your intakes after a period of caloric restriction, with the intent of increasing your metabolic rate. You can’t “wreck” your metabolism, but you can certainly slow it down from under-eating. We go into this in more detail in this section.

Because intuitive eating requires you to listen to your hunger cues, you need to be able to trust your hunger cues. When you are in a calorie deficit, you likely feel hungry more often and to achieve fat loss, you may have trained yourself to ignore those feelings. We need to get you to a place where your hunger is normal: you feel hungry when it’s time to eat, and then satisfied when you’re done eating. Food should only be thought of about 10% of your day. When you’re eating the amount of food you should be, your body not only thrives (see points below), but it also is much easier to trust your intuition.

Why reverse diet first?

Restore your most optimal metabolic rate: 

• Prolonged caloric restriction can slow down your metabolism (AKA less calories burned at rest). 
• Reverse dieting can help restore metabolic rate by signaling the body that energy intake is increasing, which can help normalize hormone levels, including those produced by adipose tissue. 
• Increased caloric intake supports the production of leptin, which can help regulate hunger and energy balance.

Prevent rapid increase of adipose tissue: 

• By slowly increasing caloric intake, the body can adapt without quickly storing excess calories as fat. This helps minimize the rapid accumulation of adipose tissue.

Improve hormonal balance:

• Gradually increasing calories helps maintain balanced hormone levels, including insulin and cortisol, which play roles in fat storage and mobilization.

Lean mass preservation:

• Adequate protein intake during reverse dieting supports muscle maintenance and growth.
• Preserving or increasing lean muscle mass can help improve body composition and increase metabolic rate, which can indirectly affect adipose tissue levels.
  

Increase your ability to maintain health eating habits:

• By transitioning to a higher caloric intake that can be maintained long-term, you can also reduce food cravings over time. 
• Consuming more calories means there is more “room” in your day to keep things you ENJOY while adding in things you NEED, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and nutrient dense fats.