The concept of “Reverse Dieting” has become more popular over the past few years. people have myths about this. they think it’s a type of consuming more food despite the weight loss. but that’s not right. It’s a quite different thing from the diet.
usually, this concept is used by bodybuilders and common people too can use this system to raise your metabolism. when a bodybuilder participates in the contest. at that time to get abs or body cut, they increase the protein intake and deficient carb and fat. thus thing slows their metabolism and damages their gut.
after that, they suddenly start consuming more carbs and fat more than the requirements. due to slow metabolism, they start gaining weight. and this affects their body and gut.
The reverse diet process is to intake carbs and fat slowly and steadily to maintain your metabolism.
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What is Reverse Dieting?
Reverse Dieting an easy way to reduce calorie intake during the week is to follow the rules, At first glance, you may think it’s all about eating more food to lose weight. Not quite. This method is really about how to add calories back into your life.
Once your restrictive diet is done, Let’s dive into it. Let’s say you lost weight by cutting your calorie count for a certain amount of time rather than jumping back into your pre-diet eating habits. Proponents of the reverse diet suggest gradually upping your calories for four to 10 weeks by about 50 to 100 calories a week. Advocates of this approach claim that it can increase your metabolism, normalize hunger hormones, and reduce the risk of binge eating or rapid weight gain.
But what does the research say? Those who back reverse dieting site studies about the negative impact restrictive dieting have on metabolic rate and hormone balance. Here’s registered dietitian Cynthia to explain why that’s not great.
How to Reverse Diet?
The philosophy of reverse dieting is attached to some studies about the impact of dieting on metabolism, like slowing down metabolism and may be negatively affecting hormone levels.
So the theory is that if you slowly add that calorie to your diet, maybe you won’t have such a negative impact on your metabolism or hormones. But that’s not really the same thing.
So a true study on reverse dieting would be putting two groups of people on a diet and then after the diet, applying the reverse siting principles to one group and then not the other, and seeing if there were any changes in terms of the return of weight gain or any impact on metabolism or hormone levels.
we really don’t have any studies to back this method and the theories that are used to back it actually don’t quite make sense, because the whole point would be not going on a strict diet in the first place.
if you’re really looking to not negatively impact hormones or slow down your metabolic rate, you really don’t want to go on a strict diet, to begin with. And therefore you wouldn’t even need reverse dieting after going on a strict diet.
whenever you go on a strict diet where you’re basically eating less than what it would take to support your healthy or ideal weight, you really are going into a semi-starvation mode.
Is it normal to gain weight when reverse dieting?
So you’re depriving your body of important nutrients that your body uses to function. And that includes things like supporting your immune system, things like supporting digestive health, healthy sleep, physical activity, and recovery from the wear and tear that exercise puts on your body. So really, eating a very limited number of calories per day is not a good idea for your health and your wellness.
And also, it really isn’t a good way to lose weight and keep the weight off for good. What we know about strict diets is that they tend to be short and people tend to not be able to sustain them for very long.
And whatever you do to lose weight, if you can’t keep doing it. Most likely you’re going to gain all that weight back or even more after you stop the strict diet recovery.
reverse dieting results
Reverse dieting is unnecessary because strict or low-calorie diets should be avoided, to begin with. While some may lose weight with a restrictive diet, it can also trigger a myriad of negative side effects, both physical and mental. These include nutrients, shortfalls, irritability, moodiness, depression, fatigue, and obsessive thoughts about food and weight. Yikes. Not to mention calorie counting can be tedious and stressful for many people. One study found that following 1 200 calorie diet and monitoring your calories increased cortisol levels, a stress hormone known to increase belly fat.
How do you lose weight without strict dieting?
Here’s what Cynthia SAS recommends. Well, strict dieting is definitely not the only way to lose weight, and it’s not the recommended way to lose weight. So with my private practice clients, I like to focus on meal quality, number one, meal balance, and timing, also tuning into issues like hunger and fullness cues and addressing emotional or stress-driven eating. And so what we find is that there are really methods of changing your eating patterns that result in weight loss that don’t involve counting calories or having to cut out huge food groups or be very, very strict with your intake.
reverse dieting macros
So research has shown that replacing processed foods with whole foods can increase calorie burning in the hours after meals. you can check burning calories on the macros calculator of calories.
So in other words, if you replace a sugary cereal or some kind of pastry for breakfast with something like oatmeal with berries and nuts, it can really have an impact on your metabolism and calorie burning without having to count calories or be strict with your calories.
Also, when people who struggle with emotional eating start to find alternative coping tools that don’t involve foods to address their feelings, their calorie intake automatically goes down, so they may end up losing weight by addressing emotional eating again without having to revert to dieting.