Stay Lean & Eat the Reverse Diet
As the famine continues, the pounds fall off. Out of choice, the persistence pays. Dieters become lean and slim. Week after week through hard work and dedication and determination, the body changes in many ways. Although, what follows is a reality for most...
...the weight quickly returns as soon as they come off the diet. After weeks, if not months, of slashing calories and forcing movement to get as low fat as their body will currently allow, there's a turning point. Either in elation or depression, they begin eating as they feel they should be able to. Shortly following the change in diet, the pounds begin to stack up again. The dieter is on a journey back to where they started.
After a number of tests, the picture's clear - the energy required is less than normal after severe or continuous dieting. Your metabolism will take a knock. Therefore, initially, when you start eating more calories, especially from carbs and fats, your body will not need them so it will do the best it can. Storing fat and overall, putting on weight, is what happens.[1,2,3]
This "metabolic adaptation" is how we survive in lean times. However, it has taken weeks, if not months, to make these changes, so it would seem reasonable for changes back the other way to take time too. We know it is possible to increase a metabolism. We've seen it in the lab by overfeeding animals and humans and watching the magic happen as the metabolic dial turns up and modifies.[4] But it takes time!
All in all, calories in and calories out is not a straight line... it deviates. That's why dieters often fail. And that's why...
...fitness professionals find ways to manipulate bodies
In order to gain greater control of total body fat, bodybuilders and fitness models and top coaches have discovered a way known as "Reverse Dieting". It's said to counter the slow metabolism brought on by restricted diets used to drop fat. Now, this technique has not been scientifically studied yet, however, there are scores of people reversing their diet with outstanding results... they are managing to eat more and stay lean.
In all honesty, the diet is quite simple. Even though the name "reverse dieting" sounds like it is the exact opposite to dieting... it is not. Where many instantly slash calories and stick with it for weeks or months to reach a goal, reverse-dieting takes a more steady approach. In a stepwise fashion, you'd slowly return to a normal healthy diet.
The truth is, you have to continue being strict with your food intake as you make your way back. It's almost like you're still on a diet but weaning yourself off it. So, if you've reduced your diet by 500 calories, you'd basically add a little back each week until you've added the calories back again.
However, it's not quite as simple as that. In the world of fitness and bodybuilding and some better-managed diets, nutrients are focused on more so than calories. This means they play with carbs and fats and protein rather than calories. It's because each macronutrient has a different effect on your body and combinations cause others.
Therefore, generally speaking, of course, their protein intake is kept quite high while carbs and fats are reduced to lose the weight. Then they'll slowly start adding the carbs and fats back to allow their metabolism to catch up. Once their metabolism has recovered, they can continue eating this amount, some end up increasing the quantity without putting on body fat, or they reassess their targets and drop the carbs and fats to lose weight again.
On the whole, reverse dieting is a structured technique to work with your metabolism as it slows down and speeds up. Then you'll be in control so you can eat more and stay slim and strong.