Reverse Dieting
Whether your goals are performance-related or physique-related, you need to be fueling your body properly to help it work for you, not against you. Especially when it comes to weight loss, thanks to our diet culture, people think they need to keep reducing their intake down to levels of starvation, fast for the majority of the day, or try to eliminate all the foods they have labeled as “bad.” This blog explains why the answer to reaching your goals is to actually eat more; not less. Assessments of daily caloric intake guidelines from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion as well as basal metabolic rate and hormone function are outlined here to provide insight into a required intake, not to simply survive, but to thrive!
Recommendations for Healthy Adults:
According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the recommended caloric intake for sedentary adult women ages 19-25 is 2,000 calories and 1,800 calories for women ages 26-50. While active adult women have a recommended caloric intake of 2,400 and 2,200 until the age of 60. For sedentary men ages 21-40, the recommended caloric intake is 2,400 calories. Active men are recommended 3,000 calories from 19-35 years of age. [1] While other lifestyle factors and genetics may play a role in optimal intake, these numbers may come as a surprise to many people, because for most, they have been taught that they need to eat much less.
Diet Culture:
Most of our teachings on caloric needs for an “optimal physique” have come from our diet culture. Diet culture tells us we need to eat less in order to be thin, attractive, and loved. This mindset has women and men both eating in extreme deficits. It is not uncommon to hear of a woman beginning a diet at 1,400-1,600 calories. This is equivalent to the recommended caloric intake of a 10-year-old child, according to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Using online calculators and apps will likely provide skewed and unhealthy caloric recommendations based on unrealistic weight loss goals in a given time frame. Healthy weight loss tends to be about 1-1.5 pounds per week for men and .5 pounds per week for women. [2] However, these numbers will also differ depending on current body composition, genetics, and consistency. Using an app to calculate caloric needs based on the goal to lose 3 pounds per week is only going to set you up for failure. Another reason why many people may not see results, or have continued success, even at such large caloric deficits is due to the fact that they have been living in a caloric deficit for so long that their body has adapted. When your body is not fueled properly and enters starvation mode it is going to be significantly more difficult to lose fat because your body is hanging on to those fat stores to keep you alive. When you begin fueling your body with a proper caloric intake to support your hormone and metabolic function, you will not only see more results, but you will also feel better and be able to support a higher activity level to keep you healthy and happy. There is a process to build your way back up to a maintenance level caloric intake to support your health, this is often referred to as reverse dieting.
What is Reverse Dieting?
Reverse dieting is an approach to dieting used to build someone back up in calories without significant changes to body composition. When done correctly over a period of time, you can build up slowly to a maintenance level intake to optimize your hormones and metabolic function. After spending time at this higher intake, you will then be able to move into a smaller deficit and see more results! The key is to be consistent with your intake and slowly build up in calories. While this takes more time initially, before you will see changes toward your physique goals, this approach will allow you to see better results at a higher intake, which will also be something that you can maintain for the duration of your goals. Then, you can build back to maintenance levels at the appropriate time with the knowledge that you gained in the process of where your body thrives. It is just as important to have a clear understanding of your maintenance intake as it is to know your macro count of a deficit as you can’t accurately know one without the other. For example, you need to understand what your maintenance intake is before knowing if you are in a deficit.
How to Get Results:
If you know you are significantly under-eating, and you want to begin building up your intake, a good place to start is about 100 kcals per week. It is always best practice to use measurements as indicators of body composition. This will allow you to assess progress toward your goals from start to finish as well as give you the confidence in eating more knowing that you aren’t gaining weight in the process if your goal is fat loss. Keep weekly measurements, and most importantly, don’t rush the process. You can also use body weight as a tool of measurement, however, it is not recommended that you use that metric in isolation as bodyweight can fluctuate for many reasons including water intake, sodium intake, carbohydrate intake, menstrual cycle, stress, sleep, medication, supplements, and activity. If you do notice a significant change to progress indicators then you can stay at that current intake for an additional week as things level out before continuing to increase in numbers. The most important factor in seeing results, as always, is consistency. It is important that you know what numbers you are working at and how they are working for you and your goals. Understand your body’s requirement at maintenance and use it to your advantage. If you don’t know where you need to be or where you are going, you would most likely benefit from going through this approach under the guidance of a coach.
Begin a Personalized Approach:
It is crucial for success, that you are using an approach and the correct numbers specific to your individual needs. When you hire a personal nutrition coach, you will start with an intake questionnaire that will be used to calculate your intake needs specific to you; your lifestyle, activity level, goals, and preferences. When you are working up and down in numbers to achieve your goals, this is when it is most beneficial to work with a coach. A coach can work with you to assess your weekly progress and navigate the adequate adjustments to optimize your health and well-being in the process of reaching your goals. Schedule a consultation to learn more about working alongside a coach.
[1] https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines/guidelines/appendix-2/, [2] Working Against Gravity Nutrition Coach Certification
