HOW TO: REVERSE DIETING

You may have tried it all, Weight Watchers, BeachBody, Keto, Intermittent Fasting, Juices, Low Carb, Vegan the list goes on and on. If you had an old diet book for every version you’ve tried you could start your own weight loss library. At this point, you feel like you have been dieting for the last 10 years to “lose the last 10 pounds”. You really can’t remember the last time you haven’t thought about your calorie intake, you feel like a failure every time you have to “start over” and for some reason that 10 “stubborn” pounds is still there.

Sound familiar?

MOST DIET'S DON’T WORK

If you’re reading this you likely know that. The diets you may have tried did not work long term and we are back and looking for the next quick solution. One in three people gain the weight back that they lost on their restrictive diet plus more.

When we diet (reduce our calories), our metabolism slows down to meet the reduced energy (calories) coming in. Our body is trying to find the homeostasis (neutral) point of calories coming in and calories being expended on daily tasks. Think of it like a bank account. Your body has money coming in (calories) and it has items to pay for in a day (daily tasks/activities). The metabolism is the mediator in the account that decides what is a good amount to spend today based on what’s coming in. The less money coming in, the less we can spend.

Metabolism: The rate at which we burn calories for energy. The healthier your metabolism, the more calories you burn doing daily activities like sitting, sleeping, walking, working out, breathing, etc. A slower metabolism uses less energy for the same activities and therefore burns fewer calories.

The problem with most diets is, they don’t restore the metabolism to work with non-dieting life. Once the goal weight is reached through restrictive strategies and we immediately return to pre-diet ways of eating, even if we still eat healthy, we have increased our caloric intake in some way. It is not possible to live in a diet (calorie deficit) forever. Our bodies send hunger cues for a reason. When we increase our calories, without restoring our metabolism in a slow and strategic plan, our weight sneaks back up.

METABOLIC RESTORATION

The second step in the Jolt Nutrition Method is Metabolic Restoration. It’s a major component of a healthy metabolism and weight loss that goes missed in most diet plans. Metabolic Restoration refers to repairing your damaged metabolism through a process called reverse dieting.

Reverse dieting is the process of strategically and slowly increasing calories to restore metabolism. Yes, you heard us right. We diet by INCREASING your calories FIRST.

Reverse dieting is the first step for those who have been yo-yo dieting for years.

REVERSE DIETING

This process is taken from the body building community (and it is one of the only processes we take from bodybuilding). To reach the stage, competitors cut down their calories to a very low, unhealthy, and unsustainable intake. If a body builder was to diet like this long term, they would eventually die. In the process of cutting down to “stage weight”, the body’s metabolism slows down to try and match the amount of calories coming in. This is a safety mechanism by your body.

Low calories = starvation = death.

The body wants to survive, so it slows down any process that uses calories to try and preserve the little intake of energy (calories) we are consuming. When calories are low, the metabolism is slow.

Low calories = slow metabolism

If the body builder was to immediately return to regular and realistic nutrition or their pre-competition diet they would gain back excess body fat fast (even if the foods are healthy). This is because their body has already adapted to have a low metabolic rate due to their restrictive diet.

Reverse dieting is the system of slowly increasing calories over a long term period to allow our metabolism to restore to optimal level at the same rate of increased calories (energy) coming in. This also allows us to gain muscle mass lost from dieting. It allows us to keep hunger and cravings at bay because our body is no longer starving and desperate for energy. The longer the diet, the longer we will need to reverse diet. Reverse dieting can take 365 days of slow and tedious work. It takes trust in your coach and your body.

This all may sound like “magic”, but the principles are routed in human evolution and science.

EVOLUTIONARY SPEAKING

The endless diets (periods of starvation) have instinctively told our metabolisms to “slow down” and “hold on”. As your body prepares to be starved (or lives in the starvation), it shuts down unnecessary processes like hair, nail and skin growth, muscle development, and eventually starts to shut down organs. The body shuts down any process that uses too much energy in comparison to the energy being consumed (calories). The only goal the body has is to survive, not thrive.

The body counteracts starvation in the following ways.

• By reducing Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - the amount of energy used when we are chilling. A healthy metabolism will burn more calories even while sitting still vs. a starved metabolism.

• Exercise output and general movement declines as your body conserves energy (feeling low energy or lack of motivation).

• We expend less calories - As your muscle mass shrinks, you need less energy to do daily tasks. Consider it like putting a smaller engine in your car. It needs less gas.

• Digestion slows to try and use up every nutrient, this increases energy coming in, but can also leave you feeling lethargic and bloated.

Our bodies are smart, they adapt and they want to survive. When our bodies receive the starvation signals, they shut down these “extra” functions so that they can use the energy they do have to do the basic tasks for survival (breathe, brain, sleep/recover). The body now adapts to this new baseline of surviving off of less.

Someone who has dieted down to 130 pounds (as an example), may need 5-15% less calories than someone who has been 130 pounds consistently.

EXAMPLE:

Let’s say Lauren has been dieting for the last 10 years. She’s tried keto, intermittent fasting, juice cleanses and is constantly trying to eat less than 1400 calories per day.

At first, Lauren noticed she lost 10 pounds when she drastically cut her calories from 2000 to 1400. However, now she’s “stuck” and she just cant seem to lose the extra body fat around her stomach.

She cuts her calories to 1200, the scale doesn’t move. Her energy is low. She has sleepless nights, irritable days, head and stomach aches.

She cuts her calories to 1000 in hopes to drop the last 10 pounds, the scale doesn’t move much again. Her hair is brittle, her skin is dry, the bags under her eyes are not designer.

Because we know - “when calories are low, metabolism is slow” we know that her metabolism is slowing down to meet her low intake as a survival mechanism and therefore she’s not losing weight like she had previously.

Where does she go from here? She can’t eat any less or she will die. The side effects are slowly killing her. She feels constant cravings to eat a dozen doughnuts. This dieting is miserable and she still “feels fat”.

This is Lauren’s body adapting to her low calorie intake. It’s shutting down bodily functions that take up to much of the precious and sparse energy coming in. It’s adapting to do less functions and use less calories. This leaves Lauren feeling plateaued in her fat loss and zombie like in her life.

This is where reverse dieting starts.

When done properly reverse dieting can help restore the metabolism in the following ways:

• Increase the BMR and therefore increase the amount of calories burnt at rest

• Have more energy to work harder in the gym and therefore burn more calories and build lean muscle mass as well as an increase in general daily movement due to increased caloric consumption (energy)

• Digestion regulates and returns to normal allowing your body to function optimally

WHO IS REVERSE DIETING FOR:

• The yo-yo dieter

• The last 10 pounds

• I’m eating 1200 calories and still not losing weight

• I have tried every diet and nothing works

• The workout junkie who loves to push the limits on everything

• The reverse diet is not for someone who is currently eating in a caloric surplus (we can help you determine this)

HOW TO START A REVERSE DIET:

The goal with reverse dieting is to increase your maintenance calories.

Maintenance calories: The amount of calories needed to stay consistent at your healthy weight.

Here’s the catch, reverse dieting is the hardest diet you will ever complete. It can be mentally tough to watch the scale potentially go up slightly as calories increase. It can feel confusing to be told to eat more. It’s a long term approach that could take a year before you see results. It can be effected by your age and past dieting history. Lastly, you need to be detailed, committed and precise on your caloric intake. The counting of calories is enough to drive you mad. The reward? If you do it right, you’ll never have to diet again. That’s why at Jolt, we coach you through the whole process in our Metabolic Restoration phase.

Step 1: Determine how many calories you are currently eating on average a daily basis

Step 2: Take that caloric intake and hit it consistently everyday for 2-3 weeks

Step 3: Increase that caloric intake by 10% every 1-2 weeks - be as consistent as possible

Studies show that “re-feeding” at 20% above maintenance calories did not produce excess fat gain, but re-feeding at 40%+ did show an increase in body fat.

Step 4: Track your clothing and how your body looks and feels - when reverse dieting is consistent, slow, incremental and paired with resistance training we shouldn’t see a huge increase in body fat. Take progress photos, use a measuring tape, weigh yourself weekly (don’t stress about it, its just data), track energy levels, workout performance, digestion, and hunger signals.

Step 5: Stop increasing by 10% when you are at a safe caloric intake for your body or if you gain excess body fat. A coach can determine your maintenance calories or you.

Step 6: Enter the Fat Loss Activation phase with Jolt Fitness Nutrition Methods

Reverse dieting needs to be paired with a resistance training program. The combination of increasing calories and the signal to build more muscle helps us build lean mass. Building lean muscle mass helps increase the metabolism. We have you covered at Jolt for your resistance training needs in 1-1 training, classes, or online from our app.

AFTER REVERSE DIETING

Enter phase 3 of the Jolt Nutrition Methods - Fat Loss Activation.