Claire

Reverse Diet Update

I am officially 6 months into my reverse diet under the guidance of Josh Ledbetter.

Starting a reverse diet is scary – the thought of eating more and more calories was daunting because I did not want to lose all the progress I had made so far.  I loved my results and was afraid to undo them!  But with Josh and Julie’s encouragement, I started a reverse diet at the end of October.

A reverse diet basically just means increasing your carbs and fat gradually (carbs by about 8 g/set and fat by about 2 g/set) so that your body can get used to eating MORE while sustaining minimal fat/weight gain.  You can read my intro to reverse diets blog post here for more background.

So what happened over the past 6 months?  For starters, I did NOT lose all my progress!  In fact, I feel leaner than ever before.

Right before starting the reverse diet, I was eating 120 g carbs, 60 g fat, and 120 g protein (1,500 calories).  I won’t lie to you – I was always hungry and never felt satiated.  I was using a weekly cheat meal that probably added an additional 3,000 calories to my week and it just wasn’t a lifestyle I was going to be able to sustain long-term (read about why I quick the “cheat meal” here).  Deep down I knew the reverse diet was what my body needed.

Today I am eating 207 g carbs, 63 g fat, and 126 g protein (1,900 calories).  I never have a problem fitting in foods I love (cookies, ice cream, pizza, etc.) in controlled amounts with these macros.  I am MUCH more satisfied and don’t find myself obsessing about food near as much as I did when I was on the body fat loss macros.

I was sitting at about 125 lbs. right before I started the reverse diet and now I’m drifting in the 126-127 lbs. range.  That is minimal weight gain and eating 400 calories more/day.  I’ll take it!

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I will continue adding calories every 3-4 weeks until I get to my maintenance level (about 2,050 calories/day).  After that, I might do a mini-cut just to get as lean as possible for summer or I might just use maintenance macros for a while.  Either way, I will have repaired my metabolism completely and be set up for an easier time cutting in the future.

If you are thinking about starting a reverse diet but want to know more about my experience, leave a comment below and we can chat!

 

6 comments

  2. Hey, I’m tegan 👋🏼! Over the past 6 months I’ve been trying to work out my macros by seeing what best fits me. I’ve used many different online calculators etc to try determine what works for me. I think I finally worked out that I need about 1400 calories to maintain/very small deficit a day. I also have an Apple Watch which tells me my calories burned a day. I’m now interested in being able to gain a little more muscle but I dunno whether it would be best to have a maintained calorie deficit for a while before adding more calories to my diet. I only ask because your macros were the same as mine before hand when you was eating 1500 calories. I am 5ft and weigh 7 stone 10lbs and am 21 years old and female, to put into context.

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  3. Your post was an answer to my prayer. My name is Emily and i am Struggling like never before. I began My weight at 143… so i used my fitness pal and have only been eating 1,200 a day. I used To workout all the time too with that however now that i am Down 18.9 pounds i have No energy to workout too. I am Now 123.8 and eating 1200 and idk if i can Do it anymore. I’m tired but i am SO scared to eat more bevause i am Terrified of gaining weight. Please help me. I don’t know what to do anymore. My instagram is emilynicolebender

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    • Hi Emily! It sounds like you aren’t eating enough to sustain your lifestyle…keep in mind I am not a dietician or professional. Have you sought out professional help?

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