What is a reverse diet?
There is a lot of chatter right now on social media about a reverse diet, so let’s talk about it. What is a reverse diet and do you need to do it to reach your fat loss goals?
First off, what is a reverse diet? A reverse diet is a way to go from being in a caloric deficit to being at your maintenance calories. What are maintenance calories? Maintenance calories are the amount of calories you can eat in a day to sustain your body and your results.
Most women are ALWAYS in a deficit, like for their whole life, which isn’t a good thing. Being consistently in a caloric deficit can stress the body out especially when your hormones are changing (like in perimenopause) making it harder to lose weight.
When you start to reverse diet most people will actually see weight loss/inches lost because their body feels safe because it is getting more food. When our bodies feel safe it will allow for fat loss (especially belly fat).
Why should you do a reverse diet? Personally, I think everyone needs to do a reverse diet so they know where their maintenance calories are. Futhermore, since more women are always in a caloric deficit and not seeing results, going into this reverse diet will actually help you to see fat loss results.
Additionally, a lot of women I work with think they need to lose 10-20lbs but in reality they need to gain muscle to get that toned look they want. You can’t gain muscle being in a caloric deficit so learning where your maintenance calories are will help you to gain that muscle THEN you can go into a caloric deficit for a short time to shed the layer of fat over the muscle you have built.
If you have never done a reverse diet before it can be hard! If you go up in calories too quickly your body will retain fluid and fat because it’s trying to figure out what you are doing so I recommend working with a coach that can help you with this process. A reverse diet can take from 1-6 months depending on the person and how your body and hormones adapt to change.
If you want to learn more about how to balance your hormones and lose fat while still enjoying your favorite foods/drinks then work with Lisa! Click here for all the information
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