Diet and Fitness -3 (Reverse Dieting)

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Starting and/or following an exercise and diet program for a period of time is one thing but what should an individual do after he/she has achieved his/her respective goal. For goals such as weight gain, etc which thrive on an increased caloric intake, after achieving the goal going back to maintenance slowly or even further increasing calories may be followed depending on the new goal the fitness enthusiast may have.

On the other side, for individuals following a weight loss/fat loss program who have achieved their goal may find that things don't usually work out as they had assumed. While this may certainly not be the case for all, some fitness enthusiasts can face the issue of an ever increasing weight and/or increasing body fat percentage weeks/months after they completed the diet. In situations like these following a reverse dieting approach may prove to be beneficial.


When following a weight loss diet usually the consumption of food (calories) steadily goes down, which may result in the adaptation of metabolism to a lowered caloric intake. After the diet is over, most people just either jump back to their previous maintenance calories or may even go overboard to "reward" themselves. What usually ends up happening as a result of this is an increase in their body weight and/or body fat levels to what it was before starting the diet or even higher than that. 

While most may assume of reverse dieting to be a strategy used for reducing body weight and/or body fat after their weight loss diets end, this is however not its purpose. Reverse dieting may be utilized to get back to maintaince or even a higher caloric intake (than maintaince) with as minimal as possible weight/fat increments. In certain cases it may even happen that someone may lose body weight/fat while following a reverse dieting approach, although this is rare. 

To serve as an example consider the following: 

Suppose fitness follower A ends her diet at 1600 calories, one option by which she may follow a reverse dieting approach can be by adding in 50 calories each week for the next 8 weeks to reach back to her maintenance calorie intake of 2000 calories. Another option for A which is slightly faster may be of adding somewhere around 100 - 200 calories each week to reach her maintenance intake of 2000 calories in 4 weeks or less. Some issue that may or may not come up during dieting include nutritional deficiencies, hormonal issuse, physiochological and psychological issues, etc. Based on the severity of these issues a slower or faster reverse dieting approach may be followed. 

 Also checkout: Metabolism and Is Weight Loss Different for Females

Note: Before starting/changing an exercise and/or dietary/supplement program consult a qualified doctor/health care professional.

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