The Real Truth About Reverse Dieting
By John Gorman. John is the owner of Team Gorman LLC, Host of Elite Physique University Podcast, Co-founder of The Physique Summit Conference, and also sponsored by 1st Phorm and STRONG GYM.
(Note: if you are not familiar with what reverse dieting is about, read my article on reverse dieting HERE first before you read this, it will help you understand better)
Ask anyone in the industry what reverse dieting is and most will be able to give you the answer quite easily- it’s systematically adding calories back in and pulling cardio out slowly after a period of dieting. Reverse dieting is one of the most trending topics in our sport and has been for years now, and as time goes on more and more coaches and athletes are catching on just how important it is for longevity and health.
Adding calories in and cutting cardio back- sounds simple enough right? Would you believe me if I told you that only about 1 in 10 clients will complete a reverse diet without falling off the wagon multiple times? I don’t mean once, I mean MULTIPLE times, for days at a time. It’s true. I have helped hundreds of clients since 2010 reverse diet, so I am not talking about a small amount of experience here.
Most people get the impression that reverse dieting will leave them stage lean, shredded, and eating hundreds of carbs after 2-3 months of reversing. They see coaches such as myself or our Team Gorman Metabolic Specialist Kristina Russell posting pics and stories of people who are only up a few pounds from their stage weight yet eating hundreds of carbs and doing zero cardio. It’s easy to get caught up in the success of reverse dieting, but today I am here to tell you what most coaches won’t- reverse dieting is the HARDEST thing you will ever do in our sport. Nothing compares.
This is what most people think reverse dieting will be like:
– They will stay lean, and eat a ton of food
– Hunger will go away that they experienced from dieting
– Easy to stick to since eating more food
– They think they need to strive for perfection
– “I can do it like the success stories I have seen”
This is what the actual truth of reverse dieting looks like:
– Most of you will NOT stay super lean, it’s different for every person but most will get back to their body fat set point. The goal is to get there slowly on the highest amount of calories possible NOT fast from binge eating.
– Everyone is more hungry due to the process of speeding up the metabolism from adding calories back in. Hunger is often said to be far worse than while dieting down. This may be due to the fact that while dieting down metabolism is naturally slowing, while reverse dieting it is slowly increasing and so does the hunger.
– It takes a lot of time to reverse diet. However long you spent dieting you should spend that amount of time getting calories up to repair metabolism and optimize thyroid function.
– You will NOT be perfect on a reverse diet, and you should expect yourself to be. There is not only the physical hunger from increased metabolism, but the mental breaking point almost everyone experiences after a diet. There is no show, no set date, only adding food in and fighting against hunger and the will to EAT.
REMEMBER THIS FACT ABOUT REVERSE DIETING- REVERSE DIETING IS DONE TO RESTORE METABOLISM BY ADDING CALORIES IN AND TRYING TO HOLD OFF FAT GAIN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE SO YOU END UP WITH THE HIGHEST METABOLIC CAPACITY POSSIBLE FOR THE NEXT TIME YOU DIET.
The absolute worst thing a dieter can do is finish a hard diet and then go out and binge eat for weeks and put on a ton of weight. Not only is a couple few weeks not enough to restore metabolism, they gained a ton of fat and now they still have to work at getting their calories up. This is the worst scenario a dieter can find themselves in. I have friends, clients, and know many others who have done this to themselves and they are essentially shooting themselves in the foot.
So what happens when you do cheat? Do you cardio it off the next day or all week? Do you drop your calories real low the rest of the week to “make up for it?” Do you break down and take illegal fat burners (clen anyone?) haha, don’t laugh though you would be surprised at just what people will do after they binge. The answer is you should never resort back to doing a bunch of cardio, or going very low calorie that actually negates the purpose of reverse dieting. The right answer is to move on. It is water under the bridge, a small bump in a long road that is the lifestyle we all choose to live. In the grand scheme of things is breaking down and cheating 4-5 x in a 12 week reverse diet the end of the world? Hell no it’s not. It’s not ideal, but don’t beat yourself up so bad you go to extremes and start doing tons of cardio or drop your cals real low or God forbid break down and take drugs. When a client cheats on their diet I talk them through it, help them understand that it is natural they are going to break down from time to time in the offseason and anyone that looks down on that isn’t being realistic. The answer- simply get back on the plan and strive to have a great week, great workouts, spot on the diet the rest of the week and move past it. BE CONSISTENT NOT PERFECT!!!!! That in the long run will get you where you want to be.
Dont think I am being easy on anyone though, it’s not an excuse to go out and cheat. Just make sure you recognize it for what it is and learn from it.
Never resort to tons of cardio or super low cals after cheating
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article where I will discuss advanced reverse dieting approaches……..