5 Of the Most Common Symptoms I See in People Who Need to Reverse Diet
Often more than not, I receive dozens of inquiries for coaching from men and women who seem to be chronically under-eating. Yet, they inquire about my fat loss program. These are the individuals who typically have tried every diet under the sun and come to me frustrated because they are no longer seeing progress with anything.
In these cases, I recommend these people to actually stop dieting and begin to reverse diet to see weight loss results. I explain to them that they have a better chance of being patient, holding off on weight loss and putting their goal of fat loss on the back burner in order to enjoy long term success and freedom from counting calories down the line.
It’s important to understand that when you’re in a reverse diet, your primary goal cannot be to lose weight or drop body fat. Your goal should be to maintain close to your current weight while increasing the amount of food your metabolism can handle. A reverse diet is intended to strengthen the metabolism over time for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is to prepare the body to respond more favorably the next time you enter a diet. This is why the process of achieving your goals may take a bit longer following this approach, however, the pay-off is MUCH greater.
Here’s the thing: If you push your body to extremes, follow a low carb/low-calorie diet, and do copious amounts of cardio, yes your body will respond...in the beginning. Reverse dieting is a slower weight loss process, but with lasting results.
Results may come fast and I mean, who doesn’t want that? However, you have to remember that your metabolism is incredibly adaptive and if you push it to extremes too fast and too often, it will become more efficient (and remember, efficiency is a bad thing in regards to your metabolism). This is when your body hits a plateau.
I have seen these 5 most common signs uniformly across men and women who inquire with me about reverse dieting:
1. You have come off of an extreme weight loss diet and never changed anything after the initial weight loss. (AKA never started to eat more)
If you dieted hard and lost more than 15-20 pounds and never brought your calories/food back up, there's a good chance (especially if it’s been over 6 months), that your metabolism is adapted and is slower than what it used to be. Fear not! With a proper reverse diet, we can help speed it back up.
2. You have a history of yo-yo dieting
If you’re someone who has tried the keto diet, weight watchers, paleo, IF, The Clean diet, juice cleanses, and any other diet and “trick” under the sun to lose weight, chances are you do in fact experience some success but usually gain it right back. If this sounds familiar, odds of you getting your calories back up to at least your maintenance is slim and the odds of you reaching a surplus in your calories to train your metabolism to speed up is even lower. If you’re someone who is constantly jumping from one diet to another with little success rates, it’s likely you’ll benefit from a reverse diet.
3. You have hit a plateau and nothing you do seems to work or make a change in your body
You’re literally working out everyday, doing countless amounts of cardio, wearing waist trainers, using heavier weights, using lighter weights and lots of reps, walking over 10K steps everyday, and yet, nothing is changing your body. Sounds like you’ve hit a plateau my friend. You’d be a great candidate to reverse diet.
4. You don’t eat a lot (1200 calories or less a day) and you are often not even hungry
The true tell sign someone needs to reverse diet is if they’re currently eating below 1200 calories and they’ve been eating this little for 6 months or more. I don’t mean they have a couple of days a week where they miss 2 meals- I mean these men and women are usually operating from a fear mindset (of putting on weight) and can’t bring themselves to eat more food. Depending on how long they have been in this low deficit, many of them don’t even feel very hungry anymore.
5. Ladies, you’ve lost your period or it’s spotty month to month
Here’s the thing doctors won’t tell you about amenorrhea: it’s not normal. (unless you were prescribed a birth control that doesn’t give you a menses). But if you’re a woman not on birth control and don’t know why your period stopped showing up, it could be because your body is trying to tell you something. Stress can 100% be a contributing factor for missing your period- our bodies are very smart (especially us ladies). ;)
However, if you’re not very stressed but find yourself restricting food heavily, eating very low calories (below 1200 a day), find yourself at a very low body fat percentage or exercising more than 2 hours a day, your body is retaliating by literally shutting down your reproductive system. AKA it’s essentially entering into a fight or flight mode because it is under the impression you might be starving. If you were starving or in a famine, having a kid would be the last thing on your body's priority list. Keeping you ALIVE moves to the top of that list- not having a baby! Our hormone regularity thrives on fat intake and fat in the body and if we’re lacking it, it can cause hormonal disturbances throughout. If you currently have amenorrhea or experience it on or off, you might need to reverse diet.
I know the idea of eating more food is terrifying. Seriously. I know because I’ve been there myself. It took years for me to overcome my unhealthy eating habits and disordered eating. It took a toll on my body as well.
If you too are living in fear, ask yourself if you want to continue living your life as a slave to the gym and constantly putting up rules and restrictions around food?.
How many days a week would you workout in an ideal world if you felt like you didn’t “need” to? Now imagine you were doing that and getting the results you desired. Well, guess what? It is possible!
Reverse dieting is a long term investment in your body and in your overall LIFE.
Not only can it change your physical appearance but it will have a positive impact on your entire life on a greater scale you can imagine.