Will Reverse Dieting Fix Your Metabolism?
Reverse dieting is growing in popularity, especially as the bodybuilding community talks more about it. The hashtag #reversedieting has 45 million (and counting) hits on TikTok and there are even reverse dieting “coaches”. But what even is reverse dieting? Is it the true cure to a slow metabolism?
If this is your first time here - hello and welcome! My name is Hannah and I am a non-diet dietitian with a mission of helping people ditch the diets and make peace with food.
In this blog we will cover:
What is reverse dieting?
Who is reverse dieting for?
Does reverse dieting work?
Risks of reverse dieting
What is reverse dieting?
Reverse dieting is exactly what it sounds like. It is the “diet after the diet”. Reverse dieting involves progressively increasing calorie intake to boost one’s resting metabolic rate back to its “original” rate. This calorie increase is meant to be done gradually to limit how much fat mass is put on.
Mainly used in the bodybuilding and fitness community, reverse dieting is claimed to help increase muscle mass while minimizing fat gain. This approach to eating is frequently adopted by those who compete in bodybuilding and bikini competitions, especially in the off-season as the athletes are trying to build muscle.
Who is reverse dieting for?
As already mentioned, reverse dieting is largely used in the fitness community, but it is also being welcomed as a solution to those who have experienced metabolic adaptation. Metabolic adaptation (sometimes referred to as “starvation mode”) is a normal response to dieting and losing weight. When we restrict our food intake, our body does not know if we are intentionally doing it for “health” or because we are stranded on a dessert without any food, so to keep us safe it slows the metabolism down so that we need fewer calories to keep our body functioning. It’s a survival mechanism!
While metabolic adaptation is a good thing (again, it is our body keeping us safe), it is one of the large reasons why diets don’t work and make people feel like they “fail” when they gain weight after dieting.
If you have been dieting for a long time, it is likely that your metabolism has adapted, or “slowed down”. Here are some possible signs of metabolic adaptation:
Gas
Bloating
Fatigue
Heartburn
Constipation
Diarrhea
Increased hunger
Sleep disturbances
Weight gain
Plateauing
Anxiety
Loss of muscle
Irregularity of periods
Low immunity
This is where reverse dieting may come into play. One possible way to increase the metabolic rate is to stop dieting and slowly increase calorie intake and get back to feeding your body what it needs.
Does reverse dieting work?
Will reverse dieting actually help you speed up a slow metabolism? The short answer is - ehh?
To be more clear, there is not much peer-reviewed research at this time. Success with reverse dieting is largely anecdotal. There are many people that claim that reverse dieting works wonders for them and their body, but personal success stories are not the same as scientific evidence.
One reason why reverse dieting does not get an immediate stamp of approval from me is because there are a lot of unknowns . For example, there is not really any way to know exactly how many calories you should add to make your metabolism happy again. Plus, how do we know when you have “succeeded” with reverse dieting? According to the set point weight theory, there is no way to know what your body’s “best” weight is or how much muscle mass versus fat mass is optimal for your unique body. All of these unknowns can make people feel like they have “failed” at reverse dieting when the end result doesn’t match their expectation.
Risks of reverse dieting
There are some outcomes to watch out for while reverse dieting, especially for those with a history of a poor relationship with food.
Refeeding syndrome
If you have been eating a low calorie diet for a while and then drastically increase calorie intake too rapidly, this could lead to what is known as refeeding syndrome. This causes a potentially fatal shift in fluid and electrolyte balance due to a spike in insulin in response to greater caloric intake.
Obsessive calorie counting
Reverse dieting often involves strategic calorie counting, which can be a slippery slope into disordered eating habits for some people. I share more tips to stop calorie counting here.
Ignoring hunger and fullness signals
If you are on an intuitive eating journey, reverse dieting may not be a good fit for you, especially if it involves strict calorie counting. Using external information (such as MyFitnessPal) to determine what and how much we “should” eat will make it very difficult to tune into your body’s internal hunger and fullness cues.
If you would like to learn more about intuitive eating and get support on your journey to food freedom, be sure to join The Nutrition Reboot membership. This is my private intuitive eating club where fellow ex-dieters can learn all about intuitive eating with the support and guidance from me and others members via our private Facebook group.
Bottom line
Reverse dieting may be beneficial for speeding up a metabolism that has slowed down due to chronic dieting. When possible, it is important to work with a professional, such as a registered dietitian, to ensure that calorie intake is adjusted properly.
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