For the named articleTo hear the Tik Tok girls talk, there’s a hack that lets you. Eat more food! When you don’t gain weight! And if so, that’s great Are you sick of dieting! A person can achieve all these goals with a simple method called “no more dieting”. No, it requires a name and strict protocol: Reverse Nutrition.
The basic idea of reverse dieting is to gradually add a few extra calories to your diet each week. So you normally maintain your weight at 2,000 calories per day, but you’ve been eating 1,500 calories to lose weight. You can “reverse the diet” by eating 1,600 calories a day the next week, 1,700 calories a day after that, and so on. You’ll end up back up to 2,000 calories or maybe more.
This is not a trend on Tik Tok. The word seems to be there They come from body structuresTheir sport requires them to engage in intense cycles of bulking (gaining weight to build muscle mass) and cutting (losing as much fat as possible before stepping on the stage). While the process can create glowing physiques, it also wreaks havoc on your metabolism and overall health.
Reverse dieting is one way to transition from extreme cutting, to maintenance, or bulking, and you might prefer it instead of just showing up the day after your bodybuilding show. Slowly Increase the amount of food you eat as you regain your maintenance calories.
This idea has fueled the current trend of influencers turning the reverse diet into a cure for your diet-related complaints. But it doesn’t work that way.
The science behind the reverse diet
some You’ll hear the claims from skinny women doing abs on Tik Tok and from bodybuilders who only believe them, bro. they are. is true. Among them:
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- Your metabolism adapts to dieting, so over time you have to eat less and less food to keep losing weight (this is a Notice).
- After eating for a long time, you can eat a very low amount of calories.
- Eating more food allows your body to stop being so starved of calories, and increases the amount of calories your body burns..
- After you increase your calories, you can lose weight again when you eat a day More food than when you were deep in your diet.
There are also many falsehoods and half-truths. You may hear that increasing your calories too quickly after a meal makes your body store fat, or that you can increase your calories by 1,000 and still lose weight, or that something causes hormones like cortisol or something. (Scroll long enough on fitness TikTok and someone will explain that all your problems are due to cortisol. Drink up.)
Either way, this is where the “reverse diet” comes in. The cure for all of these ailments is thought to be simply adding 50 to 100 calories to your diet each week. The process is slow and requires patience, but stick with it and you might as well look it. This Girl (pretend to move my head to show her the before and after photos I green screened behind me) 2,400 calories instead of 1,200.
So what is it? in fact What is the truth about reverse dieting, and why is everyone on it? Let’s take a closer look.
When it goes right, a “reverse diet” is just “not eating a diet”, but it has more rules
After reading all the above points, you might be thinking ok.So why not just stop dieting? You eat more food, your body burns more calories, and then you either eat again or – crazy idea here – it’s no longer a diet. Heck, you can give it to get Weight one test.
And that, in fact, is the correct answer. Just stop eating. The world will not end. You can eat food again, and you will be fine. So why reverse the diet?
According to Eric Trexler, a nutrition and metabolism researcher; Put it herethe main one Reverse dieters’ goal waTo transition smoothly from calorie deficit, to maintenance, to them After the bodybuilding competition without gaining more fat than them, first bulk required to the. One problem with this approach is that bodybuilders are so heavy after eating Desire To regain fat. You can’t stay dangerously lean forever, and that’s true whether you’re a meathead or a TikTok girl.
On social media, reverse dieting is defined as a way to maintain a diet while consuming more calories. It’s true that if you’re in a 500 calorie deficit and you’re only adding 50 calories a week, you’ll stay in that deficit for about 10 weeks. As Trexler explains, “This is only used to slow down and save even the most basic and fast aspects of recovery. [the dieter’s] Life is unnecessarily difficult. “
Reverse dieting is not a cure for long-term dieting
I think there are two things going on here. One is relatively harmless. LAnd let’s say they were on a diet And you are ready to start gaining weight. Instead of eating an extra 1000 calories each day (to increase from a 500 calorie deficit to a 500 calorie surplus), you can eat a few hundred more this week, then add a few hundred more the next week, and so on. You’ll be less surprised by changes in your weight (eating more food means there’s more food in your stomach, so the scale may go up a bit more than that) and it can be easier to estimate how many calories you’re eating. Moving forward.
But that’s not how it’s being portrayed on social media. He’s telling chronic dieters that thin women can eat extra food while staying super thin if they follow a strict reverse diet protocol. But strictness and expectations can be harmful in themselves.
For an extreme example, see This video A registered dietitian and eating disorder specialist. She described a woman who was seeking help to recover from an eating disorder. The woman had such a low body weight, with attached Health issues, her nutritionist says, “she needs it.[ed] To gain weight immediatelyHe said. But instead of following her care team’s instructions, which allowed her to gain pounds a week, she secretly put herself on a reverse diet protocol. She took her to a very low level where she was eating just 50 calories per week. three months To gain a full kilogram of body weight – basically delaying her recovery by three months.
And I think we should take a closer look at why the reverse diet posts are so popular Social media corners focused on weight loss. Although eating lots of sounds is healthy – it’s a good start! – Following a strict reverse diet is another way to limit.
Reverse dieting is sometimes a way to restrict even more.
Let’s say, like most of the Tik Tok examples, you’re currently eating 1,200 calories (officially Starvation diet) and no longer lose weight. Even if you’re a petite woman who doesn’t exercise – maybe it’s because you don’t have the energy? It can be calories. 1,600 or more. So you should eat 1,250 next week? And then 1,300 a week? At that rate, it takes Eight weeks To find a number that should be even Maintenance for you. Even if you don’t have an eating disorder, you are creating the same problem for yourself as the ED patient in the dietitian’s case study.
What is more important? to me 50 or 100 calories is the perfect amount. If I’m aiming to eat 2,000 calories a day, maybe some days I’ll have 1,950 and some days I’ll have 2,100. It will balance out over time. But if you are trying to hit Exactly 1,850 and not 1,900 (because it is 1,900 next to (Weekly target) You should watch your food carefully. It’s a lifestyle where you weigh your toast before and after you spread the peanut butter, and you don’t want to eat at a restaurant, because how many calories are on each menu item? What if they are heavy with the thorn?
In my #Reverseediting TikTok scroll, I found women talking about having to deal with missing out on family meals and stress from friends during reverse dieting. Apparently, they haven’t taken a step too far from the food-land. For these people, really “Reverse” basically seems like a way to extend their diet. You can eat in maintenance for those eight weeks, but instead you’re restricting. And then what? Reverse dieting is often described as a way to increase calorie burning. So you can eat again.
While the influencers are gaining muscle and eating fairly healthy calorie numbers (assuming the numbers they’re citing are true), they’re still all lying around tongue-in-cheek and sensitive and showing abs photos. Giving priority to softness Even when gaining muscle It’s some back-ass. It’s okay not to be able to see your belly when you’re trying to get bigger. Like the powerful JF Caron They put it famously.“Abs is not a power thing. It’s a sign that you haven’t eaten enough.”