STATS:

Date                 Weight (lb)           BF%              Protein (g)          Carbs         Fat          Total Cal
6.25.14            110.5                     15.4              117                    101              22           1,070 (+40)
6.18.14            110                        16.1              117                     91               22            1,030 (+43)
6.11.14            112.5                     16.8              117                     81               20            987 (+40)*
START                                                                  117                     77               19            947

Seriously trippyyy. I've maintained/lost weight, lost 1.4% body fat, and INCREASED my calories. In the back of my mind, I've been afraid this whole time that maybe I was different than all the other girls out there who were successful with reverse dieting. Maybe I had restricted for too long. Maybe it only works for bodybuilders/competitors, instafamous fitspirations… maybe I was hopeless. 

It feels SO AMAZING to see this actually working. Of course, time will tell just how high I can get my calories up… but even the 40 calories a week I am adding has made such a difference. I can do 3 unassisted pull-ups now! I'm feeling stronger and just all around happier every day. I looooooove reverse dieting!! And ice cream!! :P

- C

O. Mah. Gah. All I can say is a picture is worth a thousand words.

PROTEIN PIZZA
274 kcal -- 10F / 19C / 23P

Ingredients:
- 1 low carb tortilla wrap (I used Ole Extreme Wellness brand)
- 15 slices low fat turkey pepperoni
- 1/5 cup low cal pasta sauce (I used Simple Truth brand)
- 1/4 cup low fat mozzarella cheese








Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a baking pan and put wrap on it. Top with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and any other ingredients you desire (veggies, onions, pineapple, ham, whatever! This recipe is totally modifiable).
3. Put in oven for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and when everything is all melted and "crust" is cripsy to your desired crispiness, take it out and EAT!

Soooooooo freaking gooooooooood. <3

- C

STATS:

Date                 Weight (lb)           BF%              Protein (g)          Carbs         Fat          Total Cal
6.18.14            110                        16.1              117                     91               22            1,030 (+43)
6.11.14           112.5                     16.8              117                      81               20            987 (+40)*
START                                                                  117                     77               19            947

Wow! I say there is a first time for everything because this is the first time in my life that I have not actually wanted the scale to go down so fast. In the past, I would have been stoked to lose 2.5 lbs in a week! Not the new Cait. ;) 

*By Monday (day 6), I had already lost 2.5 lbs which I felt was too quick of a rate. I'm not trying to lose the little hard-earned muscle that I have actually put on this past year. Tuesday, I upped my carbs to 97 (+16C) just as a test to see what would happen. I gained .5 lbs, which I am sure was water. I've noticed a lot of reverse dieters reporting this phenomenon as they introduce a significant carb increase initially. I wanted to try to balance out my weight, so yesterday (Tuesday), I brought my carbs down to 91 which seems to be a good place for now. So I do want to say, for the sake of this experiment, that the AVERAGE calories for last week was 987:
[(5x972) + 1036Monday + 1012Tuesday] / 7 =987
I'm going to TRY not to make adjustments like that during the week. It was the first week so I was just trying to get a feel for how my body responds.

This past week I felt a lot of stronger in the gym! I'm already feeling the effects of increased carbs and fats plus the new CONSISTENCY of daily caloric intake. And it is GOOD. Also, eating oatmeal before working out is GOOD. I used to restrict so hardcore that I wouldn't eat before working out.. and I'm not talking about fasted cardio. I'm taking about heavy lifting days. No more of that nonsense! By the way, I have reduced my HIIT sessions to just 1x/wk now. I've been focusing more on resting less between sets and doing supersets/drop sets to keep my heart rate up… aka "cardio" from lifting. I also started a new split:

Monday - Biceps/Triceps/Abs
Tuesday - Glute/Quad
Wednesday - Shoulders/Back
Thursday - Hamstring/Quad/Calf
Friday - Chest/Triceps
Saturday - HIIT/Plyo/Abs
Sunday - Zzzzzzzzzz

This week I am adding in 10C and 2F. I want to keep my calories consistent so unless I'm losing/gaining a TON of weight really quickly, I will not adjust midweek or anything. Yay for being over 1000 calories! Let's see if I can get to 2000 some day. If I can make it there, I will have to throw a 2000K Party! :P 

- C

If you are anything like me, guilt and anxiety have both always been in some way tied to food. Good food, bad food, clean food, dirty food. But what if we could see food for what it REALLY is -- sustenance, nutrition, nourishment that we need for our bodies to function properly. It is a gift from God! Seriously, what if God never created humans to eat food? Would that not suck? FOOD IS ALL SO GOOD! I know that sounds totally obvious and dumb, but I never honestly believed that statement 100%. This new mentality and nutrition "training" that IIFYM is giving me is revolutionizing my life. I never have to feel guilty for eating anything! In fact, I'll be enjoying a guilt-free cup of my favorite ice cream tonight (cookies n' cream)! :) I love flexible dieting!

All that to say, I have a new hobby! COOKING HEALTHY VERSIONS OF "BAD" FOODS! So I'll be posting those recipes on this little blog, macros included. Here's a little something I whipped up last night… to *die* for. Give it a try!

HEALTHY PHILLY CHEESE STEAK WRAPS
283 kcal -- 8F / 20C / 28P

Ingredients:
- 1 low carb tortilla wrap (I used Ole Extreme Wellness brand)
- 3 oz thin sliced beef steaks
- 30 g red bell pepper
- 59 g white onion
- 20 g lowfat mozzarella cheese shredded






Directions:
1. In a pan, start cooking the peppers and onions on a stovetop on medium high for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir frequently. Bring the temperature down to medium low once they really start cooking and keep an eye on them. You are aiming to caramelize the onions.
2. To prepare steaks, first pat them dry with paper towels. Season them with desired seasonings (I used Famous Dave's Steak & Burger Seasoning -- best seasoning ever). Put them all on a plate and pop them in the freezer (until they get just slightly frozen on the edges). (If you are interested in why you should slightly freeze them first, click here.)
3. Fire up the grill to about 600 degrees then put the steaks on. It's best to do just a few at a time. They take about 30 seconds to cook. Flip over steaks and cover grill for a few more seconds until done. Another option is to cook the steak on the stovetop.
4. Assemble wraps with meat, cheese, and veggies. Place in a George Forman grill or the microwave for a few seconds until everything melts perfectly together.

ENJOY! <3

- C

STATS:

Date                 Weight (lb)           BF%              Protein (g)          Carbs         Fat          Total Cal
6.11.14            112.5                    16.8              117                      81               20            972 (+25)
START                                                                  117                     77               19            947

First post! Exciting times. If you're wondering what the heck this is all about, please read the about section before diving into this blog… otherwise it will not make any sense why I am eating such low calories at the moment. I'm attempting to reverse my metabolism by a process called reverse dieting… and I'm posting everything online to share this "experiment" with anyone who is interested.

Although slightly anxious, I'm excited to officially start this reverse diet. I just hope and pray it works for me. I have never heard of it not working for someone who did it correctly, but I don't know of anyone who has been on such low calories for such a long period of time as me (around 700 calories for 5-6ish years). Kinda makes me nervous, but either way, it will be interesting.

We'll see how this goes! I'll be posting my weekly stats (the "experiment") as well as feelings, thoughts, recipes, etc., here on this little blog as I go through this long process to rehabilitate my metabolism. 

It will not be easy but it will be worth it. 
I owe it to myself.

- C