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Metabolism Rehabilitation: A DIY Reverse Dieting Guide


Metabolism Rehabilitation: Important Terms to Know
Metabolism Rehabilitation: An Overview
Step 1: Getting Started
Step 2: Learning How to Count Macros/IIFYM
Step 3: Baselining & Training
Step 4: Calculating Your Individual Macros
Step 5: Reverse Dieting
Step 6: Planning Your Goals

Step 5: Reverse Dieting

Ah, reverse dieting. Sounds great on paper. But how the heck do you actually do it?

It’s really NOT hard. At all. Yet people pay tons of money hiring other people to tell them exactly what I am about to tell you. If little old me, Cait Roberts, can do it completely on my own – SO CAN YOU. Here’s how:

Start your own “Macro Experiment”
Make a chart that looks like mine! You can obviously leave off the bodyfat % unless you feel so inclined to measure yours. Here’s a sample of what my actual chart looks like:

Date                 Weight (lb)           BF%              Protein (g)          Carbs         Fat          Total Cal
8.13.14            110                        16.0               117                     161              34           1,418 (+58)
8.6.14              110                        15.7               117                     151              32           1,360 (+58) 
7.30.14            109.5                    15.5                117                     141              30           1,302 (+58)
7.23.14            110.5                    15.7                117                     131              28           1, 244 (+18)
7.16.14            109                        15.0               117                     131              26           1,226 (+58)
7.9.14              109                        14.9               117                     121              24           1,168 (+49)
7.2.14              110                        15.6               117                     111              23           1,119 (+49)
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

Every week you will add in calories to your daily caloric intake. You will be adding CARBS and FAT. Protein should stay the same. The key is to add calories at a rate in which your bodyweight remains constant. You may even lose a little weight. This is fine. You just don’t want to GAIN weight. Monitoring your weight throughout the reverse diet is KEY.

Start by adding in 2-3% of your calories. Since every body is so different, it is best to start off being conservative. So in Anna Banana’s case from Step 4, at 1,260 calories she should add in about 38 calories (3% of 1,260). She could start by adding about 5g carbs and 2g fat. You are going to want to keep your fat always between 20-30% of your total calories so you will be adding mostly carbs and a few grams of fat here and there.

If you are not gaining weight adding 5g of carbs and 1-2g of fat per week, you may want to increase to 10g of carbs and 1-2g of fat. You may be able to add even more per week depending on how your body handles it. As I said, the key during all of this is to NOT gain weight.

Once you start to gain weight, you should hold off on adding in macros for a week or so for your body to reach homeostasis again. The next week, you may want to begin increasing again, but with fewer calories. Here is an example scenario:

Anna Banana’s Reverse Diet
Week              Weight            Carbs              Protein           Fat
1                      110                 115                 121                 35
2                      110                 120                 121                 37
3                      109.5              130                 121                 39
4                      110                 140                 121                 41
5                      111                 150                 121                 43
6                      113                 150                 121                 43 (hold off this week due to weight gain)
7                      111                 155                 121                 44
8                      111                 160                 121                 45

Continue this process until you max out your metabolic rate. In other words, keep adding in calories every week until you hit a maximum caloric intake. This “threshold” is determined when you start to gain significant weight (1-2% of your bodyweight). You can continue to add in calories for however long you’d like. It just depends on if you are personally comfortable with gaining weight.

For me personally, I will probably continue to add in calories until I gain 2-3 pounds max. Then I will do a “mini cut” (reducing calories by about 10-15% for a short period of time) followed by another reverse diet. I will probably do a few cycles of this just to see what happens because I am a nerd. My personal goal is to get my metabolism as high as possible and set myself up to be able to maintain a lean/muscular physique year round. This is just my personal goal, so you should do whatever YOU want to do!

Check out all of my stats and blog entries about my stats to see exactly how many grams of carbs and fats I added per week and why I added them. This will help you understand how to do it on your own and get a better sense of when and how much to add based on my model.

Alright! One final step… planning your goals (Step 6)! 

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