Dieting for long periods is not optimal for your body or mind. From your performance to your recovery, to the eventual negative hormonal adaptations (hello high cortisol!), there is NO denying that living life in a calorie deficit will eventually take its toll on you.

10 SIGNS THAT YOU MIGHT BE READY FOR REVERSE DIET:

1. You have been in a caloric deficit for as long as you can remember.
2. You regularly feel tired or lethargic during the day.
3. You struggle to fall asleep or your sleep quality is poor.
4. You don’t feel recovered from your training sessions.
5. You sometimes feel like you should be able to train harder or heavier in the gym, but you just don’t have the oomph.
6. You don’t wake up in the morning feeling refreshed.
7. You’ve been experiencing a plateau either in your strength progress or body composition goals.
8. You are struggling with compliance and are either giving up or binging regularly.
9. Your menstrual cycle has become irregular.
10. You are ready to see what fuels your body for optimal performance and hormone function! You are ready for long term big picture results!

What is a Reverse Diet?

At Fitbliss, our goal with Reverse Diets is to incrementally increase your caloric intake over time. Typically, we increase your daily calories or weekly calorie average by about 50 calories every 1-4 weeks. During this period, most clients will maintain weight (+/- 3-5#) while reducing their waist measurement and increasing their lean body mass, creating a more strong and “toned” physique.

So for example, a woman’s Reverse Diet eating starting at 1650 calories per day may look like this:

Week 3: 1700

Week 5: 1750

Week 8: 1800

Week 12: 1850

Week 15: 1900

Week 19: 2000

In this scenario, the woman would increase her daily intake by 350 calories over 5 months! More importantly, she will likely experience more energy during the day, better sleep, better training sessions, better moods and she will be on her way to optimizing her health to tackle whatever the next goal may be.

Many women love how they feel during this time and the changes they see in their bodies while eating more food! This can make the whole process more motivating and lead to a better body recomposition over time.

Anneke Cannon