How to Reverse Diet After a Calorie Deficit

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Reverse dieting requires your patience. And I know none of you like to hear that word because you want results fast and you want results like yesterday. Well, newsflash: when it comes to fitness and you getting the transformation that you want with your body composition, that requires a hell of a lot of patience. So I can't stress this one enough, that reverse dieting requires patience. One of the biggest mistakes that I see is people increasing their calories too fast because they're excited to eat more.

Hey, you guys, what is going on? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show, or if this is one of your first few episodes, welcome to the show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode number 197. We are three episodes away from 200, and I have a really fun 200th episode for you guys. But today, I am super stoked to talk about this topic with you guys.

I just want to give a big freaking shout out to you guys on Instagram that filled out my little question box that, from time to time, I like to drop on my story. What are some topics, concepts around fitness that you want to learn about that are worthy of long answers and me diving into the depths of it that I can bring to the podcast? Periodically, I drop those on my Instagram story with a little question box. And you guys gave me some really good freaking topics.

So I took maybe three or four of them and branched them out into this one and into future episodes as well. But this one, I was super stoked when I got this in the question box. So whoever did this, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I feel like this episode is going to bring a lot of value for those of you that are super interested in this topic. And that is reverse dieting.

I feel like many of you guys have heard about this concept, methodology, way of doing the nutrition side of things. I don't know what you want to call it. I'm just going to call it a concept. I know many of you guys have heard about this, but might not fully understand what reverse dieting is. So I'm going to dive into what it really is, how it works, how to do it right, some common misunderstandings about it, and some common mistakes when it comes to it.

Like I said, I love this shit, so I could jive on this all day long. And I'm really excited this topic was brought to my attention because this is worthy of a long answer. This is worthy of probably 30 minutes of talking about this stuff, breaking it down into what I hope you guys will be able to understand and apply wherever you need it in your life. So again, thank you so much to the person that dropped this in my question box.

So if you've ever gone through a period of calorie restriction, whether it be that you focused on fat loss, weight loss, you've been in competition prep, or any other reason, reverse dieting could be your key. Actually, not could be, it is your key to maintaining your progress without entirely wreaking havoc on your metabolism and/or losing all of the progress that you've made in those phases, whether it be fat loss, competition prep, weight loss, or any of the other reasons that you've been in a calorie restriction. However, there are a lot of misconceptions about this concept. And I'm going to clear that up today.

I want to share some common mistakes people make along the way and common misunderstandings that people have about this, and really just say point blank what this concept is, how you can go about it, and how you can be successful with it.

So first, let me talk about what reverse dieting is, if you guys don't know. Essentially, it's a gradual increase of your calories after a period of being in a calorie restriction, whether it be fat loss that you've been focusing on with your coach for the last three, four months and you've been slowly decreasing your calories, or whether it be that you've been in a competition prep for the last 12 weeks, whatever it may be.

Reverse dieting is a gradual increase of calories over a period of time after said calorie restriction phase. The goal here is to slowly bring your metabolism back up to speed after being in a caloric deficit, which will help you maintain the fat loss or weight loss or whatever goal you've been striving for, while at the same time increasing your caloric intake. And why is this important? Hear me out.

When you diet for an extended period of time, your metabolism adapts to that lower caloric intake. This is called metabolic adaptation. This is when your body gets really, really, really used to functioning at those fewer calories, whether it be that you've been in fat loss and you've dropped down from 2,000 calories to 1,500 calories, maybe even more to push to see how far you can get it to go. Same with competition prep.

Basically, when you're in that state, you're just surviving and adapting your body to survive in those tough conditions. You can't eat 1,200 calories for the rest of your life. And if you've ever been in competition prep, you've eaten around 1,000 calories, 1,100 calories, and you are every single day waking up being like, the only thing I have to do today is get to the end of the day where I can go back to sleep. Trust me, I've been there. I have felt that. I know that in and out of my body.

I know what that feeling feels like. So you've been functioning at those lower calories. Same goes if, maybe not as drastic as competition prep, you've been focusing on fat loss for the last four months. You've slowly been bringing your calories down, bringing it down, bringing it down. And you get to the point where you're like, I'm tired. I'm run down. I'm irritable, right? You're just surviving at this point. And it's not ideal when you're trying to maintain results and return to a normal diet without gaining any fat.

Being in that state is not ideal for a long period of time, because you can't survive for a long period of time on 1,100, 1,200, 1,300 calories. At that point, your body has adapted to this. And you want to be able to come back up to a normal diet and eat more food without gaining all that weight back, basically without wreaking havoc on your metabolism. So reverse dieting allows you to gradually reintroduce these calories without shocking your system.

It gives your metabolism time to adjust and helps you avoid the rapid fat gain, the rapid weight gain, that can happen when you jump straight from a calorie deficit to a calorie surplus, which so many people freaking do. Especially if you've been in a calorie restriction for so long and you've been in this low state and you've been just surviving, all you want to think about is food. This is why people come out of competition prep and gain back 25 pounds.

How do I know that? Because I was one of them. Your body is basically just surviving. And all I wanted to do was eat. I just wanted to stuff my face with food, really good food. And I wanted to get out of the deprivation, deprivation, deprivation that I was in for so long. So I went from calorie deficit to calorie surplus really freaking fast. And you know what I did? I shocked my system and wreaked havoc on it. And I lost all my progress really freaking quick. So I know what this feels like.

And I know how important this concept is to get right. I have messed it up personally. I've messed it up with my clients. I see my clients mess it up for themselves. That's why I'm amped up. I can feel my energy right now. I am hot about this topic. I love this topic. And I want you guys to come out of this episode today understanding the misunderstandings and also understanding the common mistakes.

So you don't fall into the trap that I have been in, what I put my clients in when I was naive years and years ago when I was basically going through the same thing, and what I've seen my clients fuck up on, even though I was telling them, yo, you've got to do it right, this is so important. And I'll tell you when I get to the common mistakes, there's a really important aspect in that one that you need to understand to get this right. So let's first talk about the misunderstandings.

This is where a few people trip up. Misunderstanding number one is they think reverse dieting equals rapid fat loss. A lot of people think that when they start reverse dieting, they're immediately going to see more fat loss. And hear me out, that can be true for some people. Some people might lose a little more fat during the early stages of reverse dieting.

But that's not the main goal. The primary purpose of reverse dieting is to maintain your fat loss or weight loss while increasing your metabolism so that your body can handle more food without packing on pounds. It's more about the long-term sustainability that comes from this than the immediate fat loss. I don't know if you've heard that, or maybe you've worked with coaches that say reverse dieting is like magic because you're going to lose more weight and you're going to lose more fat. Dude, it ain't the case for everybody.

It totally depends on you as a human and your body and how it will work with increasing calories, depending on how much stress you're under, X, Y, and Z. So a lot of people start reverse dieting thinking, my coach told me I'm going to lose more weight. And it just sets up an unrealistic expectation of reverse dieting. So that's the first misunderstanding.

The second misunderstanding is that you can increase your calories quickly, that you can dramatically increase your calories right after dieting. That is a common misconception, because some people want to jump straight from 1,200 calories to 2,000 calories. And that's where they get in trouble. That's not the case at all. That's where you start wreaking havoc on your metabolism. That's where you start gaining all the weight back way too quick. The thing to understand with this misunderstanding is that reverse dieting is a slow, methodical process.

You're aiming to increase your intake by small increments. I'm going to talk about how you can do it correctly. But your aim here is to increase intake slowly, methodically, in small increments, week after week or even biweekly. This slow pace is so freaking important because it allows your metabolism to gradually adapt rather than going into storage mode and rapidly gaining fat. That is exactly what I did.

Now, it doesn't have to be that you were in competition prep. It can be that you were just focusing on fat loss for a period of time. You lowered your calories from 2,000 to 1,200 or 2,000 to 1,500. And now you want to reverse diet because you saw some results with it, and you want to get your metabolism to adapt and take a little bit of a break. That's what reverse dieting is usually implemented for as well. But you don't want to dramatically increase your calories right after dieting, which a lot of people think they can do.

You can't. It's small, it's slow, and it's methodical. The last one, and I think this is really important, and I'm also going to talk about this one in the mistakes as well: the last misunderstanding is that you don't need to track closely. Some people think that once they finish a fat loss phase or a competition prep, they don't need to track their intake as closely during a reverse diet.

This is a huge freaking mistake. One person that comes to mind who did this so right, and I so admired her because it was one of her first shows and she learned this, I've got to give a big shout out to Mac, Amanda Mac. You know you did this right, girl, and you did a really good job at it. I was super impressed when she came into town. She's one of our team members at WarriorBabe, and she came to town and she had just finished a show a week prior. With a group of people, everyone's doing their thing, eating whatever they want.

And she's like, I planned this out. This is part of my reverse. And she stuck to it. She allowed herself one or two little bites of other things, but that was it. And I was like, damn girl, you're doing it right. That's so important. She was still tracking closely during the transition out of a caloric deficit to trying to get to maintenance. That's the right way to do it. But a lot of people think they don't need to track their intake as closely during a reverse diet. And that's a big mistake.

I've seen my clients do this. They get really lenient with themselves. They've done a period of time where they've been tracking closely for 12 weeks, four months, six months, whatever. And then they ease up on themselves because they're like, oh, I just did all this, so I can give myself a little bit of grace. But tracking is still so freaking important during the reverse diet, if not more important than in the fat loss phase. Because the increments in calories are small, you still need to be mindful of how much you're actually eating.

This helps you stay on track and ensures that you're following the process as planned. If you don't track, you could easily overshoot your calories and gain weight faster than you intended to in this phase of reverse dieting.

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Another example, or not really an example but a statement: when you're doing these small increments and you're actually paying attention and tracking them, and you see your body respond in a way that suggests maybe you need a little more time to adapt to that calorie increase, you're going to know exactly where you're at. So you're going to feel confident knowing, okay, this is where I need to sit for a little bit.

Or if your body reacted too quickly and you're getting a little bit more puffy, or you feel like you're getting a little off the rails, you can go back to where you were before making the calorie increase. For example, let's say you came out of the diet. Your first week you increased by 100 calories. I'm going to talk about this in a little bit, so just stick with me on this example. It doesn't need to make entire sense right now.

Say the first week you increased 100 calories. The second week you increased 100 calories. The third week you increased 100 calories. But you're starting to feel like, oh, 300 calories over the last three weeks is a little bit much for my body, and I'm seeing the changes happen a little too quickly. But you're paying attention because you're tracking, and maybe because you're still taking progress pictures. And you're like, I think I need to go back to where I was at week two and just sit at the 200-calorie increase for maybe two weeks. You're only going to know how to do that if you're tracking and paying attention to your body's response. That's why that misunderstanding is so freaking important to avoid.

I always get tripped up on this because I'm a little bit dyslexic. But the misunderstanding is that you don't need to track closely. You need to track closely to make sure that you understand where you're at, how much you're eating, and how your body responds, so you can ensure you're doing it the right way. So, misunderstanding number one: reverse dieting equals rapid fat loss. False. Misunderstanding number two: you can increase your calories quickly. False.

It's going to wreak havoc on your system. And misunderstanding number three: you don't need to track as closely. You need to track. It's really important for reverse dieting because the increments in calories may be small, but you need to be mindful of how much you're actually eating. Because if you overeat, even by a little, 100 calories can easily turn into 200 calories if you're not paying attention to it. Okay. So those are the misunderstandings. The mistakes are somewhat similar, but I'm going to dive a little more into the details when it comes to the mistakes.

Because there are traps that can totally derail your progress if you're not careful. Mistake number one, which I talked about in the misunderstandings, is increasing your calories too quickly. And I can't stress this one enough. This is what I said earlier I was going to talk about in the mistakes. It requires, as I said earlier, a slow, methodical process. Reverse dieting requires your patience.

And I know none of you like to hear that word because you want results fast and you want results like yesterday. Well, newsflash: when it comes to fitness and you getting the transformation that you want with your body composition, that requires a hell of a lot of patience. So I can't stress this one enough, that reverse dieting requires patience. One of the biggest mistakes that I see is people increasing their calories too fast because they're excited to eat more. Remember when I just told you that was me?

You've got to remember that you've put your body through a period of restriction. So jumping straight to a higher calorie count will lead to fat gain the majority of the time. So just to nail this one on the head: stick to gradual increases and trust the process. Mistake number two is skipping the tracking process. I'm repeating this for a reason.

When I saw this question in the box on my Instagram story, these are the things that immediately popped into my brain when I was thinking about how I was going to explain this, give a long-winded answer, share some knowledge and drop some bombs. These are the two main things. Wait, I'm about to say this backwards.

Mistake number one is increasing the calories too quickly. Mistake number two, wow, talk about dyslexia and getting this backwards, but just stick with me. Mistake number two is skipping the tracking process. There are misunderstandings and there are mistakes. Misunderstandings are basically not understanding the concept and the process properly.

And a mistake is actually doing the thing and employing it the wrong way. So the misunderstanding was that you don't need to track as closely. Mistake number two is actually skipping the tracking process. Even though reverse dieting can feel less restrictive than being in a calorie deficit, tracking is still so freaking important. I know it can be tempting, like I said, to give yourself a little bit of leeway in this phase, to eyeball your portions or assume that you're eating the right amount.

But I really have to stress the fact that precision is so key here. I've seen some of my clients do this, where they're eyeballing their portions and assuming they're eating the right amount of food. But they were eating more than what their allotted increase was for the week. And that tacks on pretty quickly. Okay?

Mistake number three is not adjusting your training. Reverse dieting isn't just about the food. As you increase your caloric intake, it is so important to adjust your training too. When it comes to strength training, this becomes even more crucial as you bring more calories into your everyday routine. You have to lift heavier weights, because that helps ensure those extra calories are actually being used to build muscle rather than being stored as fat. So if you're reverse dieting, make sure that your workouts are aligned with your goals.

Focus on strength. Focus on intensity. Focus on volume. Focus on progressive overload. What's that saying? Basically, put your food where your... no, that's not what it is. When you are eating more calories, just think that it's fueling your muscles. If you're doing it the right way, or at least in my experience, I felt more full after I put myself into a restriction and then was eating the right way with the right increases. My body got more full rather than getting fat.

Does that make sense? The increase in calories, the extra calories, is going to the muscles rather than being stored as body fat. That's the best way I can put it.

And the last mistake, and I'm going to drill this one home: people make the mistake of expecting immediate results. Reverse dieting, as I said, is slow, methodical, patient. Those are my words. It is a long game. You are not going to see drastic changes in the first couple of weeks.

And that is okay. The goal is to slowly boost your metabolism while maintaining the progress that you've made. And I will tell you this. If you are listening and your coach is putting you into a reverse diet, or maybe you're just joining the WarriorBabe program in general, and you're going from 1,200 calories to 1,300 calories really slowly, and you're like, I know I need to eat more food, but your coach has given you small increments.

I get that it can be discouraging if you don't see immediate results or you're not getting the food that you want, but you need to stay patient and you need to trust the process, because there's a method to the madness. We want to help your body adapt and your metabolism slowly boost rather than wreaking havoc on your body, stunting your metabolism, and losing progress that you've made. Or if you haven't been making progress, my brain just spirals here because I'm thinking about the women listening to this who maybe for the last five years have been under-eating and know they have to eat more.

The same method applies. Even though you haven't been seeing progress because you've been eating 1,100 calories, and we know we have to get you to 1,800 calories, it ain't going to be a big jump. We've got to gradually get you up there so we don't wreak havoc on your metabolism and we don't make you store more fat, or store fat in general. So over time, when you do this the right way, you stay patient, you trust the process, and you understand you're not going to see drastic changes in the first couple of weeks, your metabolism will adjust.

And this is what gets so freaking hard and so discouraging for people: they think they're going to see immediate results on the physical side. But the immediate results are happening on the inside. And when your metabolism adjusts and you give it the time that it needs to adjust, you'll be able to eat more without gaining fat. Point blank.

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Okay. So with all of this that I've been sharing with you guys, I hope that you're finding it helpful. I'm loving this episode so far. Now I want you guys to have some tactical takeaways to be able to go do this yourself. Or if you don't want to do it yourself, you know where you can find us. This is what we do at WarriorBabe. This is what we pride ourselves on at WarriorBabe. That's why a lot of people don't like that they're not seeing results in the first three or four months: because we're focused on healing the inside. And we're confident we're going to get the results on the outside. That's what we pride ourselves on when working with our babes too. They've got their mindset. We've got our mindset.

How can we meet in the middle and work together? Even if you don't like it, you've got to trust the process. I always say, trust us now, believe us later. That's all I ask. Because there's a method to our madness.

Okay, so now that we've covered a blend of misunderstandings and mistakes, let's focus on how to reverse diet the right way. Step one: start by determining your current caloric intake, where you are.

This should be the amount you've been eating at the end of the calorie deficit you've been in, the fat loss phase, the competition prep. Maybe you're just starting from scratch and you have no idea. Great. Track for seven days and see where you're at. This is what we do inside of WarriorBabe. From here, you can begin to increase your calories gradually. What do I mean by that? Step number two: slowly increase your calories. How you do this depends on the individual. If you're doing it yourself, I would err on the lighter side.

If you're doing it with a coach, we're probably going to push it because we have the ability to control it and we know what we're doing. But if you're doing this by yourself, I would say begin by adding about 50 to 100 calories per week to your current intake. So if you're eating 1,200 calories, go to 1,250 or 1,300. Usually when you're working with a coach, I'll push it to 150 or 200. It totally depends on the individual you're working with. It depends on the mindset too.

Because if I'm working with someone who I know is going to freak the freak out if I bump up 200 calories, I'm going to do 150 just to play with the mind, just to make it easier. All right? Then you're going to track your body's response over a week or two weeks. Monitor your weight. Monitor your energy levels. Monitor your performance inside the gym. This is what I talked about earlier. If you're noticing significant fat gain, or you're feeling a bit puffier, or you're feeling a bit sluggish, then slow down the rate of the increase. If your weight remains stable and your photos look good, increase slightly. Right? Then you're on the right track. If that maintains, or you're slowly seeing your skeletal muscle go up, you're on the right track.

So again, just to emphasize that step: start out by adding 50 to 150 calories per week. Monitor how your body is responding. This is where you have to be accurate. This is where tracking is important, because you can't just eyeball 100 calories or 150 calories. You've got to pay attention to this and take it seriously. It's methodical, I'm telling you. And then if you feel like you're puffy or gaining too much, pull back. Slow down the rate of the increase. Instead of increasing the next week, just stay the same. If your weight is remaining the same and you're increasing slightly in muscle, then you're on the right track. You know to stay there, or you know that you can increase a little bit more the next week. Okay? So that step is really important. And that's where you've got to trust in your ability or trust somebody else.

Step number three is where you're going to prioritize your protein. As you increase your calories, make sure that you're prioritizing your protein. Protein is the most important macronutrient for preserving lean muscle mass during reverse dieting, and it helps keep you full. So you want to make sure you're aiming for about one gram per pound of body weight daily. You're going to continue to prioritize the protein, maybe increase it as you put on a little bit more weight. And the rest of the increase in calories should be coming from carbs and fats.

Step number four: don't forget to adjust your training protocol with your reverse diet. Focus on strength training. Focus on progressive overload. As you increase your calories, your performance in the gym should improve. You should be feeling more powerful. You should be feeling stronger. You should be able to lift heavier weights and build more muscle.

And step number five is be patient. Please be patient. Please be patient. Please be patient. Reverse dieting isn't a race. The slower you increase your calories, the more likely you are to maintain your results without unwanted fat gain. Stay patient. Trust the process. And remember that your metabolism, even though you can't see it, is internally adjusting over time. That's the most important thing to keep you aligned with the goals you want coming out of a reverse diet.

This is the beauty of reverse dieting. If you do it right, you can have results from your fat loss phase at, say, 1,400 calories, 1,500 calories, 1,800 calories, wherever the heck you are. You can have results eating less, decreasing your body fat and getting to where you want to be. You can have those results, and then you can maintain those results and still look amazing eating 400 more calories, eating 500 more calories.

And that is what this is all about: getting you guys to eat more food. And you can do it when you do this the right way. Mark my word, I say this so confidently: reverse dieting can be one of the most powerful tools for maintaining your fat loss, for boosting your metabolism, and for building long-term sustainability with your nutrition. Mark my word. Okay. But the key is to avoid all the common mistakes I've talked about today, like increasing your calories too quickly and skipping the tracking process. There I am saying those two things again, because they are so freaking important. And take a slow, measured, methodical, patient approach. Remember, this is a gradual process that requires patience.

But the payoff is totally 100%, 1,000%, 1,000,000,000% worth it. Over time, you're going to be able to eat more. You're going to feel better. You're going to be able to maintain your results without constantly worrying about regaining fat. Isn't that what we all want, to have a rocking body and eat more food? This is how you do it.

All right, my friends. I hope you enjoyed that podcast. That was probably one of my most favorite podcasts I've recorded in a freaking long time. Shout out to you guys on Instagram that dropped this in my little question box on what topics, concepts, knowledge, and education you want to learn that I can break down. This has been a 32-minute episode because this is worthy of a long conversation. And I hope that you guys gained some insights, some knowledge, some understanding so that you can act on it and put it into your life and into your fitness journey. Okay. Love you guys. Appreciate you guys. See y'all in the next episode.

Hey, really quick before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all the difference in helping more women discover the tools they need to transform their fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey. Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much.