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What Is Reverse Dieting? Who Does It Work For? | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
You may have heard of 'reverse dieting' but do you actually know what it is? Our expert nutritionist is here to explain all.
So, you've come across 'reverse dieting' but you aren't sure what it really means or whether it could help you with your goals? Well, you've come to the right place. Nutritionist and PhD researcher, Richie Kirwan, is here to explain this diet method and explore the different ways that people use it to help them achieve different things.
Find Richie on Instagram: @be_more_nutrition
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0:00
reverse dieting
0:01
yes it's really a thing but what is it
0:04
and why would you even want to reverse a
0:06
diet
0:07
let's talk about that
0:11
how's it going guys my name is richie
0:12
kirwan and today we're going to talk all
0:14
about reverse dieting what it is why
0:17
people do it is it any good and another
0:19
use for it that could really help your
0:21
muscle gain goals as always i want to
0:23
point out that i'm not telling you how
0:26
to structure your nutrition that's
0:27
entirely your choice what i am going to
0:29
do is help you understand the
0:30
nutritional and physiological science
0:32
behind reverse dieting and whether it's
0:35
actually useful
0:36
let's get started so the problem with
0:38
explaining reverse dieting is that there
0:40
doesn't seem to be one single accepted
0:43
definition for what it actually is
0:45
everyone seems to have their own take on
0:46
it so don't jump on me in the comments
0:48
section if this isn't your
0:49
interpretation for some people reverse
0:52
dieting is the gradual process of
0:54
raising someone's calories without
0:56
greatly increasing body weight or body
0:57
fat
0:58
an example might help explain this
1:00
better let's think of someone who has
1:02
been preparing for a bodybuilding show
1:05
more than likely they've been dieting
1:07
hard for maybe up to six months to get
1:09
their body fat as low as possible their
1:12
body has been through a lot
1:14
they've been on reduced calories for
1:16
months their body is fighting back by
1:18
reducing its metabolic rate trying to
1:20
hold on to as much body fat and calories
1:23
as possible body weight is down and body
1:26
fat is very low
1:28
smaller bodies burn fewer calories but
1:30
beyond that something else has happened
1:33
there have been massive reductions in
1:35
hormones like leptin testosterone and
1:37
thyroid hormone and that all leads to a
1:40
drop in metabolic rate
1:42
beyond what you'd expect from the drop
1:44
in body weight that drop in metabolism
1:46
is called metabolic adaptation
1:49
and it's a concept we'll come back to
1:50
later on top of that their appetite
1:52
hormones are completely out of control
1:55
and they're hungry all the time as well
1:57
as being irritable tired all the time
1:59
and with a non-existent sex drive now
2:01
when the show is over many bodybuilders
2:04
unfortunately often end up binging on
2:06
all the food they can get their hands on
2:08
and because their metabolic rate is so
2:10
low they end up gaining a lot of body
2:13
fat so one potential use of reverse
2:15
dieting is slowly raising someone's
2:17
calories on a weekly basis instead of
2:19
immediately jumping back to what they
2:21
used to be consuming before they started
2:23
diet for example adding 100 calories per
2:26
day for the first week then another 100
2:28
the next week and so on
2:30
this way you gradually increase calories
2:32
and potentially avoid the fat gain that
2:35
many bodybuilders experience after a
2:37
show in theory this works because of
2:39
metabolic adaptation too
2:41
remember when i said your metabolism
2:42
goes down when you reduce calories for a
2:44
while
2:45
well we know that the opposite is true
2:47
too
2:48
if you increase someone's calories for a
2:49
while their metabolic rate can increase
2:52
to compensate so in theory you might be
2:54
able to take someone from very low
2:56
calories with a low metabolic rate to
2:58
higher calories with a higher metabolic
3:00
rate while more or less maintaining body
3:03
weight
3:04
in theory the important point about this
3:06
is that there is a huge amount of
3:09
variation between people and some people
3:11
just have very adaptive metabolisms so
3:14
that means if you have two different
3:15
people and you increase both of their
3:17
calories by say 500 for a month one
3:20
might have a very adaptive metabolism
3:22
and gain no weight at all and the other
3:25
might not have a very adaptive
3:26
metabolism and could gain some weight in
3:28
the same time
3:30
everyone is different the problem with
3:32
the super slow approach i just mentioned
3:34
is that you're basically extending the
3:36
diet period for even longer which means
3:38
it's really likely that the person on
3:40
the reverse diet is going to feel pretty
3:42
crappy due to all the changes in
3:43
hormones and mood i mentioned earlier
3:45
for an unnecessarily long amount of time
3:49
remember the low level of body fat that
3:52
someone reaches for a physique show is
3:54
not healthy long term so staying that
3:57
lean for an extended period of time is
3:59
not a good idea
4:01
however
4:02
for some people who are terrified of
4:03
gaining weight after a physique show
4:05
some coaches recommend this approach
4:07
because it's far more controlled and
4:09
they are less likely to feel anxious or
4:11
overwhelmed by the weight they do gain
4:14
personally my thinking is that if
4:16
someone is so neurotic about regaining
4:18
weight
4:19
they probably have much bigger issues to
4:21
deal with than fat gain
4:23
the problem is
4:24
that describes a lot of people in the
4:26
fitness industry another take on reverse
4:28
dieting is a faster approach
4:31
instead you immediately bump someone's
4:32
calories right back up to their new
4:35
estimated maintenance
4:36
now i said new estimated maintenance and
4:39
not their previous maintenance for a
4:41
reason like i said earlier when someone
4:43
loses weight from dieting their body is
4:45
smaller and smaller bodies burn fewer
4:47
calories
4:48
so if you started your diet maintaining
4:50
at let's say 3000 calories and dropped
4:52
all the way down to 2000 calories for a
4:54
few months to lose weight your new
4:56
maintenance is going to be lower than
4:58
3000 because there is less of you
5:01
how much
5:03
it's really hard to say but it depends
5:05
on how much weight you lost and how
5:07
adaptive your metabolism is just for
5:09
this example let's take a guess at 2500
5:12
calories so you could increase your
5:14
calories immediately to 2500 and then
5:16
gradually increase calories on a weekly
5:19
basis until you start gaining weight and
5:21
hopefully feeling better again yet
5:23
another alternative is not reverse
5:25
dieting at all but it's termed a
5:27
recovery diet because contest prep diets
5:29
can be that brutal that you need to
5:32
recover after them in a recovery diet
5:34
the goal is to increase calories to a
5:36
small surplus immediately so in the
5:38
example we used above that might be
5:41
jumping right back to somewhere between
5:43
2 500 and 3 000 calories and the idea is
5:46
to intentionally regain some body weight
5:48
and body fat so that your body knows
5:50
it's not starving anymore and your
5:52
hormonal systems hunger levels libido
5:55
and your metabolism can start to
5:56
effectively return to normal
5:59
that puts you in a much healthier
6:01
position and is much more conductive to
6:03
starting to build muscle again in a
6:05
controlled massing phase
6:07
none of this is easy to work out
6:08
yourself and this is why it's so
6:11
important to work with a good
6:13
responsible coach that cares about our
6:15
clients physical and mental health one
6:17
last use that some people don't consider
6:19
when it comes to the techniques used in
6:21
reverse dieting is in lean gaining this
6:24
is where i think the process of
6:25
gradually adding calories while
6:27
monitoring weight is a really good idea
6:30
so basically if you're starting a bulk
6:31
for example you increase your calories
6:33
initially by say 300 calories above
6:35
maintenance and then you monitor your
6:37
body weight
6:38
if it starts going up
6:40
great
6:41
then when your weight gain stalls which
6:43
it inevitably will you increase calories
6:46
again and you continue this for a few
6:47
months
6:48
metabolic adaptation will keep happening
6:51
and you might be able to increase your
6:52
calories quite significantly
6:55
depending on your own metabolism not
6:56
only does this allow you to increase
6:58
your calories but it also helps you to
7:00
reduce the rate of fat gain that often
7:02
happens with less controlled
7:04
dreamer bulks so in summary when it
7:06
comes to recovering after a very long
7:09
diet to very low body fat levels i'm not
7:12
a big fan of reverse dieting and i think
7:14
recovery diets may be a much better
7:16
option either way if you're considering
7:18
dieting down to such low body fat levels
7:20
which i don't think anyone outside of
7:23
competitors should do
7:24
find yourself a good coach who will look
7:27
after you don't do it on your own your
7:30
mental and physical health are worth far
7:32
more so did this answer your reverse
7:34
diet questions
7:36
as always if you have any more let me
7:37
know in the comments below and remember
7:39
to like and subscribe to the my protein
7:41
youtube channel for more great
7:42
evidence-based nutrition information
7:47
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