0:00

Maybe you've heard

0:00

the claims that slowly

0:02

increasing calories, in what's

0:02

called reverse dieting can boost

0:06

your metabolism, prevent fat

0:06

rebound, and make future weight

0:09

loss a breeze. Or even that it's

0:09

a simple way to get back to

0:12

maintenance calories without

0:12

overshooting. It sounds

0:16

tempting, like this magic bullet

0:16

that eases your transition out

0:19

of a diet without erasing your

0:19

hard earned progress. A nice

0:23

simple solution that almost

0:23

every coach out there says you

0:26

should use. But as I'll show you

0:26

today, reverse dieting is a

0:30

complete waste of time, backed

0:30

by more hype than science, if

0:35

you are tracking in a few

0:35

important areas. In today's

0:38

episode, I'm going to break down

0:38

exactly why and what to do

0:42

instead for faster recovery and

0:42

sustainable results without

0:46

worrying about body fat

0:46

overshooting. If you're serious

0:49

about optimizing your nutrition

0:49

and doing it in a time efficient

0:52

way, get ready to challenge what

0:52

you thought you knew about

0:56

reverse dieting. Welcome to the

0:56

wit's end weights podcast. I'm

1:02

your host, Philip pape, and this

1:02

twice a week podcast is

1:05

dedicated to helping you achieve

1:05

physical self mastery by getting

1:08

stronger. Optimizing your

1:08

nutrition and upgrading your

1:11

body composition will uncover

1:11

science backed strategies for

1:15

movement, metabolism, muscle and

1:15

mindset with a skeptical eye on

1:19

the fitness industry so you can

1:19

look and feel your absolute

1:22

best. Let's dive right in

1:22

Whitson weights community

1:25

Welcome to another solo episode

1:25

of the weights and weights

1:28

podcast. In our last episode 167

1:28

optimize your thyroid for

1:33

hormone health, metabolism and

1:33

fat loss with Haley fountain. We

1:37

explored thyroid health which

1:37

affects everything from your

1:41

weight and metabolism to your

1:41

sleep and even your mental

1:44

health. You learn how to manage

1:44

your weight when you have a

1:47

thyroid condition. The link

1:47

between minerals and thyroid

1:50

function and why exercise and

1:50

nutrition are so important and

1:54

what you should be doing, as

1:54

well as how the mind body

1:57

connection and sleep all play

1:57

into thyroid health. Today for

2:01

episode 168 Reverse dieting is a

2:01

complete waste of time, we are

2:06

going to bust some myths

2:06

surrounding the popular but

2:10

misguided practice of reverse

2:10

dieting. Many people and even

2:14

some well respected coaches,

2:14

many whom I follow and some are

2:18

my mentors claim that reverse

2:18

dieting can boost your

2:21

metabolism, prevent Rapid Fat

2:21

regain and make future weight

2:25

loss easier. Others simply

2:25

recommend it as a tool to slowly

2:29

pull out of a deficit without

2:29

overshooting and gaining body

2:33

fat. But as we'll see today,

2:33

none of these reasons really

2:36

hold up. The claim that I am

2:36

making today is that reverse

2:40

dieting is a complete waste of

2:40

time. And I'll explain exactly

2:43

why we're going to dive into the

2:43

metabolic science, the

2:47

behavioral psychology, the

2:47

practical alternatives that work

2:50

far better for post diet

2:50

recovery, and long term weight

2:54

maintenance. And if you are

2:54

considering reverse dieting

2:57

after a cut, listen all the way

2:57

through so you understand both

3:01

the mechanisms and the more time

3:01

efficient strategies that I'll

3:04

give you. So you don't ever need

3:04

to reverse diet again. Now

3:08

before we get into that topic, I

3:08

do want to invite you to join

3:12

our amazing and totally free

3:12

Facebook community. In that

3:16

community and that group we come

3:16

together to support to encourage

3:20

each other to inspire each other

3:20

on our nutrition and fitness

3:23

journeys from 100% positive

3:23

perspective, no bullies are

3:27

allowed. And as a member of our

3:27

Facebook group, the big thing

3:30

that you get access to is the

3:30

exclusive weekly live q&a

3:35

sessions. And this is where you

3:35

post during the week, you can

3:38

post your question about

3:38

anything related to your

3:41

nutrition and fitness wellness

3:41

with context for you

3:44

specifically, and then I will

3:44

answer it live on Friday, and

3:48

the replay will be available.

3:48

You also find a ton of free

3:50

guides resources and other

3:50

things that we drop just to the

3:54

community so you can stay on

3:54

track and reach your goals. Most

3:57

importantly, though, you'll be

3:57

part of a bunch of really cool

4:01

like minded people in a group

4:01

that I think is like no other we

4:04

are all working toward becoming

4:04

the best versions of ourselves.

4:07

And you can get formed checks

4:07

you get motivation, you can get

4:10

specific tips, whether it's

4:10

equipment, or food or apps or

4:14

whatever. And we love to

4:14

celebrate each other's wins and

4:17

successes, give helping hands

4:17

when asked and then motivate

4:21

when needed as well. So just

4:21

head over to Facebook search for

4:24

the Whitson weights community or

4:24

click the link in the show notes

4:27

to join us. Alright, so let's

4:27

dive into today's topic. Reverse

4:30

dieting is a complete waste of

4:30

time and we're going to start of

4:34

course with definitions. What

4:34

the heck is reverse dieting,

4:37

maybe you haven't heard of it

4:37

before, or if you have one a

4:40

little refresher. So reverse

4:40

dieting is gradually increasing

4:45

calories, usually by 50 to 100

4:45

per week, maybe 200 calories for

4:50

several weeks or potentially

4:50

months after, usually after

4:54

finishing a cut or a fat loss

4:54

phase and weight loss phase. And

4:58

the idea is to slowly build Up

4:58

to new maintenance. It could

5:01

also be used when you were first

5:01

getting started. And you've been

5:05

dieting for a long time. And

5:05

then a coach says, well, we need

5:07

to reverse diet you up to your

5:07

maintenance, you know, so that

5:10

you can eat more food and burn

5:10

more calories and so on. Now,

5:14

Proponents claim that this

5:14

approach, not all proponents,

5:17

let's be honest, but a lot of

5:17

them will say that this repairs

5:19

your metabolism or fixes your

5:19

metabolism after the supposed

5:23

damage of dieting, and that it

5:23

prevents Rapid Fat regain from

5:29

jumping to maintenance or above

5:29

it Prime's you for easier fat

5:34

loss in the future by elevating

5:34

your metabolic rate. And some

5:37

other coaches simply claim that

5:37

it's the best way to return to

5:40

your maintenance calories to do

5:40

it, you know, slowly over time,

5:43

and you don't overshoot. So some

5:43

coaches claim some or all of

5:48

these, and even other things

5:48

besides that, and basically, the

5:52

theory is that your metabolism

5:52

slows down during a diet, which

5:55

does happen, and that you need

5:55

this long, gradual reverse

5:59

dieting process to restore it

5:59

and avoid overshooting into

6:02

weight gain. And I understand

6:02

the surface level appeal of

6:06

these claims. Because dieting is

6:06

hard. And we'd all love a magic

6:10

bullet to make both diet life

6:10

easier and more predictable. But

6:14

unfortunately, the science

6:14

doesn't really support the

6:17

necessity, or the efficacy of

6:17

reverse dieting, particularly if

6:22

you have the right information

6:22

and you're tracking the right

6:24

things. And that's where

6:24

tracking is going to come in.

6:27

We'll get to that later in the

6:27

episode. If of course you lack

6:30

certain information. And you

6:30

don't have the complete picture.

6:33

Reverse dieting might be the

6:33

fallback simply because you

6:37

can't go after the most

6:37

efficient approach. But you're

6:40

listening to which and wait. So

6:40

we are all about the wits side

6:43

of that supporting the weights

6:43

in that we want to do things

6:46

intelligently and efficiently.

6:46

So let's get into a little bit

6:50

more about metabolic adaptation.

6:50

Because this is the underpinning

6:53

a lot of a lot of the arguments

6:53

for reverse dieting. So first of

6:57

all, describing post diet,

6:57

metabolic adaptation, or the

7:01

metabolic adaptation that occurs

7:01

during dieting, as any form of

7:05

damage or irreparable harm is

7:05

completely misleading. Because

7:10

yes, your metabolism typically

7:10

slows down as you lose weight.

7:14

But it's completely recoverable.

7:14

And it happens for two reasons.

7:17

Number one, you're simply losing

7:17

weight, so you have a smaller

7:21

body that requires less energy,

7:21

period. Number two, and this is

7:25

what I think is really what we

7:25

talked about with metabolic

7:28

adaptation, your body down

7:28

regulates its hormones to

7:31

conserve energy in response to

7:31

being in that deficit. And that

7:34

has a cascading effect. Now,

7:34

there's a third element to why

7:37

your metabolism might go down,

7:37

that is more what's in your

7:40

control. And that is your

7:40

changing activity, or your lack

7:44

a lack of sleep, or you drink

7:44

alcohol, or maybe even your

7:47

cycle, or let's see too much

7:47

chronic stress, right? There's

7:51

all these little things that

7:51

can, the things that are in your

7:53

control your lifestyle, changes

7:53

your lifestyle decisions that

7:56

can make your metabolism go up

7:56

and down. independence of the

7:59

fact that number one, you're

7:59

lighter. And number two, the

8:01

hormonal metabolic adaptation.

8:01

So the slowdown that just

8:05

happens naturally, that's out of

8:05

your control, which we can call

8:09

adaptive thermogenesis as well.

8:09

It is not at all any form of

8:14

long term damage. It is more

8:14

like a survival mechanism that

8:18

we evolved so that we don't

8:18

starve to death in a famine. And

8:21

that's all it is. And it's 100%

8:21

reversible. We know this,

8:24

because bodybuilders who go

8:24

through extreme cuts, to the

8:28

most leanest level, you can

8:28

imagine. They reverse right out

8:31

of it. And I use the word

8:31

reverse. But we're going to talk

8:34

about the alternative to reverse

8:34

dieting, but I'm using reverse

8:37

just in the colloquial sense

8:37

that they, you know, reverse the

8:40

direction out of it. And they

8:40

are able to get back to their

8:43

previous metabolism eventually, no problem. So how do you will

8:45

say reverse colloquially, your

8:50

diet or your metabolism? Well,

8:50

the simplest way to do that is

8:54

just not being a calorie

8:54

deficit. So this is the thing

8:57

about metabolic adaptation is,

8:57

and I was talking to, I think

9:00

Jordan lips about this when he

9:00

was on the show, it's a trade

9:03

off we are making, knowing that

9:03

we're making it so that we can

9:06

lose the fat. So yeah, we're

9:06

trading this metabolic

9:10

adaptation. But in exchange, we

9:10

get the fat loss we are going

9:13

for. And you could go more

9:13

aggressively, of course. And if

9:16

you go more aggressively, the adaptation tend to be more severe. But also the fat loss

9:18

happens faster, right? So it's a

9:22

trade off. And the opposite of

9:22

any of this is just not being a

9:25

deficit. So if you can restore

9:25

your energy balance back to your

9:29

current maintenance, that is the

9:29

best way to flip your body out

9:33

of that mode, and recover and

9:33

not be adapting anymore. And

9:38

here's the thing, there's no

9:38

evidence that this requires a

9:41

slow calorie increase over days,

9:41

weeks or months. And that's kind

9:45

of the key that I'm going to get

9:45

to today. And I touched on it at

9:48

least once before in my an

9:48

episode A while back about

9:51

reverse dieting that I'm going

9:51

to link in the show notes. And

9:54

I'm touching on some of those

9:54

again today if you hadn't heard

9:56

that, or if you need a

9:56

refresher, but I will come at

9:59

this with some They're angles

9:59

that you hadn't heard before. So

10:02

the other key factor that people

10:02

are worried about with reverse

10:05

dieting is are not worried about

10:05

what the but they why they think

10:09

they need it is regaining body

10:09

fat. So we've talked about

10:13

hormones before, right? Your fat

10:13

cells produce leptin is the

10:17

satiety hormone keeps you full,

10:17

and that stimulates your

10:21

metabolism. And if you have more

10:21

body fat, there's more of that.

10:24

So while you're dieting, and it

10:24

reduces that and reduces your

10:28

metabolic rate, when you regain,

10:28

not necessarily the weight you

10:32

lost, but when you're stopping

10:32

the loss of body fat, it also

10:36

normalizes both. And again, what

10:36

does that mean? That means going

10:39

back to maintenance calories,

10:39

and doing it as fast as

10:42

possible, not necessarily the

10:42

way that reverse dieting is

10:46

going to have you do that. Okay,

10:46

so stick with me, you see what

10:49

I'm suggesting here, reverse

10:49

dieting, which can be a gradual

10:53

process is not necessary. If you

10:53

know you can go straight to

10:57

maintenance. So the claim that

10:57

reverse dieting rebuilds your

11:01

metabolism better than going to

11:01

maintenance and it's going to

11:04

cause all these other negatives,

11:04

like we're just gonna avoid body

11:07

fat overshooting is pure

11:07

speculation. And it's driven by

11:11

the fact that a lot of people

11:11

have no clue what their

11:13

maintenance calories are at the

11:13

end of a diet. They've been

11:15

guessing the whole way. They've

11:15

been trying to reactively keep

11:20

up with their changing

11:20

metabolism by lowering calories,

11:23

but they're not really precisely

11:23

sure where that is. So if you're

11:26

not precisely sure what your

11:26

metabolism is, it's

11:29

understandable, you would be

11:29

afraid of overshooting that

11:32

because you're like, Well, you

11:32

know, I think I'm in a 500

11:35

calorie deficit. So I could just

11:35

go up 500 calories. But what if

11:38

I'm actually been metabolically

11:38

adapted more than that lately,

11:42

and I've only been in like a two

11:42

or 300 calorie deficit. Well,

11:45

now if I go up 500 calories, I'm

11:45

actually in a surplus, and I'm

11:48

gonna start gaining fat. That's

11:48

where all of this stems from.

11:51

Okay, so let's talk about fat

11:51

regain a little bit more, right?

11:55

The idea that reverse dieting

11:55

prevents that, and I just

11:57

touched on it a little bit. But

11:57

there are some other things

12:00

behind this that people talk

12:00

about, like, okay, you've been

12:03

restricting calories for such a

12:03

long time. And you're leaner.

12:07

And now your body is primed to

12:07

store every extra calorie as fat

12:11

if you increase too quickly.

12:11

Now, first of all, even if you

12:14

did go straight into a surplus,

12:14

and you knew what surplus you

12:17

were in, you're only going to

12:17

get as much fat as the tissue

12:21

that is not gained as muscle

12:21

that makes sense. Meaning, if

12:24

you go back into a surplus, and

12:24

you're training hard to build

12:28

muscle, like we should always be

12:28

doing, you're gonna gain some of

12:30

that as muscle and some of it is

12:30

fat, just like you would if you

12:32

were a maintenance for a while

12:32

and then started that process.

12:35

There's not a difference. It's

12:35

not supported by research that

12:38

you're all of a sudden going to

12:38

just gain fat for some reason.

12:41

And that's if you go into a

12:41

surplus, we've already said

12:44

that, if you simply return to

12:44

maintenance, well, you're not

12:47

even in a surplus. So you should

12:47

gain zero extra fat, zero extra

12:52

fat. Remember, you're going from

12:52

a deficit to a net zero, right?

12:58

No deficit, no surplus, your

12:58

maintenance. But a lot of people

13:01

think, oh, I need to reverse

13:01

diet. So I don't jump so quickly

13:04

that I go past that point. Well,

13:04

the way we're going to do it,

13:06

we're not going to go past that point, we're gonna go predictably and reliably and

13:08

precisely to the point we need

13:12

to be, which is maintenance

13:12

calories. Okay. And again,

13:16

Multiple studies have found no

13:16

difference in body composition

13:18

changes, based on the rate of

13:18

post diet calorie increases. All

13:25

that matters is your surplus or

13:25

your deficit. That's it. All

13:29

right, all the stuff about P

13:29

ratios and going from a really

13:32

lean state versus not so lean

13:32

state. No, none of that is

13:36

supported. Let's simplify it

13:36

today. We don't need to get

13:39

complicated or overthink it.

13:39

Okay, so again, think about it

13:42

this way with numbers. If you've

13:42

been dieting on 2000 calories,

13:46

and your maintenance is 2500. So

13:46

you're in a 500 calorie deficit

13:50

would stay in at 2100 for a

13:50

week, and then 2200 the next

13:54

week and so forth, make any

13:54

difference in fat storage

13:57

compared to going straight to

13:57

2500? Note would not. And what

14:00

it would do negatively is

14:00

prolong your deficit, which is

14:03

what we're trying to get out of.

14:03

And again, people are like,

14:06

well, that's not what we mean.

14:06

We mean, if you've been dieting

14:09

in 2000, your maintenance is

14:09

2500. And you shoot up too fast

14:13

to 2600. Well, I'm not saying

14:13

that either. I'm saying we are

14:16

going to go to our maintenance

14:16

calories. Okay. So the calories

14:20

are calories. This is one of

14:20

those cases where calories are

14:22

calories. There's no metabolic

14:22

magic happening because you went

14:25

up slowly, versus jumping

14:25

straight up and dragging out

14:29

that process keeps you in the

14:29

deficit longer than necessary.

14:31

And what does that do? Well,

14:31

that risks more muscle loss and

14:34

hormone disruption and just not

14:34

feeling great and who wants to

14:36

be in a diet for longer than you

14:36

intended? Right now, to be

14:40

clear, you will definitely I was

14:40

gonna say likely in my notes,

14:45

but then I said, you will

14:45

definitely gain a few pounds of

14:48

weight when you increase your

14:48

calories from the diet, back to

14:51

maintenance, but that's all

14:51

water and glycogen is all it is.

14:55

Because think about it. You're

14:55

you're increasing your intake of

14:58

food. You're gonna have more Put

14:58

in your gut, you're going to be

15:01

drawing in more water and you're

15:01

gonna have more carbs. Most

15:04

likely, assuming you're eating a

15:04

balanced approach, your carbs

15:07

might go up from say, you know,

15:07

100 grams to 300 grams or

15:10

something like that. And so the

15:10

first few weeks of maintenance

15:13

are this, not just

15:13

psychological, but physiological

15:16

balancing acts because your body

15:16

is adjusting to the new intake.

15:19

But that has nothing to do with

15:19

extra fat regain, or anything

15:21

else that people are trying to

15:21

avoid with reverse dieting. So

15:25

if you are again, if you're at

15:25

your true maintenance calories,

15:27

you are not going to get any

15:27

runaway fat gain. The real

15:31

problem is people miscalculate

15:31

your maintenance intake, or they

15:35

don't even know it, and then

15:35

they accidentally overshoot into

15:38

a surplus. That's a completely

15:38

separate issue. Right? That's a

15:41

completely separate issue. And

15:41

we need to acknowledge that.

15:45

Hey, this is Philip and I hope

15:45

you're enjoying this episode of

15:48

Whitson weights. I started with

15:48

some weights to help ambitious

15:51

individuals in their 30s 40s and

15:51

beyond, who want to build muscle

15:56

lose fat and finally look like

15:56

they lift. I noticed that when

16:00

people transform their physique,

16:00

they not only look and feel

16:03

better, but they also

16:03

experienced incredible changes

16:06

in their health, confidence and

16:06

overall quality of life. If

16:09

you're listening to this

16:09

podcast, I assume you want the

16:12

same thing to build your

16:12

ultimate physique and unlock

16:15

your full potential. Whether

16:15

you're just starting out or

16:18

looking to take your progress to

16:18

the next level. That's why I

16:22

created wits and weights

16:22

physique University, a semi

16:25

private group coaching

16:25

experience designed to help you

16:28

achieve your best physique ever,

16:28

with a personalized done for you

16:32

nutrition plan, custom designed

16:32

courses, new workout programs

16:36

each month, live coaching calls,

16:36

and a supportive community,

16:39

you'll have access to everything

16:39

you need to succeed. If you're

16:43

ready to shatter your plateaus

16:43

and transform your body and

16:46

life, head over to Whitson

16:46

weights.com/physique or click

16:51

the link in the show notes to

16:51

enroll today. Again, that's

16:53

Whitson weights.com/physique. I

16:53

can't wait to welcome you to the

16:57

community and help you become

16:57

the strongest leanest and

17:01

healthiest version of yourself.

17:01

Now back to the show.

17:06

So the last thing I want to

17:06

address before we get into like

17:09

the how of doing all this is the

17:09

claim that reverse dieting makes

17:14

future fat loss phases easier.

17:14

By increasing your starting

17:19

metabolic rate. This is the one

17:19

that has to die. Now I know a

17:22

lot of people listening, they're

17:22

like, Well, no, that's not I

17:24

understand that that's not true.

17:24

And when I use reverse dieting,

17:27

that's not the reason I use it.

17:27

Okay, fine, you're off the hook.

17:30

But a lot of people still

17:30

believe this, and they use it in

17:32

their marketing. And even if

17:32

this were true, it would be a

17:37

pretty weak reason to endure the

17:37

extra time and the extra effort.

17:42

And more importantly, there's,

17:42

there's just no mechanistic or

17:45

clinical evidence for the idea.

17:45

It's just not true. So it

17:49

doesn't matter. I guess that's

17:49

what I'm gonna say. Either way,

17:52

again, again, even if it were

17:52

true, I wouldn't use reverse

17:54

dieting, I would actually take you right to your maintenance calories, and then try to push

17:56

it up. further than that. Now

17:59

what is true is people that have

17:59

been dieting for a long time,

18:03

potentially are in a suppressed

18:03

metabolic state. And if they

18:06

then increase their calories,

18:06

their body will relax and

18:10

upregulate back to their normal

18:10

higher level of maintenance

18:13

calories, and eventually top out

18:13

at where they're fully recovered

18:18

state is, and now they're eating

18:18

more calories to maintain their

18:22

weight. But that doesn't mean

18:22

you can now eat more calories to

18:27

lose the same amount of weight,

18:27

your body is going to adapt

18:29

right back. And the deficit, the

18:29

calories required to be in a

18:34

deficit are going to be the same

18:34

for you. Okay, you're just

18:38

starting from a less adapted

18:38

state. Okay, so hope I'm not

18:41

confusing you here. But the

18:41

opposite is actually true in the

18:44

research that people who have a

18:44

predisposition for weight gain,

18:49

and yo yo dieting actually tend

18:49

to have higher baseline

18:53

metabolic rates on average, pre

18:53

diet, and it doesn't protect

18:56

them from regain. Right. And

18:56

this could simply be that

18:59

they're heavier, right? They're

18:59

heavier. And so when you're

19:02

heavier, you have a higher

19:02

metabolic rate. But anyway, that

19:05

was an interesting thing I found

19:05

I wish I had the study to cite,

19:08

but it doesn't matter, we're gonna move on because that's really not relevant. And the

19:10

other thing is that if even if,

19:13

hypothetically reverse dieting

19:13

increased your metabolic rate in

19:16

some in some way that shifted it

19:16

up, again, those adaptations

19:20

would just dissipate as soon as

19:20

you started the next cut. But it

19:23

doesn't do that. Right. adaptive

19:23

thermogenesis metabolic

19:26

adaptation, it happens, can't do

19:26

anything about it. It starts

19:29

quickly in a matter of days or

19:29

weeks at most, but usually days

19:32

with a deficit. You can't you

19:32

know, bank extra metabolic

19:36

output from a previous bulk or

19:36

maintenance phase, or anything

19:40

like that. We've seen as we know

19:40

this, because bodybuilders can't

19:42

do it. You know, if they did,

19:42

they would all be cutting on

19:45

4000 calories, and it doesn't

19:45

happen. Alright, so reverse

19:49

dieting is overhyped. There's a

19:49

lot of other illusions of

19:51

reverse dieting that I talked

19:51

about in the last episode I did

19:54

on this, which again, I think

19:54

was called Why reverse dieting

19:57

doesn't work like you think and

19:57

what to do instead. So check

20:00

that out because I think I

20:00

referenced Eric Trexler ers

20:03

article as well talking about

20:03

all the hype that is just what

20:06

he calls illusions. So, reverse

20:06

dieting is not necessary to

20:11

prevent fat regain, it is not

20:11

going to boost your metabolism.

20:14

It is also not necessary to

20:14

recover after a diet. And it is

20:18

not necessary to get your

20:18

maintenance from any other

20:20

point, even if you haven't been

20:20

dieting just to find your

20:23

maintenance. So what should you

20:23

do instead of reverse dieting?

20:27

That's the question. And the

20:27

boring but effective answer is

20:31

increase to your current

20:31

maintenance calories. So if

20:36

you've just had a fat loss

20:36

phase, what are you going to do?

20:38

If your deficit right now this

20:38

moment today is 500 calories,

20:42

you're gonna increase 500

20:42

calories tomorrow, and then stay

20:44

there for about a week and see

20:44

how your metabolism changes and

20:48

then follow it upward as it

20:48

recovers. That's it. And now you

20:51

avoid the needless additional

20:51

dieting of reverse dieting. So

20:55

here's the funny thing, the word

20:55

reverse dieting. So as the word

20:58

dieting in it, so remember that,

20:58

when you reverse dieting, you're

21:01

still dieting, you're still in a

21:01

deficit. Now maybe they intended

21:04

dieting as in your eating,

21:04

eating food, but I'm gonna go

21:07

ahead and describe the negative

21:07

version of that word to the word

21:11

it. So if you avoid that extra

21:11

dieting, you'll recover faster,

21:17

both physiologically and

21:17

psychologically. Now, there is a

21:19

term for this called a recovery

21:19

diet. But it's literally one

21:23

day, it's one day, it's today I

21:23

was in fat loss and a 500

21:26

calorie deficit. Tomorrow, I'm

21:26

going back to my maintenance

21:28

done diets over Boom. Alright,

21:28

now that can feel scary to bump

21:32

calories after you've been

21:32

tracking on your diet, and you

21:36

have been tracking, right because you're only going to know you're only going to know

21:38

your maintenance. If you've been tracking your food, your weight

21:40

over time. And you use an

21:42

evidence based dynamic way of

21:42

calculating this over time,

21:46

you're gonna see how your weight

21:46

trends, you're gonna see how

21:48

much food you're eating, and that's going to tell your metabolism. Now, this is why

21:50

again, I use macro factor, it's

21:53

the only app on the market food

21:53

logging app that does this for

21:56

you. Why wouldn't you just use

21:56

the best tool for the job, you

22:00

know, use the hammer for the

22:00

nail, use the barbell for heavy

22:02

squats, and use macro factor to

22:02

get an accurate starting point

22:06

based on your individual data

22:06

and your metabolism. If you had

22:09

been using it during fat loss,

22:09

you know exactly how your

22:12

metabolism has gone up or down,

22:12

probably mostly down during the

22:16

fat loss phase. And then as soon

22:16

as you're done with your diet,

22:19

that literally the next day, you

22:19

can set it to maintain and jump

22:22

right to your maintenance

22:22

calories. And then just continue

22:25

to, in my opinion, the way I

22:25

coach clients and in Western

22:29

ways physique University, we

22:29

talk about overshooting the

22:32

maintenance, just a tiny bit,

22:32

you know, by like 50 calories,

22:35

because we know your maintenance

22:35

calories are actually gonna go

22:37

up. And let's get ahead of it.

22:37

Right, let's just get ahead of

22:40

it. Again, all it's going to

22:40

happen is you're going to gain a

22:42

few pounds of water weight, but

22:42

you're not going to gain any fat

22:45

and you're going to recover

22:45

really quickly. Which means what

22:48

does that mean? better sleep,

22:48

better energy, better lifts, you

22:52

know, pushing more in the gym,

22:52

just I mean, the list goes on

22:54

and on, your hormones get

22:54

better, and so on. And again, if

22:57

your weight starts to creep, you

22:57

know, down after the initial

23:00

water fluctuations, then that's

23:00

an indication that you've

23:04

actually started to fall behind,

23:04

right, like we're trying to keep

23:08

up with the increasing

23:08

metabolism when we're done with

23:10

the diet. And that's why I like

23:10

to go over a little more. So you

23:12

don't accidentally keep dieting.

23:12

And the funny thing is reverse

23:16

dieting is like intentionally

23:16

continuing to date. So you don't

23:20

need that. And it is a waste of

23:20

time. And it is

23:22

counterproductive, it is

23:22

negative, there is zero reason

23:25

for it whatsoever, given the

23:25

claims people make for why you

23:29

should use it. Alright, so

23:29

maintenance calories is about

23:32

getting back to homeostasis,

23:32

finding the intake that keeps

23:35

you at this stable, comfortable

23:35

bodyweight maintaining results,

23:38

with good energy, good

23:38

performance, good biofeedback,

23:41

and it's not fixed. Just

23:41

remember that it's not fixed,

23:44

it's going to fluctuate, and

23:44

hopefully it's going to

23:46

generally trend upward when

23:46

you're done with your dieting

23:49

phase, as you get back to

23:49

maintenance. So the approach of

23:52

just a recovery diet going

23:52

straight back to maintenance in

23:55

one day. This also contributes

23:55

to, in my opinion, your

24:00

relationship with food, be

24:00

honest, like the whole flexible

24:03

approach that we take part of

24:03

the calorie deficit and the fat

24:06

loss phases, we get it over and

24:06

done with as quickly as we can,

24:10

because we don't want to be in

24:10

that state forever. And so by

24:13

not reverse dieting, we are

24:13

getting out of that state

24:16

quickly. Now you get to, you

24:16

know, a little bit more

24:19

calories, more flexibility with

24:19

your meals and you that you even

24:22

already had and is not, you

24:22

know, you're not continuing to

24:26

restrict in some way where it's

24:26

not necessary. And you're not

24:30

even having to overanalyze

24:30

thing. Like, I think reverse

24:33

dieting requires too much work

24:33

too much thinking because you're

24:36

just, you're saying, well,

24:36

here's my calories, and then

24:39

eventually I need to get back up to maintenance, but I'm going to do it in this stair step sort of

24:41

way. And I'm not quite going to

24:44

know that I'm at my maintenance

24:44

until I maybe overshoot a little

24:46

bit and the weight starts

24:46

ticking up. It's like, man, it's

24:49

just too much too reactive to

24:49

miscalculation, like why do all

24:53

that just jump to maintenance,

24:53

and you have to know your

24:55

maintenance. So that's my

24:55

opinion on it. Okay. Now, to be

24:59

fair are, there are a few

24:59

specific scenarios where slowly

25:03

increasing calories after a diet

25:03

can be helpful, or slowly

25:07

increasing calories because

25:07

you've never done this before.

25:10

And you're tracking for the very

25:10

first time. And, you know, if

25:13

you come to me and I say, Well,

25:13

I think you're starting

25:15

metabolism, maybe in the

25:15

ballpark of, you know, 2600,

25:19

what are you eating now? Oh,

25:19

you're eating 1500? Oh, yeah,

25:21

let's just jump 900 calories

25:21

tomorrow. I'm not going to do

25:24

that as a coach. Right? And I

25:24

wouldn't expect that, that you

25:27

to try that yourself either.

25:27

Because we want to take it slow

25:30

and steady and get there in a

25:30

reasonable timeframe. Now, does

25:33

that defy everything? I just

25:33

said, No, because this is not

25:36

for physiological reasons. This

25:36

is for practical and logistical

25:40

reasons. And for those of you

25:40

listening, who said, Well,

25:42

that's exactly why I tell people

25:42

to reverse diet because it's

25:45

practical. Okay, I can give you

25:45

a point there. However, if you

25:49

know your maintenance calories,

25:49

you're still one level beyond

25:53

reverse dieting in that case,

25:53

because rather than it being a

25:56

reverse diet, it's simply a

25:56

practical jump to get your

26:00

maintenance as quickly as you

26:00

can, for that person,

26:02

meaning, if you know, you need

26:02

to jump 900 calories, you could

26:06

do it overnight, you could do it

26:06

the next day, you really could.

26:09

But if you tactically, if you

26:09

find that a struggle, it's okay

26:13

not to it's okay to jump by 300

26:13

calories a day for three days to

26:17

get there. But we're not gonna

26:17

waste more time than we need to.

26:20

The other reason you would

26:20

reverse diet is if you have no

26:23

idea what your maintenance

26:23

intake actually is. So that kind

26:26

of goes back to the premise of

26:26

this whole episode. That

26:30

ignorance of your numbers is

26:30

probably the one of the main

26:34

reasons I see most coaching.

26:34

Most coaches suggest reverse

26:37

dieting, it makes their job

26:37

easier, that's for sure. Because

26:40

they're not telling you to jump

26:40

to some arbitrary number. And

26:43

then you gain all this weight,

26:43

and then you yell at them for

26:45

not being a good coach. But

26:45

they're not the best coach, if

26:50

they don't use the best tools to

26:50

help you understand what your

26:52

true maintenance is, and do it

26:52

precisely in time efficiently.

26:57

And you don't have to use macro

26:57

factor for that you can do this

27:00

in a spreadsheet, like as a

27:00

coach, if macro factors stopped

27:03

existing tomorrow, I could do a

27:03

reasonable facsimile of that for

27:06

a client, and still use a

27:06

recovery diet instead of reverse

27:11

diet, you still can take your

27:11

weight over time, the calorie

27:14

intake, you can apply kind of

27:14

some simple math, some

27:17

smoothing, this is where my

27:17

engineering brain and my

27:19

software brain come in to play.

27:19

And you can still do a

27:22

reasonable facsimile of that,

27:22

alright. But if you don't know

27:26

your maintenance, and you don't want to go through all that, and you just want to react and you

27:27

want to guess, go for it,

27:30

reverse dieting will eventually

27:30

get you there. But with all the

27:33

negatives along with the ride

27:33

that we've talked about today.

27:36

Now, let's say that you weren't

27:36

tracking at all that's another

27:41

reason somebody wouldn't know their maintenance. Let's say you're not even working with a

27:43

coach and you just like, ate

27:46

quote, unquote, clean or you did

27:46

keto or carnivore, or you cut

27:49

carbs or whatever, however you

27:49

did your diet, or you just like,

27:54

arbitrarily watched your

27:54

calories and then saw how it

27:57

affected weight. In those cases,

27:57

it's true that jumping straight

28:00

to some random maintenance

28:00

number that you don't even know

28:03

could lead to overshooting

28:03

because you're not really even

28:05

tracking to begin with. So in

28:05

that case, some conservative

28:08

increases might help you figure

28:08

out your maintenance range once

28:12

your weight stabilizes. So I get

28:12

it. And that could be a great

28:15

approach somebody's taking who's

28:15

eating intuitively, right. But

28:19

someone who's eating intuitively

28:19

who's trapped for a long time,

28:22

will probably have a good idea

28:22

what it feels like also to get

28:24

back to maintenance, and know

28:24

that based on the weight they've

28:28

been losing, they've been in a

28:28

certain deficit recently. And

28:30

they can still make a more

28:30

educated guess, than necessarily

28:33

having to reverse diet. Now, the

28:33

other thing is when reverse

28:39

dieting can be defined in

28:39

different ways. For some people,

28:41

it's like two or 300 extra

28:41

calories this week, and then

28:43

next week in the next week. For

28:43

others, it's much slower, like

28:46

50 calories. I mean, either way,

28:46

it's still reverse dieting, it's

28:49

like stepping stone to your

28:49

maintenance. So it's nothing

28:52

magic. It's like not a magic

28:52

metabolic restoration protocol.

28:55

It's just guessing your way

28:55

there. That's really all it is.

28:58

The only other situation I can

28:58

think of is going to be physique

29:01

competitors, and other extreme

29:01

dieters, let's say lifestyle

29:05

dieters. And if you've been in a

29:05

super aggressive deficit, and

29:08

you've got extremely lean,

29:08

you're very adapted both your

29:13

metabolism and hunger signals

29:13

have been, you know, whacked

29:17

out, they're pretty suppressed.

29:17

And you just literally may not

29:21

feel comfortable eating a

29:21

maintenance right away. Like

29:24

even though you know, you can

29:24

and you know how to do it, and

29:27

you've done it before and you're not worried about the number of calories, simply your digestive

29:29

system and like everything going

29:34

on with you, it's just off. And

29:34

to jump that much. Like let's

29:38

say you're in 1000 calorie

29:38

deficit, you could jump 1000

29:40

calories overnight, may just not

29:40

be comfortable. And that's

29:43

another reason to take it

29:43

slowly. But you still know where

29:45

you want to be and you want to get there as quickly as possible. So and by that, I mean

29:47

like take a week, at most, maybe

29:51

two, but not weeks and weeks and

29:51

weeks. Okay, that can help with

29:54

your digestion with your

29:54

appetite regulation. But the

29:57

goal again is still to ramp up

29:57

to your actual recovery. Take

30:00

your maintenance calories as

30:00

efficiently as you can tolerate.

30:03

And other than that it's a

30:03

temporary psychological tool,

30:06

it's not actually a metabolic

30:06

necessity. So for everyone else

30:09

look, just get macro factor

30:09

already, you can try it for free

30:12

with my code, Whitson weights

30:12

all one word, and stop guessing,

30:16

I'll put a link in the show notes like I used to do when I mentioned it in the show. And

30:17

then you'll never ever need to

30:20

reverse diet ever again, once

30:20

you've got that approach down,

30:23

going straight to maintenance

30:23

calories. So to recap, today's

30:26

episode, reverse dieting is the

30:26

epitome of one of those like

30:30

fitness industry myths that has

30:30

to die. And it's one of those

30:35

that really persist even among

30:35

really great coaches. And a lot

30:38

of them, I get that they are not

30:38

necessarily using reverse

30:41

dieting, the full on way that

30:41

some people use it. And in some

30:44

cases, maybe they're not even

30:44

using reverse dieting, and

30:46

they're just calling it that and

30:46

I get it, then we get into

30:48

semantics and so on which I

30:48

don't know when this episode is

30:52

coming out. But Sue bush and I

30:52

when she was on the show, or

30:55

maybe I was on her show, I don't

30:55

remember which one. But we got

30:58

into a discussion about needing

30:58

to be careful with our words in

31:02

this industry. And why

31:02

podcasting as a medium is a good

31:05

place to explain all this

31:05

because then you can define what

31:07

you mean, which hopefully I've

31:07

been doing today. And if you did

31:12

not listen to the episode, of

31:12

course, you didn't even get to

31:14

what I'm saying here. And you

31:14

just give me a bunch of hate

31:16

comments on YouTube. Because you

31:16

think reverse dieting is the

31:19

bee's knees. That just proves my

31:19

point. So here's the thing you

31:24

want to trust, the data driven

31:24

approach that actually measures

31:28

the things you care about. And

31:28

one of the things we care about

31:31

during dieting is knowing your

31:31

maintenance calories. That's

31:34

really, really important while

31:34

we're dieting. So we can be

31:37

proactive, we can avoid

31:37

plateaus, and we can recover

31:40

straight to maintenance. And

31:40

that's important for your

31:43

health. That's important for your metabolic health, your performance, your life balance,

31:44

your psychology, your mental

31:47

state. That's why this is

31:47

important. It's not just, it's

31:50

not just splitting hairs. And if

31:50

you have the right tools, and

31:53

then you have the right mindset,

31:53

then what are you going to do,

31:55

you're going to maintain that

31:55

hard earned physique without the

31:58

smoke and mirrors of reverse

31:58

dieting. Okay, so if you want to

32:02

learn more about this, I've got

32:02

lots of episodes about these

32:05

various topics, but I do have

32:05

the other one that I will link

32:07

in the show notes. And then I'm

32:07

trying to think if there's

32:11

anything else I wanted to mention about this other than No, I think that's it. So okay,

32:13

that's it about reverse dieting

32:16

and why it's a complete waste of

32:16

time. The answer is no your

32:19

maintenance calories, recovery

32:19

maintenance calories as quickly

32:21

as possible, you'll feel great.

32:21

You'll get back to be in

32:24

maintenance, maintaining your

32:24

physique or even going into a

32:26

building phase without all the

32:26

wasting time. Alright, in our

32:31

next episode 169 q&a with Jeff

32:31

Hain menopause weight loss

32:36

bulking without getting fat

32:36

cutting on low sleep. I'm

32:39

teaming up with Jeff Hain of the

32:39

mind muscle connection podcast

32:43

for a special co hosted q&a,

32:43

where we are going to share our

32:47

thoughts on six different

32:47

questions three from his

32:50

community, three for mine on

32:50

rest periods for muscle growth,

32:54

managing your diet, unlimited

32:54

sleep, what to do if you're

32:57

gaining too much weight in a

32:57

book, how to transition your

33:00

training from bulk to a cut,

33:00

menopause and weight loss

33:03

resistance for women over 50 and

33:03

how to prep ahead of time for an

33:06

inevitable holiday feast Steen.

33:06

Make sure again to hit follow

33:11

hit follow hit follow right now

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