My background is Italian. I grew up in a family where uncles owned butcher shops, grandfathers filled pools with soil for veggie patches, and where my Nonna successfully reverses dieted every newcomer to the family. I want to continue her legacy.
REVERSE DIETING AT 5EW
When I started working at 5th Element Wellness I was introduced to the concept of reverse dieting. I liked the sound of this from the get-go because I love food and I love encouraging people to nourish their body not only with nutrient-dense food but with the right amount of nutrient-dense food.
Calorie restriction is a common story. From an internal health perspective, it leaves the body depleted of nutrients, which can manifest as a host of health concerns: fatigue/sleep disturbances, energy fluxes, mood disorders (brain fog, anxiety, depression) low immunity/autoimmunity, gut damage, thyroid dysfunction and low fertility (loss of your period/ difficulty conceiving and/or low sex drive).
From a body composition perspective, restrictive calories can down-regulate your metabolism. Your metabolism is responsible for converting the food you eat into energy. When this function is down-regulated the common manifestation is either a stalling in weight/fat loss an inability to drop weight/body fat, or stalling or inability to gain lean muscle.
From a mindset perspective, the restriction of calories and/or types of foods can lead to binges and thus your relationship with food can become one of punishing instead of nourishing, self-hating instead of self-caring.
Then I was like, Okay, so we use this method for those people who…
- Are currently under-eating or have a history of under-eating.
- Have been on and off fat loss stimulating medication.
- Have stalled in weight/fat loss despite being on low calories.
- Are experiencing hormonal problems associated with under-eating. Hypo/hyperthyroid, loss of menstrual cycle, loss of sex drive.
- Have a healthy relationship with food and would like to gain more lean muscle and/or maximise fat loss when they drop their calories after a reverse dieting phase.
We’ve got a mixed bag of people who will then benefit from reverse dieting, those after health benefits and those after sustainable body comp results.
HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK?
The importance of reverse dieting is to rebuild your metabolism and thyroid health.
Analogy 1: If you were a car your metabolism is a revved engine and your thyroid is the gas. If you have no gas, then you can’t rev your engine. (I’m imagining that scene in grease where they are revving their cars ready to race. I want to be that car, full of fuel, hungry to go and revving my engine, mmm juicy).
Analogy 2: Reverse dieting is metabolism/thyroid training, and just like physical training, as a beginner, you have to start super slow and slowly build up your strength and fitness. We need to allow time for your body to adjust and adapt to the new amount of energy coming in.
Blowouts, ballooning and fast weight gain happen when your body is expected to deal with a fast influx of calories. The body is saying, “What the hell, I’m not fit enough to deal with all this fuel, but on the bright side I might need it for later so I’ll store it as fat. God, I’m doing well, look at me go, I’m looking after me!” That’s why it’s important to do this process SLOW, to decrease the likely hood of a blowout.
The goal is to SLOWLY get you from your low caloric intake, to your base caloric intake which is where the body can function and flourish optimally (increased energy and motivation, improved sleep quality, improved mental acuity, reduced stress on the physical body, improved sex drive, healthier menstrual cycle, improved thyroid health, fat loss, muscle gain, weight gain for those underweight, skin health, increase physical and mental strength with the help of a personal trainer).
Once you’re at your base, it’s best to stay there for 6-12 months at a stable consistent weight/body fat. If you choose to, you can then play with calorie deficits and surplus, depending on your individual health and fitness goals.
For example, I’ve reversed dieted and maintained my body fat and have had regular menstrual cycles for 8 months and I decided, because I’m feeling so good, that I want to step up my training. I may go into a small calorie surplus on training days but on my rest days I may go into a little bit of a deficit.
After a long and twisted history beneath the banner of ‘train more and eat less’, the collective state of our health is calling for a phase of deep nourishment. It’s time to reverse all the diets and get our engines revving again.
