Mastering Reverse Dieting: My Journey To Staying Lean After Cutting

[@AtheistNihilist]

Great video. I absolutely wrecked my metabolism by going on a hyper aggressive mini cut (that turned into a full cut) and i ended up losing a lot of muscle. I have now reverse dieted from 1300 cals to 2100 calories by adding 100 calories a week. And my weight is still the same as it was 8 weeks ago. Should i keep adding 100 calories a week? And when i finally arrive at the line where weights starts to increase, what should i do then?

[@Nutritioneering]

I've been down that road of losing muscle with an aggressive cut. But it sounds like you've done a great job with a gradual reverse diet so far. Since your weight hasn't changed, you're probably still below your TDEE. So, I would continue adding 100 calories per week until you see a slight increase. At that point, what you do depends on your goals. You could stay at your maintenance number to try body recomp and let your metabolism adjust. Or, if you'd like to regain some of the lost muscle, you could continue adding 100 cals/week until you get to a slight surplus. Thanks for your comment and question!

[@AtheistNihilist]

@@Nutritioneering Thanks much. Very helpful. I was disappointed to lose muscle on the cut. I essentially went semi keto and i realized that just doesn't work for me. So i'm not going to be using keto ever again.

[@Nutritioneering]

@@AtheistNihilist No problem! Yeah, losing muscle that took months to build is so frustrating. But we all make that mistake at least once. The good thing is you've learned from it and know what to do going forward. I think keto works well in certain situations, but it's not ideal for most bodybuilders or athletes. Especially when combined with an aggressive deficit. Check out my video on carb cycling when you're ready to cut again. Keep up the good work with your reverse diet!

[@vengeance112]

How long did it take you to get your metabolism back to normal? I made the same mistake as you except I went into a dirty bulk instead of reverse dieting and gained my muscle back but A LOT of fat. I would like to know how long so I don’t make that same mistake again and to see if it was difficult

[@Nutritioneering]

@@vengeance112 After that aggressive cut, it took me about two months of adding 100 calories per week to get back to a reasonable energy balance while staying lean. The hardest part was dealing with the cravings because my leptin and ghrelin hormones were really messed up. So I allowed myself one cheat day per week where I ate everything I wanted for about a 4-5 hour period. I was eating entire large Pizza Hut pizzas and the cookie dessert! 😂That was enough to help curb my cravings while sticking to my strict, reverse diet the rest of the week. If you take a more moderate approach on your next cut, you can mitigate the metabolic and hormonal crashes, so you won't have to endure such a long reverse diet. Best of luck!

[@moseslivinsten7011]

First comment ❤

[@Nutritioneering]

Thanks for the support, bud!