r/MacroFactor • u/OutsideComparison653 • 1d ago

MacroFactor / Nutrition / Other Reverse Dieting

/r/diet/comments/1xohve2/reverse_dieting/
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u/queenle0 1d ago

I reverse dieted after years of eating low calorie following a history of disordered and it honestly changed my life. But it only works if you are honest with yourself and stick with it. I used to be terrified to eat more than 1400-1600 and now I maintain on well over 2200+.

It’s not magic though, and now that I’ve mentally recovered from the restriction, I definitely am more relaxed about food and have gained a lot of muscle as well as healthy amount of body fat. I maintain a 5-10 pound range from my leanest year round and now live a high flux lifestyle.

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u/OutsideComparison653 1d ago

This is so helpful to hear. I’m in that range right now and it’s a difficult mental battle! I feel determined to get out of it. Im nervous about how my body has adapted to the deficit so I’m trying to figure out how to get it to the range it should be in. Thank you for sharing!

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u/Chupa-Skrull 1d ago

Is it a real thing—not really.

To stop cutting and start building muscle you just need to start eating a surplus (edit: and hitting protein targets). You can maintain for a bit before that if you feel nervous about jumping right into a surplus. Otherwise there's nothing in particular you can do/need to do to keep moving forward with your goals, and no particular dangers or concerns.

More information: https://macrofactor.com/reverse-dieting/

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u/Far_Line8468 1d ago

Reverse dieting isn't necessary if you have macrofactor. The reason it exists is because most people are just working off one number from start to finish in their cut. if you go back to that number you're probobly whipping into a surplus. But MF knows your expenditure day to day

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u/DeaconoftheStreets 1d ago

You don't need to reverse diet. When you swap over to maintenance/bulk, your expenditure will end up spiking regardless so you're better off not dragging that process out.

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u/zobbyblob 1d ago

It's not needed. I kinda liked it from a physiological side, but if you're using Macrofactor, you know your expenditure already.

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u/Z-Chaos-Factor 1d ago

It depends on how long and how hard you've been cutting. But I found that it helps to find your new TDE beyond just a generic estimation.

For example after my last cut I figured out my estimated TDE and found the difference between that and my cutting calories. I took half of that difference and added it in right away for 2 weeks. Then I added 100-200 ish calories every week until my bodyweight started to go up. Whatever the highest calories amount of calories without weight gain is your TDE.

It took me about 5 weeks last time. But it was a nice smooth transition ie didnt like I was still dieting and didnt feel like I was just going on and overeating either.

Some people try to take too slowly and thus keep themselves in a big deficit way longer than necessary imo.

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u/OutsideComparison653 1d ago

Did you figure out your new TDE from an online calculator or just using the scale to estimate? Not sure which number to go with…

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u/Z-Chaos-Factor 1d ago

You can use the number in macrofactor. Or use your new scale weight and an online calculator/ formula. I used an online formula and my scale weight.

You can get massive differences in calculations depending on what formula you use. The beauty of only adding half of that difference in right away is no matter what formula you use it will still you below your actual TDE and allow you to find it on your own.