Welcome to SELF-LOVE Season

‘Reverse dieting’ is the buzzword encouraging women to ditch toxic diet culture in favour of healthy relationships with food

KETO, intermittent fasting, 5:2 - they’re all household names in the dieting industry and some of the most popular choices for shedding the pounds, but the reality is, it’s not sustainable and can create toxic habits. However, with many women now turning to self-love and realising it’s not all about the number on the scales, there’s a new, more intriguing method of changing your attitude towards eating and exercise.

Welcome: reverse dieting. While its name might sound like a tactic to pile on weight, reverse dieting is actually about re-building your calorie intake and increasing your health. And no, you won’t have rapid fat gain. It means you get to eat the things you love, feel great, and keep a boosted metabolism (if that’s what you want, of course).

It’s almost a screw you to meal replacement shakes, and a great way to incorporate lots of healthy goodness into your diet to help you feel great.

However, there’s not been too much scientific research into it so far, despite searches for reverse dieting increasing massively in time for the New Year, when everyone decides to go on a health kick. Of course, it’s essential to remember that every body is a great body, and the word ‘diet’ in its name by no means suggests this is a get-slim-quick fix.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s learning to be kind to yourself and the things you eat, especially in the social media age where we’re constantly bombarded with the message that thin equals healthy.

To get the lowdown on whether it’s actually achievable to keep it up and what to expect, we spoke to Emily Servante, Certified Personal Trainer at Ultimate Performance on how to approach with caution.

How does reverse dieting work?

“It’s important to understand exactly what ‘reverse dieting’ is before someone embarks upon such a diet, because it is not suitable for everyone.

“’Reverse dieting’ is essentially pulling yourself out of a large calorie deficit – that is, eating well below your recommended daily calorie intake – after a prolonged period of low-calorie dieting. It is an old bodybuilding trick which describes a period of slowly rebuilding and increasing your daily calories back up to your maintenance level.

Can you jump straight into reverse dieting?

“Generally speaking, ‘reverse dieting’ should be done after you’ve been on a low-calorie deficit for a long time, so it wouldn’t be my first recommendation as a tool to elicit weight loss.

“However, there is a caveat to that, and this is where it might – I stress, might – help certain people.

“There is evidence to suggest that some women are unintentionally in a calorie deficit because society has drummed into them that the lower the calories, the slimmer they will be. That can lead to careless eating, because you’re depriving yourself of what the body needs by focusing purely on the kcal figures on food labels. Dropping your calorie count too low or eliminating whole food groups from your diet will slow your metabolism by its effect on thyroid hormones.

“Someone who is on a very calorie-restrictive diet might well have experienced hunger pains and cravings, feelings of being sluggish and disrupted sleep. In turn, that can lead to bingeeating to satisfy those cravings.”

Why is it so important for women to stop ‘fad’ dieting?

“A better approach to dieting is to ensure your foods contain enough good, solid nutrients, and the right amounts of proteins, carbs and ‘good’ fats. So, in the circumstances I’ve just described,

‘reverse dieting’ could be used as a weight loss tool, because it will help you to slowly build your calories back up to a healthy baseline and reintroduce important food groups. In turn, this will slowly improve your overall health, your sleep patterns and reduce cravings, all of which will have a positive impact on your metabolism and fat loss.

“When you’ve dieted for such a long time, there comes a point where your body will adapt and your metabolism will slow down. By gradually building your calories back up to a maintenance level, it has the potential to restart and recharge your metabolism.”

Meet the women already trying it… Roisin, 26

“Since being a teenager I’ve always been on some kind of yo-yo diet, and I always end up feeling worse than I did at the start.

“Noughties diet culture has caused huge long-standing mental problems for a lot of women, and it’s so easy to see food as something you have to burn off, not something that fuels your body and helps it achieve peak performance.

“I’m still relatively new to the idea of ‘reverse dieting’, but it’s helping me explore foods that I would never have previously touched and I’m far less restrictive.

“I’ve become a mindful eater, and I love how much work goes into preparing my food now, instead of just scouring the supermarkets for the products that had the lowest fat or calorie content.”