JANUARY 2019 to JUNE 2019

1,200 calories to 1,750 calories

Lately I have been talking a lot about….

“Reverse dieting”

“The diet before the diet”

“Prepping your body for a fat loss phase”

And today I want to show you a real-life application.

So if you are not fully convinced of the idea of eating more while losing inches, or are wondering how the process may look, then this is for you!

This is something I’m discovering I am very passionate about because so many females come to me eating far too few calories and frustrated as to why they can not lose fat.

They normalize restrictive eating behaviors and often consume only 1,200 calories or less per day.

I am here to break this trend. Let’s be real, life is so much more enjoyable with food! As well as looking and feeling our best!

If you have not yet read my previous blog, Reverse Dieting Explained, I would suggest starting there to gain a better understanding of the basics, before I take you through this experience.

For the sake of client confidentiality, I will refer to the client mentioned as “Client A”.

Client A came to me back in January with specific goals and a set timeline.

We eagerly began by going through the initial new client routine - discussing goals, obstacles, experience, current routine and diet, and all other baseline information needed to begin building the coach-client relationship and setting up a plan.

Her main goal was to lose weight in order to join the Air Force. The entry date she was aiming for was early June.

Starting weight: 198 lbs

Goal weight (to gain entry into Air Force test): 160 lbs

So January to June gave us just over 20 weeks, meaning if she lost an average of 1.8 pounds per week, she would be golden.

However, at this point I still had a lot of information I needed to collect before determining if this specific timeline was possible.

MONTH 1

WEEK 1 - 2: Determining maintenance. Tracking daily intake, averaging it, and comparing to weigh ins.

OUTCOME: We discovered that Client A was only consuming, on average, 800 - 1,200 calories per day.

With this information, I knew there was only one option, which was to reverse, or slowly and strategically increase calories to improve metabolic function and restore hormone levels. I explained the process and told her that we may need to alter her timeline, depending on how her body responds.

WEEK 3 - 4:

Calories: 1,400

Carbs: 150 g

Fats: 44 g

Protein: 100 g

I immediately brought calories up to 1,400 and put emphasis on a protein goal of 100 grams. Ideally protein would be higher, but 100 grams was the most achievable at the time due to current eating habits and intake.
Client A’s eating patterns were still very inconsistent. Some days she would get close to these goals, whereas some days she was still drastically under eating.

NOTE: I was also doing Client A’s training program. Due to her experiences and preferences, I started her with a 4-day push/pull split with 2 sessions of 15 minutes LISS cardio.

This blog will mainly discuss the nutrition program of Client A, however, I will include a few important adjustments to training program (mainly to cardio later on).

FOLLOW UP:

We had a scheduled call during week 3 (this is routine with my clients to make sure our communication stays strong and connection grows).

Client A expressed to me that through tracking, she truly saw how little she was eating. “If I wasn’t tracking, I would think I was eating a lot.”

This gave me insight that we may need to place some emphasis on mindset and her relationship with food.

If someone is only eating under 800-1,000 calories per day, is it because they truly are not hungry, or is it because they are afraid to eat more and have fostered a negative relationship with food?

MONTH 2 + 3

Main focus was on adherence and mindset.

Client A still claimed to not be hungry and many days still struggled to eat 1,200 calories.

Having a busy work schedule and struggling to meal prep were factors that lead into undereating, however, I still believed that mindset was a huge part of it.

If she felt like she was eating a lot with 1,000-1,200 calories, imagine what her brain was telling her with 1,400 calories!! That’s a big number to a lot of people.

We finally progressed her to consuming 1,500 calories per day, mainly with an increase in carbs, and slight increase in protein.

Calories: 1,500

Carbs: 160 g

Fats: 46 g

Protein: 110 g

MONTH 4

Finally adherence set in. Client A was consistently hitting her daily nutritional goal and so we could finally advance her training protocol.

Current weight: 195 LBs

Down 3 pounds in 3 months…we can all do the math - that’s 1 pound per month. Remember our initial timeline of losing around 1.8 pounds per WEEK.

So, at this point I needed to have a crucial conversation with Client A. On our monthly coaching call, I explained that she was about 35 pounds away from her goal weight (Air Force requirement). Being only 2 months away, I told her...

“It’s extremely unhealthy and unrealistic to try to lose a pound almost every other day. The reality is, if we did lose that weight, you would just gain it right back in water weight and muscle glycogen, so you’re going to feel so shitty that even if you gain entry into the test, you’re not even going to be able to perform the test because you’re so sluggish and underfed.”

“Looking back on these past months, we are still not in an optimal place to go on a strict cut. I know this because weight is not decreasing. So basically, we need to optimize your metabolism, go through a more intense reverse diet, to restore metabolic function & hormone levels.”

I asked her when the next Air Force entry date was, because the overall goal of Air Force was not out of the picture, but the June deadline most definitely was.

Thankfully, Client A was very receptive to this explanation and we set up a new timeline and made adjustments to her plan.

Now that adherence was in full force, I implemented a 5:2 approach with her nutrition.

I could sense that Client A was still hesitant to eat more, so I kept 5 days of her nutrition plan set at 1,500 calories. She was already comfortable here, so this shouldn’t be too much of a struggle. However, to really get this reverse moving forward, we needed more caloric intake overall. So, I added in 2 back-to-back refeed days.

These not only would help with restoring metabolic function and hormone levels, but two days is such a short time in a surplus, therefore less challenging mentally.

The hope was that, through biofeedback and her own realization, eating in a surplus is good for the body!

And that is exactly what it did - she began noticing increases in energy and training performance around her refeed days.

This realization was KEY to adherence. She now was starting to understand the process and ready to keep moving forward.

FURTHER EXPLANATION ABOUT HER MACROS AT THIS POINT:

At the time, Client A was also seeing her doctor and getting blood work done.
I became aware that she had been on and off of birth control for 4 years. Throughout these years, she had lost her menstruation cycle and the doctor told her it could take up to a year to regain it. At this point, she was on her 8th month off of birth control and still without her period.

Her doctor recommended she eat very low carb, lower protein, and higher fat.

I did not agree with this because the test results were not even in yet, so in my opinion the doctor had little reason to be giving such strict dietary recommendations.

I explained to Client A my understanding of the situation and told her that her body needed MORE food, not less.

When females experience amenorrhea, or the absence of menstrual cycle for 3 or more consecutive months, one main cause can be under eating. When our bodies do not obtain necessary energy intake and nutrients, they begin to downregulate. Since reproduction is not necessary to life, and actually requires quite a bit of energy, it tends to be the first process to go.

So for the initial weeks, I took the doctors orders into consideration. If it was up to my own judgement, I would have had her increasing to about 170 carbs on her maintenance days alone.

TRAINING ADJUSTMENT: At this point, I also removed all machine cardio. Cardio is an added stress to the body and nervous system. At this point we were solely focused on repairing the body and all processes, not weight loss, so cardio was out of the picture.

However, I did encourage going for light walks and still warming up with 5 minutes of light cardio - just nothing too taxing on the body.

MONTH 5

WEEK 1-3: At this point, Client A expressed to me that she trusted my word and had been working with me far longer than her doctor. She was putting full trust into my expertise and was open to increasing food once again.

The main reason for this was because I explained the entire process to her, and told her she could run it by her doctor, but to also not be surprised when her doctor did not understand terms such as reverse diet.

When we look at the research field, we will not find this term in medical textbooks and doctors who earned their degree many years ago definitely did not learn about this concept in school.

Most of this concept, of reverse dieting, is based on anecdotal evidence, or being based on personal evidence, done by coaches like myself and other leaders in this industry.
The science is there to back it, and it works! It’s just that it’s not in the medical literature yet so not everyone is aware of it.

One reason Client A allowed me to increase her food and continued to trust my word, is because of her biofeedback.

When going through a reverse, tracking multiple variables is crucial.

Energy levels
Training performance
Hunger levels
Cravings
Sleep quantity and quality
Clothes fitting better
Health (immune system)

So just to show one example, of many. Here is a response from Client A’s check in at this time:

Around this same time, Client A stepped on the scale and her weight shot up…. The scale read 212 pounds. At first she was frustrated and disappointed, like most of us would be.

But we kept coming back to her other “wins”. Energy had improved, she had better training sessions, she was sleeping solid throughout the night. She actually had hunger signals and would respond to them by eating!

Additionally, she suddenly was not getting sick! In the past she had come down with almost constant colds, however now her immune system was better functioning and she had gone almost a full month with no issues!

Yes the scale had increased, but we can all see that part of that is from the increase in muscle mass. The weight was not coming off, but her body composition had drastically changed and she had lost inches.

WEEK 1 - 3: Still implementing a 5:2 split.

I added 100 calories to her maintenance days mainly through the increase of carbs.

It was right around this time that she finally regained her menstrual cycle - YAY! Food is our friend ladies!!

WEEK 4: As Client A continued to express the positive benefits of eating more and adhered to her new intake goals, we finally took away the refeed days and set her daily intake at 1,750 calories!

Client A still has her goal of joining the Air Force, but instead of being on a rushed and unhealthy timeline, she realizes that she will make it happen without compromising herself and her health.

Her sole focus right now is to get her body functioning at an optimal state. She currently is weighing in so we can get the feedback, but is not focused on what the scale reads.

Calories: 1,750

Carbs: 155 g

Fats: 65 g

Protein: 135 g
Client A has had monumental mental shifts. She has come to realize that our bodies are capable of amazing things, but these things take time, patience, and consistent effort. This response alone speaks volumes:

MOVING FORWARD

At this point, our top priority goal is adherence to those current macros.

The next step will be continuing to increase until we find her current caloric ceiling and all normal processes are restores.

We will then maintain there and eventually the goal is to attempt to take her into a cut so we can finally see the scale drop.

I can not tell you when or how any of that will go, because it is all dependent on how her body responds. If we begin to pull calories and she does not lose any weight, then we will know that her reverse or maintenance phase is not over.

I want to conclude this post with saying a HUGE thank you to Client A for letting me go in such depth and sharing it with the world.

We both know that this information can help so many.

I also want to note that this plan is individuals. It has been tailored to Client A in every single step, so no other plan will look the exact same.

You can apply the same principles and methods, however, you can not simply write down these numbers and follow them.

If you believe you are under eating and would like to learn more about potentially going through a reverse diet that is tailored to your specific situation, apply for a free strategy call with me today!

CLIENT CASE STUDY: REVERSE DIET