So that was my typical female thought pattern about 3 months before jet setting to Hawaii. My motivation sadly came from wanting a ‘beach body'.. might sound vain, but hey, I have a vagina and society is bullying me into this.. give me a break.
Anyway, around June last year I was only eating around 1300 calories a day, so in order to lose weight I dropped my carbs to a stupidly low level, and ate very few calories in order to get lean pronto. I trained hard (felt like crap) & went from 55kg to around 52-53kg (depending on if I'd taken a dump recently or not). Anyway, I was happy with how I looked once I smothered myself in a violent fake tan, I was ready to hit the Hawaiian sand.
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| Life was hard in Hawaii.. |
I enjoyed Hawaii but was very mindful of how much I ate to ensure I didn’t go over 1100 calories. Half a quest bar & a coffee was my breakfast everyday and I pretty much lived off rice cakes (good thing I love them)
Anyway, when I got home I was ready to eat normally again and fix all this damage I'd done to my body. (Note how I was eating 1100 calories for 4 months & training hard, and only lost 2kg?) I had read about metabolic damage & knew that I needed to do a reverse diet to help my body heal & to increase my calorie intake. So I sat down with my awesome coach Joey to formulate a reverse diet plan that would allow me to increase my caloric intake with minimal weight gain.
Below is the dairy I kept of my thoughts as I went through my 20 week reverse. (I only started the diary at week 7, because thats when I realized it would be a good blog post)
Keep in mind that prior to starting this reverse I was extremely strict with my food intake, I never ate sugar, lollies, ice-cream or chocolate (not even dark chocolate), I wouldn’t go near a dessert menu and even the smell of something ‘unhealthy’ made me anxious- I hadn’t eaten any ‘typical’ junk food in over 2 years and the last time I ate fast food was in Bali 3 years ago. It once took me 45 minutes to choose a dip in the supermarket because I was so obsessed with finding one that didn’t contain vegetable oil...
Keep in mind that prior to starting this reverse I was extremely strict with my food intake, I never ate sugar, lollies, ice-cream or chocolate (not even dark chocolate), I wouldn’t go near a dessert menu and even the smell of something ‘unhealthy’ made me anxious- I hadn’t eaten any ‘typical’ junk food in over 2 years and the last time I ate fast food was in Bali 3 years ago. It once took me 45 minutes to choose a dip in the supermarket because I was so obsessed with finding one that didn’t contain vegetable oil...
So from me this reverse diet was more then just a calorie increase, it’s a total mind reset.
Week 7.
Total Cals: 1440
Protein: 130g
Carbs: 140g
Fats: 40g
Fibre intake: 20-25g
Ok so before starting this reverse my carbs were crazy low, so it has been a change to have a higher carb intake. Hello sweet sweet fruit! This week has been interesting, really struggling to keep the fats down. Ive had to take it easy on the peanut butter (worst news ever). I jumped on the scales and thought id put on 3kg in a dayI think I just needed to take a crap, cause I was back to my normal weight the next morning. Thanks a lot hormones, way to freak me out.
Week 8.
Total Cals: 1480
Protein: 130g
Protein: 130g
Carbs: 150g
Fats: 40g
Fibre intake: 20-25g
My former self would have died from anxiety if she saw the foods I have eaten this week. Ive had a banana like everyday- I used to think bananas were the devil due to their high carb count and glycemic index.. now I actually have to eat them to hit my carb intake! I also ate ice-cream yesterday cause I had left over carbs and fats.. #winning. My tastebuds are dancing like 3 year olds to the wiggles… frantically and kinda dangerously. I’m finding the supermarket a whole new adventure- it’s a weird concept for me to no longer look at certain foods as 'good' or ‘bad’.
Week 9
Total Cals:1480
Protein: 130g
Protein: 130g
Carbs: 150g
Fats: 40g
Fibre intake: 20-25g
I kept my carbs the same this week because I did a bit of a rubbish job at hitting them last week. I actually had a piece of birthday cake today too (which I haven't had in like 3 years!) Ill admit though, eating so much is actually kind of hard, I’m finding that I am force feeding myself quite a bit. But that’s ok- ill get there! I just have to make sure I space my meals out so I don’t have to slam a heap of food before bed.
Week 10
Total Cals: 1520
Protein:130g
Carbs: 160g
Fats: 40g
Fiber: 20-25g
My numbers stayed the same again this week as I thought I had gained 500grams, however this morning I jumped on the scales and I have actually lost weight! Im at 52kg which is slightly lower then when I started 4 weeks ago! So I'm pumped about that. Ive decided not to count macros on Saturdays at it was becoming stressful and isn’t worth the hassle of trying to fit in certain foods around events. I just eat intuitively on Saturdays and try to be smart about my intake. Training is going well & I am feeling strong in the gym. Ill be upping my carbs to 160 this week! Yikes! I don’t think ive ever eaten so much fruit before in my life! Its freakin amazing!!
Week 11
Total Cals:1605
Protein:130g
Carbs: 170g
Fats: 45g
Fiber: 20-25g
Fruit, im eating so much fruit. Its amazeballs. Last year I literally didn’t eat any fruit for the whole year- I actually used to think of them as ‘sugar’ and being unhealthy. What the fudge was wrong with me? Who ever got that Idea into my head should be slapped with a bread stick.. I think it was Charles Poliquin, damn that carb hating man. I missed out on some bloody good fruit! Well.. im totally making up for lost time!
Week 12
Total Cals: 1645
Protein 135g
Carbs 175g
Far 45g
I have noticed some interesting things this week, Ive stopped needed to have a nap each day & my muscles are not as 'achy' at night (I sometimes find it hard to sleep because my body hurts), my hair is also looking healthier & Im not losing clumps of it in the shower! Although, yesterday I was totally convinced that I had put on weight, all my clothes fit but I guess smashing so much food everyday is psychologically messing with me. I did my measurements anyway just to check...nothing. All my measurements are the same & so is my body weight. Crazy huh? I could get used to this eating 3 big meals a day business..
Week 13
Total Cals: 1692
Protein: 135g
Carbs: 180g
Fat: 48g
I forgot to write anything down for week 13, but I'm going to assume it was an awesome week, cause generally my weeks contain a fair amount of awesome.
Week 14
Total Cals: 1752
Protein: 135g
Carbs: 195g
Fat: 48g
Carbs carbs carrrbbbs delicious carbs.. Holy baked potato. I am battling to hit the carb count again, I’ve resorted to drinking fruit juice and chowing down on cereal to try and get my carb intake up. Full.. me so full.
Week 15
Total Cals: 1752
Protein: 135g
Carbs: 200g
Fat: 48g
Hello festive season, this year was AWESOME! I actually remember last year having all this amazing fruit for Christmas and not eating any of it cause I was a carb a fobic.. this year I was pretty much injecting fruit juice into me! I didn’t officially count Christmas or boxing day, but I am becoming quite good at guessing my intake so I am betting I actually came pretty close to hitting my targets. I still trained right throughout the festive season, no rest for the wicked- plus I enjoy training so that helps!
Week 16
Total Cals: 1752
Protein: 135g
Carbs: 200g
Fat: 48g
Kept my intake the same this week as I went to Adelaide for a 10 day holiday. I made sure I kept up with the training, but probably didn’t train as hard as I would have liked. Really struggling with the increased food intake, I am innately not a big eater and I hate that feeling of being so full you feel sick- I feel like I am constantly eating all day.
From here I reversed for another 4 weeks, but I forgot to write down my thoughts as I was writing my Ebook and life got a little cray. BUT I remember complaining that I felt fat, even though the scales didn’t change at all. I ended up getting my intake to over 2000 calories and carbs around 240g- At the end of the 20 weeks I had put on about 500grams (give or take a bathroom visit), which I am hoping is muscle (since I was hitting the gym pretty hard).
The hardest part of the reverse was knowing that I wasn’t going to lose weight in those 20 weeks. (Even though, I actually have clients who find they do actually drop weight when they reverse!) I feel like in the past 4-5 years I’ve consistently tried to lose weight. There hasn’t been a single week, month or day that hasn’t gone by where I haven’t stressed about what I put into my mouth or haven’t followed some sort of training program at the gym in order to trim down. It was a nice mind shift to make myself accept the size that I was and be OK with it staying that way while I did the reverse.
So, what happened next? Well, It is my brothers wedding in 3 weeks & I set myself a goal to get to down to 51kg by that date. Im happy to report that I am well on my way to achieving that goal, and still dropping weight by eating over 1600 calories!
The reverse diet has changed my mindset beyond belief, I now go to parties, I eat cake & I’m not scared of carbs. (Inner Italian is being unleashed again!)
If you are one of the many people who are under-eating & overtraining and feel like you are trying everything in order to lose weight and you cant, a reverse diet could be the golden nugget you need. (mmm… nuggets).
Believe it or not, It is actually very rare that I will have a client who does not need to do a reverse!
Believe it or not, It is actually very rare that I will have a client who does not need to do a reverse!
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| From my E-Book: "Have your cake & get lean too- A guide to counting Macros" |
If you would like to know more about reverse diets & how to do one, please purchase my E-book 'Have your cake & get lean too- A guide to counting macros" which ill tell you everything you need to know, you can also get a personalized consult if you would like me to calculate a plan for you.
If you are into Fitness Modeling or body building & need the assistance of someone who is qualified in that area, I would highly recommend my coach Joey!
If you are into Fitness Modeling or body building & need the assistance of someone who is qualified in that area, I would highly recommend my coach Joey!
Best Wishes,
Yours in carb filled love!
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