If you’re someone who’s been eating 1000-1500 calories for years, following classic diet plans of boiled chicken and broccoli when it’s time to drop some weight, and now for some reason you’re finding that doesn’t work anymore… The belly fat isn’t going away, and all over social media you’re hearing “eat more to lose fat” but thats a terrifying prospect given what you’re experiencing currently – this episode is for you.  

Today we’re diving into a topic that so many women need to hear about, especially if you’ve ever said:

• “I’ve been eating clean, but I’m still not losing weight.”
• “I dropped my calories and started working out more… and my body feels even more stuck.”
• Or my personal favorite: “I’m scared to eat more—I don’t want to gain weight.”

If any of those sound familiar, we need to talk about reverse dieting and metabolic restoration—two things that need to be the first step in any fat loss journey, especially for 

Let’s start with the concept of Reverse Dieting?

This is essentially what it says – the  the process of intentionally and gradually increasing your calories after a period of chronic dieting or undereating—to restore your metabolism, hormones, and overall function.  

But I want to explain this further because there are a lot of coaches out there that say if you’re not losing weight it’s because you’re not in a “calorie deficit” – and while that might be true, there are a lot of different things that IMPACT your calorie expenditure, including hormones.  And a lot of women get to a point where they’re eating virtually nothing, which sure they can survive on – but most women don’t want to just survive.  So when they get down to these low calories, 1200, 1500 calories even for most SHOULD be a pretty extreme deficit, but NUTRIENT WISE, is not enough to sustain proper hormone production, it doesn’t support their detoxification systems, their thyroid function is blunted (you know, the thing that controls your energy production / large part of calorie expenditure) and when those aren’t working properly you’re not only going to have a hell of a time losing fat, but you’re going to be absolutely miserable doing it and likely putting yourself in a worse position than you started. 

Now believe me I know, the idea of eating more to get leaner sounds totally backwards, right? But here’s the deal: our bodies are so intelligent and your metabolism extremely adaptable so it will adjust to whatever you give it. If you’ve been eating 1200 or 1400 calories for months (or years), your body essentially thinks, oh – well we don’t have access to that much energy, we should probably start conserving more energy to make sure we have enough.  That, along with the fact that it’s lacking the actual building blocks to function properly like vitamins & minerals – has downshifted your metabolism into energy conservation mode. It’s not broken—it’s just efficient.

So what reverse dieting does is start bringing fuel & nourishment back in—slowly and strategically—so your body feels safe enough to let go of stress, restore hormone function, and rebuild lean muscle. And when that happens -fat loss actually becomes possible again.

How do you know this is what you need. Here are some of the most common signs You Might Need a Reverse Diet

Let’s talk about how to know if this is something your body needs. Here are some common red flags:

• You’ve been in a calorie deficit for a long time with little to no progress
• You feel cold, tired, or bloated all the time
• You’ve lost your period (or it’s irregular)
• You wake up exhausted, crash in the afternoon, and/or crave carbs at night
• You’ve hit a plateau that no amount of workouts or clean eating can seem to break

Basically, your body is showing signs that it’s under-fueled and over-stressed. And we can’t just keep cutting  calories and expect it to magically work. The reality of it is, that eventually – yes you will lose weight, but at what cost? At some point, we need to rebuild.

I mentioned hormones earlier, let’s talk about what actually Happens to Hormones During Chronic Dieting?

This is a big one. Because your metabolism isn’t just about calories—it’s deeply connected to your hormones. Hormones that NEED certain micronutrients in order to be synthesized in the body. 

When you’re under-eating for too long:

• Cortisol your stress hormone (if you hadn’t heard), goes up for many reasons but one is glucose regulation.  If you’re under eating and not able to maintain blood sugar levels, cortisol is released to increase blood sugar. 
• Thyroid hormones decrease.  Not only because of stress, but also again because it’s lacking key nutrients like selenium, iodine, and carbohydrates to convert and produce them.  If the liver is overburdened or not being supported with proper nutrients it can’t convert t4 to t3 the active thyroid hormone.  Cortisol will ramp up Reverse t3 production which puts the brakes on the thyroid (and most doctors won’t even test for this!).
• Sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone start to tank because again, lack of nutrients like cholesterol & b vitamins.  Energy is rerouted to cortisol because who needs to reproduce when you’re just trying to survive.  
• You stop building muscle, your sleep suffers which just perpetuates the vicious cycle of poor recovery, slowed detox pathways, poor blood sugar regulation, and you start storing fat even when you’re barely eating

And here’s the kicker: this hormonal shift can mimic menopause symptoms, even if you’re not there yet.

So reverse dieting becomes not just about metabolism—it’s about restoring hormonal balance so your body can function the way it’s designed to.

So how do we actually do this.

Okay, let’s talk about how to actually do this. Because it’s not just go ham on “eat more and hope for the best.” There’s a strategy here.

1. Know your starting point. Track your current intake without changing anything for 3–5 days to see what you’re actually eating. 
2. Increase slowly. Start by adding 100–150 calories per day each week, mostly from protein, but also your body needs carbs and fats. Generally speaking assuming you’re already following a decent macro split and haven’t completely cut out carbs or fats – you could increase in a basic macro split of 25-30% fats, 30-40% carbs and 30-40% protein. If you’re doing keto or something extreme like that, you would want to balance that back out with carbs and start cutting back on fats. 
3. Watch biofeedback. Pay attention to energy, mood, digestion, sleep, strength, and yes—cravings.
4. Eat mainly whole foods:  I think this goes without saying – but the foods you’re adding in needs to be mainly whole foods.  If your body is starving for nutrients, I would aim more for the 90/10 rule 90% whole unprocessed foods, 10% whatever. 
5. While macros are important we can’t forget about micros:  Again, your body has been starved of nutrients, vital nutrients that it needs to perform daily functions for hormone production, detoxification, support digestion, energy production and to keep your nervous system out of fight or flight so it can do all of the above.  You should be aiming for 25-35g of fiber per day, ESPECIALLY if you’re eating low calories that needs to be a priority. This is going to support your detoxification, your gut microbiome so your immune system, your digestion, even hormone regulation. Targeting nutrients like selenium (brazil nuts), b vitamins (quality meats, eggs, greens) , and antioxidants to support the thyroid, sex hormones and reduce stress on the body.  
6. Prioritize strength training. Then we can’t forget about this step.  This is the key to lasting change.  This helps direct those calories & carbs toward muscle repair and growth, so that your body can become more efficient, your mitochondria can Strength training helps boost mitochondrial function — your little energy factories. More muscle means more mitochondria, which means more calories burned at rest, better insulin sensitivity, and a metabolism that actually works with you instead of against you.
7. Be patient. This process can take weeks to months, depending on how long you’ve been under-eating. And the crazy thing, is that some women will LOSE weight doing this.  Their body will take those calories and nutrients and be like FINALLY, thank you – I can stop storing this inflammation, and let go of these stress hormones.  But, ill be totally honest -some women will gain weight doing this – and this is scary and this is why most people won’t do this on their own. Weight comes from not only just water weight from reintroducing carbo-HYDRATES, as they hold water, but also minimal amounts of fat, and if done properly over time MUSCLE. Which is the end goal.  But you really shouldn’t see more than 5-10lbs of weight gain over a 3-6 month period. After 5-8 lbs of gain, you need to pause the increase, make sure you’re training properly and putting it to use and let body recomposition work it’s magic with the fuel you’re giving it by building muscle and losing fat.  

This is the actual key to LONG TERM fat loss.  If you want to lose 15 lbs in 2 months and regain it in the next 6 months – sure go with optavia, or live on shakes.  But I can promise you it won’t last, and by the time you’re 35-40, you’ll be regretting it. 

Here’s what I see over and over again: women who’ve dieted themselves into metabolic chaos, thinking they just need to be more disciplined. But the real problem isn’t effort—it’s physiology.

Reverse dieting is how we fix that. It’s how we build a metabolism that can actually support fat loss long-term without burning you out or wrecking your hormones.

And honestly? Most of my clients end up eating more, feeling better, building muscle, and looking leaner without feeling restricted all the time.

Because when your body feels safe, it starts to respond.

This is actually a complete explanation of the first phase of our program the Metabolic Optimization Method that we call Reignite, because we are reigniting your metabolism, optimizing function through nutrients and getting you to a point where your body WANTS to respond to fat loss.  

If you’re listening to this and thinking, “This is me. I’ve been under-eating, overtraining, and stuck for way too long”—you are not alone. And you don’t have to stay stuck.

If you want to know whether a reverse diet is the right step for your body right now, I’ve got you. Tonight at 4pm PST I’m hosting a free webinar the 3 Keys to Mastering Midlife Fat Loss, and am going to walk you through the last 2 steps in our 3 step method that helps you with sustainable fat loss, so that you never have to diet again. 

You can also take my free hormone analysis if you haven’t yet—it’s a great starting point to figure out which systems need the most love.

Thanks for hanging with me today, I hope this was helpful.

Coach Brooke Davis Links: 

Website: elysianwomen.org 

LinkedIn: Brooke Davis – Owner – Davis Fitness

Facebook: Brooke Davis, CPT 

Instagram: Brooke Davis  (@brooke_elysian)

Free Community: Women’s Fitness Simplified: Lean down, tone up, build confidence!

Take Our Free Hormone Analysis: https://brookedavis.typeform.com/to/quKUjmTI

Book a Discovery Call: https://scheduler.zoom.us/brooke-davis-mjzn71/discovery-call

FREE HORMONE ANALYSIS: https://brookedavis.typeform.com/to/quKUjmTI

REIGNITE YOUR METABOLISM STARTER KIT: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGti3tDMXs/ITSylOr4SYTxI6pGsYXHXg/view?utm_content=DAGti3tDMXs&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hf2f1fc28d6

MACRO CALCULATOR: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FHkhXGjmkVNGVX_1V9SzbuWkxmCcg_V8/copy?usp=sharing&ouid=104808890097642848142&rtpof=true&sd=true