Reverse Dieting (Metabolism Do Over)

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hey All,

5’10" 28 yr old seeking advice. Currently 190lbs, and haven’t strength trained seriously in a few years. Metabolism/Reverse dieting related.

Personal History:

2013-2014 - Lifting Phase (put up decent beginner numbers, 225 on bench, 250 deadlift)

2014 - Back Injury (slight protruding disks T7-T9)

2014-2016 - Reduced Lifting and not truly fixing postural and core issues (anterior pelvic tilt, rounded shoulders)

2017-2019 - Been very busy; stopped tracking calories and macros // now no idea what my nutrition profile should be. Currently doing cardio 3-4 times a week (burning ~150-200 calories per session) Testosterone currently (~300 total, 60 Free, E2 elevated, Cortisol elevated, TSH 4.14)

But before I realized this might be a problem, I’d been losing total muscle, and putting on fat.

Watching my baseline muscle disappear from my few years of lifting really tipped me to a problem.

I believe it may be my metabolism, amongst punishing my adrenals.

My plan is to add 100 calories a week for the next 4-6 weeks like this:

Now 1800 cals/day
Week 1 - 1900-2000 cals/day
Week 2 - 2100-2200 cals/day
Week 3 - 2300-2400 cals/day
Week 4 - 2400-2500 cals/day
Thereafter - 2500 cals/day

However, I’ve no clue what’s appropriate macros for someone in my situation.

I’m a little frustrated. I’ve put off some issues and ignored the things that would have led to me being in better shape after my injury.

I’ll never ignore or downplay my physical health again. Issues only pile up.

Thanks fam. Any advice would be appreciated. Once again, i’ll have to start from scratch on this one.

2

It is bullshit.

What are your goals?

3

bump

4

Err… start lifting??

Do this or something by Dan John…

Diet:eat mostly fresh meat and vegetables and get in whatever calories gives you the best energy for work and training

5

You are basically in the same sickly condition as 3/4 of kiddos your age, and you think that increasing your calories by 25% is they key. So we could get America in shape if we could just get them to eat an extra 700 calories a day?

What does this entail? It’s either not very intense or not a lot of time commitment or both.

Very few people are metabolically damaged from lack of food on 1800 calories a day. What do you eat? There IS a method of “reverse dieting” so to speak. It entails adding calories around a resistance training workout. This is called peri-workout nutrition. Added calories need to be matched by an increase in activity that causes positive physiological adaptations.