Summer Bodies Are Made In The Winter: Reverse Diet To Improve Metabolic Health

Have you got a beach holiday planned next year, or just want to feel more comfortable in your summer clothes?
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Preparation starts now, when the weather is cold, wet and your motivation might be low. When I say preparation for next year, I don’t mean cutting calories, I mean the opposite.
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Make losing weight for the beach easier for yourself, to be able to consume more calories and still lose weight, instead of starving yourself and being a slave to the treadmill. Sound good?
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It’s not optimal to live in a calorie deficit all your life. Think about it, you are consuming less calories than you need, ALL the time, meaning things like health, performance and body composition will be sub optimal. Running a car on empty is not optimal for the engine, the same principle applies to your body.
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Ask yourself the following, do you struggle to

Lose weight- frustrated that your friends lose weight much quicker than you because they have a ‘fast’ metabolism?
Improve muscle tone
Get stronger
Gain weight quickly when you deviate from the ‘diet’
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In the winter months I suggest prioritising your metabolic health and to build a better physique, by slowly increasing calories over a few months. The rate of weight gain and how high to increase calories will depend on the individual and their goals. This is known as reverse dieting (The diet after the diet), and is often overlooked. You can’t expect to run your body into the ground, to keep cutting calories, to exercise more and then once you have reached your goal to totally stop, and then aspect your body to function optimally next time you diet? This is where reverse dieting can be very beneficial.
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See reverse dieting as an opportunity to switch your mental focus from always thinking about vanity, which can become obsessive, cause unhealthy behaviours and create a poor relationship with food. See reverse dieting as an opportunity to
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Increase muscle tissue
Performance
Improve metabolism health
Socialise more (use the extra calories for meals out etc.)
’Recharge the batteries’
Gain strength
Prep for the next time you diet (able to consume higher calories)
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Summer Bodies are made in the winter, put the work in now.