Reverse Dieting: The Diet for When You’re Done Dieting

All diets are different, and some are more sustainable than others. But it’s impossible to always be in a calorie deficit, or else we would (quite literally) waste away. So, how do we come out of a diet?

“Reverse dieting is more the dessert than the diet,” says Leslie Bonci, R.D.N., M.P.H., and sports dietician for the Kansas City Chiefs. “It is what one does after losing weight—not during weight loss.”

To lose weight, we have to be in a caloric deficit, meaning, we’re eating less calories than we burn. Reverse dieting is as it sounds—the opposite. The concept allows you to add in more calories to your daily intake once you’ve decided the diet is over, without gaining weight.