Reverse dieting is a strategy often used after a period of calorie restriction (like a fat-loss diet) to gradually increase calorie intake. The goal is to use it as a tool to:

• Restore metabolic rate
• Minimize fat gain post calorie restriction
• Improve hormonal imbalances 
• Rebuild performance & energy levels

After a prolonged fat-loss diet, your metabolism often slows down. It is not smart to jump back to your pre-diet calories. It can lead to fast fat regain. Reverse dieting aims to avoid that by gradually reintroducing calories, giving your metabolism time to adapt.

Instead of jumping straight back to maintenance or surplus calories after a diet, you slowly add calories back in, usually in small weekly increments—often 50–150 calories per week—until you reach your estimated maintenance level.

Key Goals of Reverse Dieting:

1. Boost Metabolism – Slowly increasing calories can help raise your resting metabolic rate.
2. Prevent Rapid Fat Gain – Eases your body back to maintenance without overloading it.
3. Support Hormonal Recovery – Helps rebalance hunger, thyroid, and sex hormones.
4. Improve Energy & Performance – More food = better workouts and daily function.

How It’s Done:

• Start with your ending diet calories (what where you at caloric intake wise when you stopped the deficit).
• Add 50–150 calories/week, typically from carbs or fats.
• Track weight and hunger to guide how fast you increase.
• Continue until reaching your estimated maintenance level, then decide whether to stay there or move into a muscle-building phase.

Peer review articles. 

Does slow reintroduction of calories after weight loss prevent weight regain in trained athletes? A feasibility study. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320878907_Does_slow_reintroduction_of_calories_after_weight_loss_prevent_weight_regain_in_trained_athletes_A_feasibility_study

After the spotlight: are evidence-based recommendations for refeeding post-contest energy restriction available for physique athletes? A scoping review

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9364707/?utm_