Answering 2 FAQs:⠀
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Why do we add more calories in carbs and fat?⠀
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If you’ve been cutting to target fat loss rather than just weight loss (because most of us want to see a little muscle definition once we shed the fat), your protein number should already be set somewhere between .8-1.2g per lb of bodyweight/target bodyweight. That is the sweet spot for muscle-sparing weight loss!⠀
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That leaves carbs and fat as the macros to reduce in order to achieve a deficit. So naturally, those are what we aim to increase when it is time to build in more calories.⠀
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Also, increasing carbs and fat is where LIFESTYLE meets FLEXIBILITY when it comes to living in maintenance. When you go to a barbecue with friends, you want to get the beer, the ribs, the cornbread and the brownie right? Not a pile of grilled chicken. If we continue to add protein in with the other macros (or live in a macro split targeted to fat loss), it would do us no additional favors in terms of body comp, could negatively affect digestion and it would take away from the benefits we’ve likely sacrificed in the reduction of fat and carbs - things like energy, sleep, biofeedback and possibly even experiences that fill our lives with memories!⠀
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THESE are the reasons we want to make time spent cutting the exception not the rule. Committing additional time to a reverse while also challenging, will NEVER be wasted because it is like an insurance policy on the time you spent in a deficit. ⠀
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Why do we not want in add cardio?⠀
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It would be nice if we could do everything at once! But we can’t save money and spend money. We can’t sleep while being productive. And we can’t build our metabolism if we are offsetting additional calories with an uptick in energy expenditure.⠀
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Remember, the purpose of a reverse is NOT to lose weight but to recover/increase your metabolic rate and maintain a similar physique in the process. ⠀
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If you want to increase activity because you love it, I recommend doing it after the reverse so you aren’t building that into your basal metabolic rate. OR save it for when you can use it strategically to hammer out a fat loss goal during a future phase of nutritional periodization
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