Reverse Dieting Calculator

What is reverse dieting?

After a long diet, jumping straight back to old intake often brings rapid regain. Reverse dieting adds calories in small weekly steps (usually 50–150 a day) while tracking weight, so intake rises toward maintenance with minimal fat gain. The calculator lays out the steps between your current calories and your estimated TDEE.

How fast to add calories back

A common approach: +100 calories a day each week, mostly from carbohydrate and fat, keeping protein steady. If the weekly average weight rises more than about 0.3 kg, hold that step for another week. Most reverse diets take 4–12 weeks depending on the size of the deficit you are coming from.

Finding maintenance calories

Maintenance is your TDEE — estimate it with the TDEE calculator, or better, from data: the intake at which your weekly average weight has been stable for 2–3 weeks. Metabolism partially adapts during a diet, so the true maintenance right after dieting is often 5–15% below the formula estimate and climbs as you eat more.

Reverse diet vs diet break

A diet break is a planned 1–2 weeks at maintenance in the middle of a diet; a reverse diet is the gradual exit at the end. Both reduce diet fatigue; evidence that reverse dieting “boosts metabolism” is limited — its main value is control and habit while intake rises.

Sources

• Trexler ET et al. Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2014 (PubMed 24571926) — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24571926/
• CDC, Losing weight — https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-weight-growth/losing-weight/index.html
• Mifflin-St Jeor equation — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2305711/

This calculator is educational and not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, or are under 18, ask a clinician before changing your diet.