Reverse Diet Calculator for Women

What Is a Reverse Dieting Calculator for Women?

The reverse dieting calculator for women is a digital tool that helps women gradually increase calorie intake to prevent rapid weight gain. The calculator takes into account information such as your current daily calories, macronutrients, age, weight, activity level, and goals to formulate a reverse diet plan.

The reverse diet plan contains calories and macronutrients to sustain weight loss and achieve your future goals.

Why Women Over 40 Need a Reverse Dieting Plan

For women, the 40s are one of the most challenging times of their lives. Headlined by the decline of estrogen production and the onset of menopause in what feels like an uphill battle.

During this time, women will experience an increase in appetite, a decrease in fat-free mass (muscle, bone, organs, connective tissue, water), an increase in fat mass, and a change in fat storage from the hip and thighs to the abdomen.

Here, visceral fat is shown to jump from an average of 5–8% in premenopause, to 15–20% of total body fat in post-menopause. This increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

These hormonal changes, combined with a slower metabolism, and a general reduction of physical activity mean it is easier than ever to regain weight.

A reverse diet plan ensures calories are gradually increased to healthily maintain or gain weight, to not only keep the weight off but to ensure quality long-term health.

How to Use the Reverse Dieting Calculator

This tool guides you through slowly increasing your intake each week based on body feedback, training, and goals.

• Input Your Current Daily Calories And Macros: These are used as a baseline. Here, the calculator will adjust calorie and macros for a gradual and healthy weight gain.
• Enter Your Current Body Weight, Age, And Activity Level: This influences your daily energy expenditure which the calculator can form a calorie surplus to weight gain.
• Choose Your Goal (Maintenance, Muscle Building, Or Fat Loss Recovery): This determines the calorie increase. For example, with maintenance, calorie intake must be maintained, while calories must be increased to build muscle.
• Set Your Preferred Macro Ratio: Choose your macronutrient ratio for your specific goal.
• Click Calculate To Get Your Weekly Reverse Calorie And Macro Increase: Calculate your calorie and ideal macronutrients to meet your specific goals.

What Are Macros?

Macronutrients refer to carbohydrates, protein, and fats which are vital to many of the body’s physiological processes. Each is considered to be a source of energy, with each having a unique function within the body. Below, we discuss the role of each malcontent to highlight their importance for overall health.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are known as one of the body’s primary fuel sources, making up 45–65% of our total calorie intake of a standard diet. Containing 4 calories (kcal) of energy per gram, they are shown to raise blood glucose, stimulate insulin, and promote glucose uptake into glucose stored as glycogen until further energy is needed.

Studies indicate that carbohydrates can contain fiber which can support gut health, and immune function, improve fullness, and gut function, and reduce cholesterol.

Protein

Protein has several roles in the body. Making up 10–35% of total calorie intake it is seen as the body’s building blocks, it is used as hormones, enzymes, structural supports, and building and persevering muscle mass.

Like carbohydrates, each gram contains 4 kcal, however, it is shown to be the most filling macronutrient. Research shows that protein can improve satiety and increase thermogenesis, which is the amount of energy required to digest food. This means increased energy expenditure, and fewer calories consumed, leading to greater weight management and weight loss.

Fats

Fats make up 20–35% of our daily calorie intake, they are vital for many of the body’s systems, including nutrient absorption, organ protection, and hormone production. Each gram of protein contains 9 kcal per gram, fat is the most dense macronutrient, which makes a great source of energy.

Unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) in particular are incredible for the body as they have been shown to reduce cardiovascular disease and inflammation while supporting brain health.

For a more in-depth understanding of macronutrients, read What Are Macros.

Why Macros Matter During Reverse Dieting

Macronutrients are an important component to the nutrition process. While calories determine our daily energy intake, macronutrients determine the composition of those calories.

For example, after sustaining a calorie deficit and achieving your weight loss goals, it can be easy to increase calories. However, if the balance of macronutrients is incorrect, it can lead to spikes in blood sugar and decreased fullness, which can increase the risk of weight gain.

To avoid slipping back into old habits and regaining weight, macronutrients must be monitored and adjusted as calories are gradually increased.

Here, macronutrients need to be balanced to ensure enough complex carbohydrates, and protein is being consumed to maintain energy levels and fullness. Meanwhile, the correct amount of healthy fat is required to maintain hormonal health and continue absorbing vital nutrients. For more information, read How to Count Macros for Women.

Macros vs. Calories: What's the Difference?

Macronutrients and calories both serve specific roles in nutrition. Calories show the total energy content of food, while macros display the food composition of carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

Controlling calorie intake is required to lose and gain weight, while macronutrients can ensure energy levels, muscle mass, and hormonal health are sustained for the entire process.

To show how they differ, we present two foods with the same serving size, with different macronutrients and calories.

Chicken and salmon are both excellent nutrient-dense foods to be eating during a reverse diet and are a perfect example for showcasing how calories and macronutrient composition work.

Despite being the same size and chicken breast having 11 g more protein, salmon contains 43 kcal which is largely due to its additional 8.4 g (75.6 kcal) of fat.

This is not to say that salmon is worse, but rather just an illustration of how different macronutrient compositions alter total calories.

For more information, we recommend reading Counting Macros vs Calories for a more detailed comparison.

Best Foods to Add During a Reverse Diet

Understanding your calorie island macronutrient intake is vital during the reverse diet. The next step is to build a diet with the best sources of carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats. Below we list the best foods for easy macro counting to help you achieve your reverse diet goals.

Carbohydrates

Protein

Fat

Reverse Dieting by Age: What Women Need to Know

As we age, our body undergoes several physiological changes. After 20, energy expenditure is shown to decline by 1–2% per decade due to a decrease in fat-free mass. After 30, this is made worse as muscle mass reportedly declines by 3–8%. Combined with the decline of estrogen menopause can affect how you approach weight loss.

Fortunately, nutrition, calories, and macronutrients can be manipulated to address menopause symptoms and age-related negative health outcomes.

To find out more about reverse dieting by age, check out these excellent resources:

• Macros for Women Over 40
• Macros for Women Over 50
• Macros for Women Over 60
• Macros for Women Over 70

Reverse Dieting After Menopausal Fat Loss

As we know, menopause can increase appetite, slow metabolism, and shift fat storage toward the abdomen, making it not only difficult to lose weight, but keep it off.

Achieving your fat loss goal during menopause is a remarkable effort, however, this milestone should signal the beginning of your newfound health rather than a simple end of a diet.

From here, the reverse diet should be used to maintain current weight or gradually increase weight. The reverse diet can be used to ensure protein requirements are met to maintain muscle mass. Carbohydrates are consumed for sustainable energy, and healthy fats are available to maintain hormonal health, absorb nutrients, and support organ health.

To find out how macronutrients can be altered to support weight loss during perimenopause and menopause, read the resources below:

• Macros for Perimenopause Weight Loss
• Macros for Menopause Weight Loss Guide

How to Track Your Reverse Diet Progress

Tracking your reverse diet is essential for ensuring your progress toward your goals. To begin, first set clear goals and diet milestones.

From here, record baseline readings for these areas, and perform check-ins each month or every six to eight weeks. These include:

• Set clear goals using the S.M.A.R.T method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound)
• Scale Weight
• Measurements (Shoulders, Chest, Waist, Hips, Upper Arms, Thighs, Calves)
• Monitor Clothing Sizes
• Before and After Photos
• Energy Levels

Recording progress not only ensures you are working toward your goals, it also provides you with ongoing data on how far you have come with your diet. This can be invaluable during plateaus allowing you to look back at your progress, motivating you to continue pursuing your goals.

There are several benefits of tracking progress and nutrition. To find out more read 10 Benefits of Tracking Macros.

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