Dieting is over… now what?
Following on from an extended period of caloric restriction and subsequent weight loss, it is important to have an exit strategy. This will allow you to plan ahead and decide how you wish to manipulate energy intake at the conclusion of your dieting phase and understand how additional calories will influence your future body composition.
As this post illustrates, there are three primary routes you can take at the conclusion of a weight loss journey: reverse dieting, maintenance, a calorie surplus.
Each route serves a purpose and the one taken depends on an individual’s short and long-term body composition goals.
If someone were to reverse diet, bear in mind that this could still mean they are in an energy deficit and technically still “dieting”, as they are simply reducing the degree of their caloric deficit before reaching maintenance calories. This conservative approach can be appropriate for some individuals, e.g. a bodybuilder competing in back-to-back shows at the end of their season. However, since this is delaying the inevitable of weight gain, it is the least favourable phase for building muscle mass and changing body composition.
If someone were to eat at maintenance calories, then to put simply, they can expect to stay relatively the same. There may be circumstances where an individual could experience slight changes in cardiorespiratory fitness, body recomposition and strength gains during this phase. However, these are likely to be short-lived and will soon hit a plateau since the individual does not have a surplus of energy to build new tissue and/or an absence of energy to lose a significant amount of body fat.
If someone is in the pursuit to build a significant amount of muscle mass long-term, then it is in their best interest to be in a slight calorie surplus and consistently combine this with resistance training. This circumstance is guaranteed to create the most anabolic environment for a trainee and will result in desirable body composition changes and improvements in strength and performance.
*Caloric approximations only. Work alongside a professional to help establish how much energy you require.