A woman has revealed how eating more has transformed her body and helped her lose 10 pounds.
Mackenzie Catherine from Minnesota posts fitness content on social media under the username @makingmackenzie and took to her Instagram page to reveal the results of 12 weeks of reverse dieting that saw her drop from 155 pounds to 145 pounds.
Reverse dieting involves increasing metabolism by gradually adding calories back into the diet while reducing cardio.
Transformation: Mackenzie Catherine from Minnesota has revealed how eating more calories has helped her lose 10 pounds, pictured left in December 2017 and right in March 2018
Formula: The fitness enthusiast who posts under the username @makingmackenzie went from 145 pounds to 155 pounds by 2,100 calories per day instead of her usual 1,500 calories
More: The process known as ‘reverse dieting’ involves increasing metabolism by gradually adding calories back into the diet, pictured left in June 2017 and right in February 2018
However, to avoid storing body fat, reverse dieters must give their metabolism time to adjust by making slow, deliberate changes.
Posting a picture of her from 12 weeks ago beside one from this week, she captioned the shot with: ‘Eating more & weighing less?! I’m here for it! My metabolism was in such disrepair that my body was literally in starvation mode – I’d cut calories, & my body held on for dear life instead of burning them for energy.’
Sharing that she finally hit a ‘breakthrough’ 12 weeks ago after realizing what she was doing wasn’t working and she’d had ‘enough of the misery’, she decided to work with a coach so her body could re-learn how to metabolize food and ‘get the heck out of starvation mode’.
She added: ‘I know this isn’t any crazy weight loss transformation. But it’s a sustainable transformation. And that is worth a whole lot, my friends.’
Revealing that she at one point was restricting her carb intake to less than 100 grams of carbs daily, Mackenzie also detailed how she had little energy and believed she had to do hours of grueling cardio to see results.
However, since learning about reverse dieting, she now eats 300 grams of carbs per day, lifts heavy weights five times per week and only does cardio a maximum of twice a week.
Miserable: Mackenzie shared that she was miserable before she found reverse dieting as she was sick of restricting calories but not losing weight (pictured left before and right, after)
New woman: Revealing that she at one point was restricting her carb intake to less than 100 grams of carbs daily (left in 2014), she now consumes around 300 grams of carbs (right)
Breaking the cycle: She has also stopped binging and now eats ‘proper food’
Helping hand: Although she says it was hard at the start, Mackenzie has now adopted reverse dieting as a lifestyle, pictured left before her transformation in December 2016
She has also stopped binging because she eats ‘real food every day and satisfy my cravings with the foods I prepare’.
And although she’s now in a happy place both physically and mentally, adapting to this new way of thinking hasn’t been easy.
‘I could tell you I never felt insecure about eating carbs again or quitting the incessant cardio,’ she typed.
‘But it was HARD. I hired a coach to help me completely revamp my macros via a reverse diet, I started lifting heavy again, and I’ve had some bad body image days along the way.’
And she feels she’s transformed her approach to diet and fitness the ‘sustainable way’, by avoiding ‘crazy detoxes, no waist trimmers, no restrictions on types of food, no pills, no meal replacements, no CRAP.’
She’s also committed to maintaining her new approach forever as she doesn’t feel deprived.
‘This is not a diet, this is the lifestyle I choose. And that is a beautiful place to be, my friends,’ she added.