The 4 Phases of Building the Body You Want + How to Cycle Through Them
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Did you know you shouldn't be living in a caloric deficit? And did you know it's hard to lose fat and get more toned at the same time? And did you know there are four different phases you need to go through to build the body you want?
This episode is for the women who are perpetually living in a caloric deficit, who have been living in weight loss mode for years, who feel like their metabolism is broken, and who are still unhappy with their bodies.
In this episode, I walk you through the four different phases and also give you a step-by-step guide on how to cycle through them. Are you ready to find out?! Let's get it, let's go!
If you loved this episode, you'll also love...
Episode 46: Why You Should Consider a Reverse Diet (The Only Diet I Support!)
Episode 119: How to “Cut” Calories Properly to Maximize Results
Free Ebook: www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook
Macro Counting Made Simple: www.macrocountingmadesimple.com
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there beautiful human, you're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Leadbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Hello, and welcome back to the Embrace Your Real podcast. I am so grateful that you are here spending some time with me today. We have listeners tuning in all over the world. I was just checking some charts, and we have Great Britain in the house, Canada, Australia, Germany, South Korea, France, Sweden, Brazil, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, Columbia, Finland, Taiwan. Let's see here, Bulgaria and so many other places, which is so incredible. I am just grateful that this is a community of women all over the world, and today I'm really excited to share with you kind of just some education regarding the four phases of building the body that you want, and how to cycle through them. I think that there is a general misconception that you should always be in a caloric deficit, and if you're not, then you ate too much, or you're going to gain weight.
I know so many women who have been living in a caloric deficit, or at least trying to live in a caloric deficit for years, and to be honest with you, I used to do the same thing. I was in this perpetual state of, I need to lose weight, I need to cut my calories. But guess what? Living in a constant caloric deficit in hopes of losing weight, but it was actually one of the things actually stopping me from losing effectively and healthily. So let me say this again, if you want to lose weight in an effective and healthy way, you can't be in a permanent caloric deficit. I know that this goes against everything that you may have heard or believed, but this is the truth. There are four phases that you need to cycle through if you want to build the body that you want.
And in this episode, I'm going to try to explain to you what they are, and how to properly cycle through them. If you feel like your metabolism is broken, or you've been trying to lose weight forever, or that losing weight is impossible no matter what you do, this episode is for you. But before I dive into the episode, it would mean the absolute world to me if you quickly pressed pause on this episode and took a moment to press subscribe to the podcast. This way, you'll always get notified when new episodes release, and you'll never miss an episode. Plus when you subscribe, it actually greatly helps the growth of this podcast, so I appreciate it so, so much in advance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so let's get back to the episode. So, there are four phases that you should cycle through when working to build the body that you want.
And I have to say first, that these phases are not necessarily in any specific order, I'm just going to go with the one that we work with women the most on first, and then kind of just go through the other phases. So I'm not saying one phase is the best way to start, I'm just simply starting at the body fat loss phase, because that's typically the most popular for people to start with. Number one, the body fat loss phase. This is a phase that you likely know super well. It's probably because you might be at this phase, you might have been permanently stuck at this phase, but this is actually a phase that you should only stay in for no more than a few months. During a body fat loss phase, you eat less than you burn, AKA, fewer calories in versus more calories out in order to lose body fat.
This doesn't mean that you eat way less than you burn, it means that you cut your calories by only two to 300 calories. That's it. If you start your phase with a large and unrealistic caloric deficit, you will likely hit a plateau sooner, and also you run out of calories to cut. This means that you will have no option but to rebuild your calories back up through a reverse diet, which I will explain shortly, or you need to take a break from body fat loss by returning to your maintenance immediately to revive that homeostasis in your body. I always, always, always recommend taking a break from a body fat loss if you've experienced any of the following, increased hunger signals, increased irritation, annoyance, impatient, anger, decreased libido, and strength or energy or performance, or maybe you're not sleeping as well, or your stress levels are high, or if overall you just cannot see yourself hitting these calories, and you constantly keep going over because you're just too hungry, I would recommend that you take a break.
You either go to maintenance, or you start a reverse diet. If you want to learn a lot more about the body fat loss phase, you can tune into episode 119, How To Cut Calories Properly To Maximize Results. In that episode, I really just break down the body fat loss phase in depth so that you can fully understand it. I give you a playbook as to how to start your body fat loss phase, some tips and tricks, and I really think that you're going to find this episode helpful. So if you want to learn more about the body fat loss phase, I will go ahead and link the episode in the show notes below, but it's episode 119, How To Cut Calories Properly To Maximize Results.
Number two, the reverse diet phase. You know when you cut way down on your calories, you lose a bunch of weight, and then you start eating normal again, and then just gain the weight back, plus more? That's why a reverse diet is necessary. And you know when people do this over and over again, and then they say they have a slow metabolism or their metabolism is broken, or it's just their genetics? This wouldn't be the case if number one, we weren't obsessed with fad diets, and two, if we used a reverse diet to restore our metabolic capacity from our prior history in our fad dieting patterns. Reverse dieting is a slow and methodical approach that takes typically anywhere from a minimum of three to six, nine or 12 months, honestly depending on how well your body responds and how long you're willing to do it, but the idea behind reverse dieting is gradually strengthening your metabolic capacity and efficiency so that you can consume a higher caloric intake without drastic changes to your body composition, AKA, unwanted weight gain or fat gain.
So this essentially means that you will be able to eat more food without gaining body fat. Honestly, it sounds impossible, and it sounds like something totally unrealistic, but I am speaking from experience. I've done four full reverse diets, and every time I do, my metabolic capacity and efficiency gets stronger and stronger, thus I'm able to maintain my weight on a higher number of calories than previously, which is so amazing. I've talked about this before, but our metabolism is very adaptive, and that goes in one of two ways, either it adapts to the low amount of calories that you've been eating, thus you plateau, eating a very low amount of calories, and you can't really cut any more calories, but you're also not losing any more weight, because your metabolic capacity has adapted to that, or your metabolic capacity can adapt to a higher number of calories, which is why the slow methodical approach of reverse dieting can help so much.
I actually dive a lot deeper into reverse dieting in episode 46, Why You Should Consider A Reverse Diet(The Only Diet I Support). I would highly recommend that you check this episode out. I will also link that in the show notes below. Number three, maintenance phase. So when you decide to finish either a body fat loss or reverse diet phase, and you want to maintain your current body composition, that's where the maintenance phase comes in. I know a lot of people don't want to maintain where their body is now and they want to continue seeing results, but the truth is that spending time in the maintenance phase is crucial to the overall process. When you're in any of the other phases, it can be stressful on your body, and maintenance gives your body a chance to relax and a chance to regulate again.
It also gives you a mental break to gain back any of the lost motivation that maybe you have had going through any of these other phases. This also allows your body rest, and it almost allows your body to reset, which will help you get much better results when you go back into one of the other phases. And it's super important to not guess what your maintenance macros are, but to have them calculated accurately, because this is what all of the other phases will be based off of, and so it's important that you actually have your maintenance calories accurate to where you are right now, what your expenditure is in terms of activity, your age, your weight, all of those things. I actually do have a free ebook that you can download if you haven't already. It's kind of a step-by-step guide as to how to calculate your maintenance macros.
I really break it down for you very simply so that you can almost fill in the blank and figure them out yourself. So, I'll go ahead and link that in the show notes for you to easily go download once you're done listening to this episode. Number four, the muscle building phase. So we know when we want to lose fat, we need to eat less than we burn, but did you know when you want to build muscle, you need to eat more than you burn? With the muscle building phase, you need to get your body place in a caloric surplus. That's right, you need to be eating more than you burn. So, many women want to lose fat and get more toned at the same time, but in reality, this is quite difficult to do. These two things oftentimes need to be done separately because they both require different things.
You'll lose body fat during your body fat loss phase when you're in a caloric deficit, and you'll get more toned when you're in a muscle building phase and eating in a caloric surplus. That's why it's really important to cycle through these phases, because otherwise it's extremely hard to build the body that you want. So while yes, in a caloric surplus, you might not see your muscles as well or as defined when you're at a leaner state, that caloric surplus phase is really important because that is the foundation for your muscle building. With that being said, just how going into a caloric deficit is just decreasing your caloric intake by two to 300 calories, going into a surplus isn't a pass to eat everything you want, it's simply increasing your caloric intake by two to 300 calories every four to six weeks. Again, this should be slow and methodical.
The point of a caloric surplus is to, like I said, build muscle. But what I see oftentimes is people call it a bulking phase, and it can either number one, it can scare people so they never go into it, or two, they're not shown what a caloric surplus phase looks like properly because people just start eating 1000+ calories into a caloric surplus, and they see people gain weight really fast because obviously they're eating more than they're burning. But a slow caloric surplus can help you build muscle while minimizing fat gain. I'm not saying that you're not going to gain fat during a muscle building phase, but you can minimize the amount that you do, similar to a reverse diet, when you take it slow and methodical. Okay, so that's pretty much the basis for the four phases and how you cycle through them. You kind of want to think of this as a loop.
You'll begin with your maintenance phase if you've never calculated or counted your macros before. You kind of want to go into and figure out what your maintenance macros are. Then if you have the goal of losing body fat, you'll want to go into a caloric deficit. Once you hit your maximum caloric deficit, you'll then reverse diet back into your maintenance phase. And then if you want to do the muscle building phase, then you'll go into a caloric surplus from your maintenance. I need to tell you that you have to be patient with each phase. I know that's not sexy, that's not sellable, and it's something that a lot of people struggle with. Trust me. I remember when I've gone through all of my reverse diets, I've gone through muscle building phases, it is hard to stay consistent, it is hard to go slow and methodical, but your body will thank you for it.
You cannot take shortcuts, and you should not rush the process. You will build the body that you want in a healthy and sustainable way without killing and crushing your metabolism if you just take it slow and trust the process. So here's my recommendations for looping through this. Determine what your maintenance macros in that free ebook. I will link it in the show notes below. And you want to stay there for about two to four weeks, especially if you've never counted macros before. If you're just getting back into it, it's important that you give yourself time and grace to hit those maintenance macros before you completely throw yourself into a body fat loss phase and then get overwhelmed or discouraged because you're not hitting your macros. Give yourself this time to get reacquainted if you have counted macros before, or just get acquainted with the tool of macro counting and how it works.
You'll then after two to four, six weeks, depending on how slow or fast you want to go, you'll start with a body fat loss phase by slowly cutting your calories. You'll want to cut it by about 5%, stay there for three to four weeks, and then repeat this at least two more times. I wouldn't go more than reducing your total calories by 25 to 30% of your maintenance, which means not repeating this more than three to six times before I encourage you to reverse your way back up to your maintenance. So after completing your body fat loss, you'll then want to go into a reverse diet so that you can reverse diet your way back to maintenance calories. You'll do this the same way that you cut, except it's kind of in the other direction. You'll add about 5% calories back, you'll stay there for three to four weeks, and then you'll repeat that as many times needed to get back to your maintenance macros.
Once you've returned to your maintenance, you can stay there for however long you want. If you want to go into a muscle building phase, you can do this. I don't want you to be afraid of this phase. Like I talked about, this doesn't mean it's a bulking phase. You'll do the exact same thing that you did when you entered into a caloric surplus, except you're going the opposite direction now, you're going from maintenance into a caloric surplus. So you'll increase your caloric intake about 5%, stay there for three to four weeks, and then repeat. Totally depends on how much muscle you want to build, but repeating that anywhere from two to three times. Then lastly, you can reverse your way back to maintenance.
And then once you hit your maximum in your muscle building phase... And this is honestly total preference, however long you want to be in that chloric surplus. I've seen people be in the caloric surplus around the holidays, just because they know that that's when typically they're going to be eating more sweets and treats and all of those things, and it's just easier for them to do it then, and then they'll slowly reverse diet back to maintenance, stay in maintenance for a month or two or however long, and then maybe do a body fat loss phase for summer.
So it totally depends, like I said, on you, where you're at in your journey. And I know that this can be a lot, I know that it can feel overwhelming, it can feel confusing, but I do have a free ebook that gives you a step-by-step guide as to how to calculate your maintenance macros. I talk all about macro counting. If you don't know a whole lot about macro counting, I share my backstory, why I find it to be super beneficial to reach my health and fitness goals without sacrificing the foods that I love, or if you want a more done-for-you type of program, you can sign up for my Macro Counting Made Simple online academy.
We personally calculate your macros. So once you purchase, you get a link to a questionnaire form, and in that questionnaire form, we get to know you a lot. We get to know where you're at, what your goals are, what your profession is, how many times a week you train, your weight, your height, all of those things, and then we personally calculate your macros and walk you through that journey, and you also join 1000s of other women who are inside the program as well just for accountability and support. So if you're interested in that, you can head to www.macrocountingmadesimple.com to learn more and get access, or I will link it in the show notes below. So just to kind of recap the episodes that I talked about in this specific episode, episode 119, How To Cut Calories Properly To Maximize Results. I dive really deep into body fat loss phase in that one. And then episode 46, Why You Should Consider A Reverse Diet(The Only Diet I Support).
And that's, again, going through the reverse dieting phase in-depth there. I hope that this episode was helpful for you. I hope that you found it beneficial. Just know that if this all sounds like jumble, and it sounds like a lot, it's going to just take time for you to learn all about this. And you have to remember that I've been doing this now for almost 11 years, so I am very well-versed in this, and so I remember what it was like to hear all of these terms and phrases and things, and just be very confused.
So if you're wanting to just get it very simply put to you in a digestible format, sign up for the Macro Counting Made Simple online academy. That's the whole goal of that online academy, is to teach you macro counting as simply as possible. If you have a friend or co-worker or someone that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out. You can post it up on your story, tag me, Julie A Leadbetter, tag Embraced Real account, we love putting faces to names of our listeners, and I will talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, Julie A Leadbetter. Yes, it's with an A the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought, the most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface, so go out there and embrace your real, because you're worth it.