Fit at 50 Update | Reverse Diet

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AND, if you like these updates, I’m so excited to share that my Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide with so many more specific details like the exact workouts I do (the exercises and weight amounts), food I eat, and exactly how you can lose body fat and gain/maintain muscle.

Click here to everything that’s included in the 63-page Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide!

Fit at Fifty

If you’re just catching up, you can find my detailed fitness recaps below:

Weeks 1 & 2

Weeks 3 & 4

Weeks 5 & 6

Weeks 7 & 8

Weeks 9 & 10

3 Month Update

I also post daily on my Instagram Stories if you want to see the everyday grind. I have all my Stories saved to a highlight “Fit @ 50”.

Fitness Goal | Fit at 50

As a bit of a reminder: My fitness goal this year is to recomp my body and get in the best shape of my life!

I want to shape my body by focusing on both fat loss and muscle gain. I want to feel confident and strong, full of energy and rock a bikini this summer!

3 Months | Body Recomp

I started my Fit at 50 journey on December 27, 2024. My goal for the first three months was to recomp my body, that is lose body fat while gaining muscle.

I started walking 30 minutes a day, every.single day.

I was lifting full body weights 3 times a week.

I did 2 days a week of threshold exercises and abs.

I ate in a calorie deficit and tracked everything I ate, focusing on high protein and whole foods.

I prioritized sleep.

After just 9 weeks, I had lost a total of 6.2 lbs, 1.7% body fat and gained 1% muscle.

These photos are from December 27, 2024 & March 5, 2025 – so just two days shy of 10 weeks.

It’s so amazing what your body can do in just 9 weeks! The key is definitely consistency and trusting the plan.

How I Track My Progress

I’m tracking my progress with: 1) my Smart Scale, 2) measuring my waist, and 3) taking progress photos.

The Smart Scale is a digital bathroom scale that goes beyond just measuring weight. It’s designed to provide a more comprehensive analysis of your body composition and health metrics by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) technology that sends a small, undetectable electrical current through your body.

The Smart Scale measures BMR, body fat percentage, visceral fat, skeletal muscle, muscle mass, bone mass, water percentage, protein percentage, and also provides your metabolic age.

The BMR is especially important because that tells you how many calories your body burns at rest (just to keep you alive if you were laying in bed all day). This is good to know so you can calculate how many calories to take in during your body recomp.

Smart Scale

I also pay attention to my strength in the gym and how I feel overall. I’ve definitely gotten stronger because I’m lifting heavier weight now that when I first started.

If I can do three sets of 12 on an exercise, the next time, I will either do another rep or increase the weight. Sometimes, I increase the weight and lower the reps until I can do more reps at the heavier weight.

In my Body Recomp Guide, I share the exact exercises and weights I lift.

There are non-scale victories like having more energy, seeing your face thin out and being able to play sports with my daughter without being winded too!

Fit at 50 | Reverse Diet

I’ve been in a calorie deficit for over three months, and have lowered my body fat by a good percent, while gaining a little bit of muscle.

Now, I want to try to add more lean muscle while still staying lean. That is, I don’t want to gain back a bunch of body fat that I worked so hard to lose, but I also want to gain muscle.

In order to build muscle, your body needs to be in an anabolic state (muscle-building mode), which generally requires a slight calorie surplus.

If you’re in a calorie deficit or at maintenance, your body is more likely to burn fat for energy instead of building muscle. A surplus gives your body the extra fuel it needs to focus on muscle growth.

This is uncharted territory for me and I’ve been researching the heck out of what to do next. My plan now is to do a “reverse diet”, and then a “lean bulk”.

A reverse diet is a structured process of gradually increasing calorie intake after a period of dieting or calorie restriction, with the goal of restoring metabolic function, boosting energy levels, and improving overall health without rapidly gaining body fat.

The way a reverse diet works is by slowly increasing your daily calories by about 2-5% a week, while keeping your macronutrients stable. That is enough to help your metabolism adapt to the increase in calories without gaining excess fat too quickly.

As you lose body fat, your BMR goes down (the number of calories your body burns at rest). My BMR went down about 28 calories according to my smart scale. If you gain more muscle, your BMR also goes up since it requires more calories to maintain muscle.

My Reverse Diet Calculations

I also want to figure out what my maintenance calories are for sure, since I only have an estimate so far.

I did so much math and calculating to figure out how to do my reverse diet. Of course, your numbers will be different based on your own body and goals. I share how to calculate your calorie deficit and plan your macros in my Body Recomp Guide.

For the first 7 weeks of my body recomp, I averaged about 1,250 calories a day.

For the next 6 weeks of my body recomp, I averaged about 1,400 calories a day.

And I was still losing body fat, so I was in a calorie deficit.

I was just in Waco for the weekend, so if what I tracked was accurate, I averaged about 1,566 calories a day last week.

Sooo, I have to decide where to go from here.

For my reverse diet, I’m starting to increase my calories by 50 calories a day per week until I get to my maintenance.

That means, I’m starting with 1,450 calories a day for a week, then the following week, I’ll go up to 1,500 calories a day for a week and so on.

My macros will be about : 40% carbs, 30% protein, & 30% fat.

As I add calories, I’ll add carbs and fat, keeping my protein stable.

I’ll be monitoring with my smart scale to see how my body responds to these calorie increases.

My ultimate goal is to get to my maintenance calories and then eat at a surplus of calories so that I can increase my muscle mass, i.e. a “lean bulk”.

I want to build lean muscle and see how that looks on me. I’ve never intentionally eaten a surplus of calories before while being strict on my macros, so I’ll have to see how this goes and make tweaks along the way.

Although you can recomp your body and lose body fat in a relatively short amount of time (weeks), gaining lean muscle is a longer process (months).

I’m also assuming it will be psychologically challenging to see the scale going up instead of down, but I’m so curious about the muscle building process, so I want to give it a go. Like I said, at the beginning of January, this is my year to see what I can do with my physique and I’m in it for the long run.

I’ve been keeping an attitude of curiosity throughout this fitness journey and I hope that serves me well going forward.

Workouts

I’ve changed up my workouts to focus more on muscle building. Instead of doing three full-body workouts a week, focusing on progressive overload.

My workout split:

Day 1 : upper body weights

Day 2 : lower body weights

Day 3 : upper body weights

Day 4 : lower body weights

Day 5 : rest or light intensity cardio if I feel up to it

REPEAT

I like this split because I can focus more on each body part and the workout takes about 45 minutes, as opposed to an hour when I was doing the full body workouts.

I’m cutting out the threshold workouts because I don’t want to burn too many calories (thus defeating the reverse diet goal) and I also need to give my body more rest since I’m lifting heavier and more frequently.

If I feel up to it, I may do light cardio on my rest day. I’ve gotten used to going to the gym everyday and it feels weird now to skip it!

Morning Walks

I’m still walking every morning for 30 minutes. I have grown to love it and look forward to it daily. Now, it would feel bad if I didn’t walk in the morning. I find it good for my mental and physical health.

I use this treadmill for my morning walks. It goes up to 8.5 mph and inclines to 12%, plus you can fold it down and roll it away for easy storage. I like that it has cup holders and I can set my ipad up and watch videos while I walk.

Bioactive Peptide Drink

I’ve been warming up for about 5 minutes at 3.0/0 incline, then upping the speed to 3.5 and I’ve done incline 3-5 so far.

Rest and Recovery

I’m also taking my sleep seriously and aim for 8 hours a night. I like to wake up early, by 5 a.m., so that means I need to be asleep by 9 p.m.! I stay up later on the weekends and sleep in later.

Rest is so important for :

1. Muscle Repair and Growth
   • When you lift weights, you cause tiny tears in your muscle fibers.
   • During rest, your body repairs these fibers, making them stronger and bigger.
   • Protein synthesis (the process of building muscle) is highest during rest, especially during sleep.
2. Nervous System Recovery
   • Heavy lifting stresses not just your muscles but also your central nervous system (CNS).
   • Rest helps your CNS recover, ensuring you can lift heavy and perform high-intensity exercises without fatigue or burnout.
3. Hormone Regulation
   • Rest (especially sleep) helps balance growth hormone and testosterone levels, which are critical for muscle growth and repair.
   • Poor rest can elevate cortisol (stress hormone), which can hinder recovery and muscle growth.
4. Glycogen Replenishment
   • Weightlifting depletes muscle glycogen (stored energy).
   • Rest allows muscles to replenish glycogen stores, ensuring you have the energy for your next workout.
5. Injury Prevention
   • Overtraining without adequate rest increases the risk of injuries like strains, stress fractures, and joint pain.
   • Proper rest ensures muscles, joints, and connective tissues recover fully.
6. Mental Recovery
   • Mental fatigue is real. Rest helps recharge motivation, focus, and discipline, which are essential for progress.

Hydration

My goal is also to drink 100 ounces of water a day. A good start for water intake is half your body weight in ounces.

I weigh about 105 lbs now, so that’s about 52 ounces. When you add in my weight training and high protein diet, more water will help with digestion and metabolizing fat.

Supplements

I’ve been taking FIT Bioactive Peptide everyday since I started my fitness journey.

FIT helps build lean muscle, reduce muscle fatigue & shortens muscle recovery time. It comes in a single serve powder packet that you mix into a glass of water. I drink it every morning while I’m walking on my treadmill. I like how it takes like orange and makes my water easy to drink.

My friend Ali-Shaun takes LEAN (targets visceral belly fat loss, eliminating food “noise” and curbing cravings) and FIT. She’s lost over 15 pounds and is so happy!

I also started taking creatine about a week ago. I like this brand because it doesn’t have any artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners.

Creatine:

1. Improves Strength & Power Output
   • Creatine helps your muscles produce more ATP, your body’s quick energy source.
   • More ATP = you can lift heavier, do more reps, and recover faster between sets.
2. Supports Muscle Growth
   • It increases muscle cell hydration (muscles hold more water), which makes them look fuller
   • Signals the muscle-building) processes
   • Can help you train harder and longer, leading to more growth over time
3. Improves Recovery
   • Helps reduce muscle cell damage and inflammation.
   • Supports better recovery between workouts = better performance overall.
4. Brain Boost
   • Creatine is also used by the brain and may support cognitive function, memory, and mental energy—especially if you’re sleep-deprived or under stress.

Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide

If you enjoy these updates, but want to dive deeper and work on your own body recomposition, I created the Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide for you!

The Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide a 63-page PDF digital download that shows you exactly how to lose body fat while maintaining and even gaining muscle.

I break it down into simple, actionable steps for you so that you can see results FAST!

In the Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide you get:

• Body recomp plan
• How to lose body fat
• How to determine your calorie deficit
• What are macros?
• How to determine your macros
• Workout plan
• Meal plan
• Example full day of eating
• Meal ideas & recipes
• Sleep tips
• Hydration recommendation
• Tips for success
• Q & A
• Workout log
• Progress tracker
• Weekly planner
• Monthly planner

THANK YOU so much to everyone who has already gotten the Guide! It was a true labor of love putting it together and my prayer is that it helps you not only feel better in your body, but also in your life!

If you’re interested, you can purchase the Fit at 50 Body Recomp Guide HERE!

And, you can also follow me on Instagram Stories for daily behind-the-scenes. I’m excited about this next chapter in my fitness journey.

I’d love to hear your questions and comments!

Now let’s go kick Monday’s booty!