Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

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Replies

  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    annaskiski wrote: »
    I think she's around, tag her @ILiftHeavyAcrylics

    Good luck!

    Thanks so much!
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    annaskiski wrote: »
    I think she's around, tag her @ILiftHeavyAcrylics

    Good luck!

    She hasn't been online for about 5 months. A PM might work if she gets notifications to her email.
    Hamsibian wrote: »
    @Candyspun I have a chronic illness too, and I'm similar to the other poster (recomping because my body can't handle a deficit). I'm about to head to work, but I'll respond or dm you later about my experience.

    Thank you both so much :smile:
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    Warning - I am going to use a word that many (most?) gym rats hate because it is vague or describes a concept that doesn't really exist - toning. In context, I think you will get what I mean. I thought I was getting some recomp in, but I was still at more of a deficit than I realized. I think I was "toning and exposing". I don't think I have a lot of new muscle mass but it isn't hidden under as much fat and it has more definition. I feel stronger and have more endurance, but as my weight was creeping down, I don't think this is new muscle mass.
    lthnlw0275fp.jpg

    A great result nonetheless :smile:
  • admaarie
    admaarie Posts: 4,297 Member
    I’ve been eating at maintenanceish for about two months, and I’m not sure if this would be considered body recomp. I’m still fairly around the same weight but I see some slight changes!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    admaarie wrote: »
    I’ve been eating at maintenanceish for about two months, and I’m not sure if this would be considered body recomp. I’m still fairly around the same weight but I see some slight changes!

    You hit on the meaning for the term. Yes you have.
  • admaarie
    admaarie Posts: 4,297 Member
    Glad I’m somewhat getting the hang of it!
  • Hamsibian wrote: »
    @Candyspun I have a chronic illness too, and I'm similar to the other poster (recomping because my body can't handle a deficit). I'm about to head to work, but I'll respond or dm you later about my experience.

    I too have noticed that my body doesnt like deficits.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    Hamsibian wrote: »
    @Candyspun I have a chronic illness too, and I'm similar to the other poster (recomping because my body can't handle a deficit). I'm about to head to work, but I'll respond or dm you later about my experience.

    I too have noticed that my body doesnt like deficits.

    It's funny; I've been in a deficit for over three months (maybe 4? I'm not sure). I was going along absolutely fine until I reached the 3 month mark. My wheels feel like they've been falling off, ever since. I didn't realise it until I read someone else saying it on here.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    Candyspun wrote: »
    Hamsibian wrote: »
    @Candyspun I have a chronic illness too, and I'm similar to the other poster (recomping because my body can't handle a deficit). I'm about to head to work, but I'll respond or dm you later about my experience.

    I too have noticed that my body doesnt like deficits.

    It's funny; I've been in a deficit for over three months (maybe 4? I'm not sure). I was going along absolutely fine until I reached the 3 month mark. My wheels feel like they've been falling off, ever since. I didn't realise it until I read someone else saying it on here.

    I have been in a deficit off and on for the last 5 years. I take diet breaks often(sometimes a month at a time to make sure). since march I had only lost 1 lb.I need to lose close to 40. it wasnt coming off no matter how long I took a diet break or how low my calories were. I even tried not eating calories back. nothing was working at all. yet all my bloodwork was fine(its tested every 3 months). I finally said enough was enough because I was maintaining my weight on less calories that I should.

    so I decided to stop with the deficit.eat at my maintenance level and just work out and go from there. Im feeling better, have more energy,my sleep is better and Im in less pain. now when I work out I dont get sore like I did. I was sore for days. now I can work out and its a slight soreness.so to me that was my body telling me to eat more. Im losing fat and the scale goes down slowly which could be water weight and fat, but losing the fat is all that matters. less stress for me too.

    Argh! I typed out an answer to you, but I mustn't have hit reply :blush: Thanks so much for sharing this, it's helping to give me more to think about. Do you eat back your exercise calories at the moment, or not? I'm wondering if I ate at maintenance but didn't eat back the exercise calories, if that could be a compromise until I lose that last bit of weight?

    I think I'll weigh myself tomorrow, even though it's not my weekly weigh in day. I'd like to know how I'm progressing, before I decide.
  • yes I do eat back exercise calories,I also weigh daily to see what my fluctuations are and I use a weight logging app to log my weight and it shows me the trend in my weight and fluctuations. Im doing whats called a recomp which is I eat my maintenance calories and do weight/resistance training I had fatty lumps above the back of my knees and they are almost gone its smoothed out.

    if you eat in maintenance but dont eat back exercise calories you will still be in a deficit .especially if your maintenance is say 1800 and you eat 1800 but you burn 300, if you dont eat that 300 back you are in a 300 calorie deficit. you can give yourself a break and eat at maintenance and do a recomp(its slow going but for me its worth it) for several months and then go from there.

    if you dont have a lot to lose then depending on the number a recomp may be what you need. for me everyone tells me wait until you get down lower in body fat,Ive tried that and it was torture. I also weigh all my food too. for me the deficit just wasnt working, I dont know why, I was eating less every 10 lbs I lost,I took diet breaks and after awhile it seemed like nothing was working.I did everything I was supposed to do too.Ive tried it all. so I was close to giving up but didnt want to go back to where I started being obese.

    so I decided to eat in maintenance and do a recomp and will see where I am late winter/early spring and go from there.If I decide I like what I see I may just keep going and get to where I want to be if possible. but until then Im doing what feels right for me and my body and my sanity as well. for me right now a deficit is not it.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    Understandable. I just meant I would do a smaller deficit with the maintenance calories and not eating back exercise calories for a few weeks, just until I make it to 55kgs. Then, I’d do recomp. I haven’t fully decided yet.

    I’m so glad you’ve found something that works!
  • Candyspun wrote: »
    Understandable. I just meant I would do a smaller deficit with the maintenance calories and not eating back exercise calories for a few weeks, just until I make it to 55kgs. Then, I’d do recomp. I haven’t fully decided yet.

    I’m so glad you’ve found something that works!

    if youre in a deficit of say 250 and you burn 250 thats a 500 calorie deficit. mfp includes your deficit without exercise,so exercise would add to that deficit. maintenance means no deficit.so if you want to eat your maintenance and then burn off calories(a small amount) and make your deficit that way you could do that.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    Thanks. I am aware how it works. It's just deciding what would be the best option for now, really, isn't it?
  • jillstreett
    jillstreett Posts: 69 Member
    I'm very sorry if I missed this Q and A in the 107 pages, but I do have 3 questions: Getting ready to see how to maybe transition into recomp. I have 2 more pounds to lose to be at goal weight and then want to tone all over. I have been doing heavy cardio in conjunction with the usual suspects of body weight exercises: squats, push ups, planks. Very basic but well incorporated so as to do those just as often as the cardio, sometimes during the cardio.

    Question 1: Can I still eat at a slight deficit from TDEE during this phase, it would be a 250 cal deficit putting me at 1650 cals per day.
    Question 2: should I drop back on the cardio? I am currently doing roughly 4 hours a week of intense HIIT style dance classes.
    Question 3: Can I do a full body session each time? Or should it be broken up by upper and lower body?

    I plan on lifting in the gym at my new office location during my 1 hour lunch break, probably 2x a week. So I don't have the luxury of endless time and I don't want to be terribly sweaty and gross.

    Thanks!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Your TDEE with all that activity is only 1900?

    1 - Sure you can eat at a deficit. The balance between having really strong workouts to transform the body, and eating in deficit to still lose fat weight is something you decide.

    2 - No recomp without giving the body a reason to build more muscle via resistance training. HIIT is not. (you have mentioned a routine that I can finally agree could be done for long and steady, or interval in nature - though I'd be curious what that appears like. Most misapply the HIIT term now)

    3 - Depends on your time - 3 x weekly full body will give best response for time & effort. If you have 6 days available to you, 3 x upper & lower can work too and hit that goal with less time spent.
  • jillstreett
    jillstreett Posts: 69 Member
    edited September 2018
    heybales wrote: »
    Your TDEE with all that activity is only 1900?

    My BMR is calculated at roughly 1400 and I do the light activity multiplier - 250. I feel most weeks I could do the moderate multiplier because in addition to work outs, I walk my dog and get out and about on the weekends and try to move as much as I can in general, but I do have a desk job. So, I use the light multiplier at the risk of overestimating my allowance.