around 190 pounds, 6'2'', newly on maintainence, want to recomp

ElJefeChief

Here's my plan.

Stay on maintainence. Up my protein intake to about 140grams per day (currently averaging around 100). Lift every other day, continue daily cardio.

Sound fair? Trying to keep this simple.

kwtilbury

Sounds good to me. I'm a similar size and consume 200-240 grams of protein a day. I lift 5-6 days a week.

armylife

That is not really enough to say. What are your goals in the recomp?

ElJefeChief

armylife wrote: »

That is not really enough to say. What are your goals in the recomp?

Write the next great American novel?

Replace fat with muscle, of course. Is there more detail I need to supply?

armylife

You don't replace fat with muscle that violates the laws of thermodynamics. You either burn fat or build muscle. That is why I asked. If your main goal is to burn fat, increasing protein intake can help to save muscle. If your number 1 goal is to gain muscle, then you will have to put up with some (though controllable) fat gain. That is why I asked.

Also, everyone knows the next great American novel will come out of China.

kwtilbury

armylife wrote: »

You don't replace fat with muscle that violates the laws of thermodynamics. You either burn fat or build muscle. That is why I asked. If your main goal is to burn fat, increasing protein intake can help to save muscle. If your number 1 goal is to gain muscle, then you will have to put up with some (though controllable) fat gain. That is why I asked.

Also, everyone knows the next great American novel will come out of China.

A recomp aims to do both: reduce bodyfat while at the same time building muscle. Some claim this isn't possible. At the very least it's extremely difficult to do.

More often than not, people lose body fat only to discover muscle lurking underneath (closer to the first goal in your post).

ElJefeChief

So it's impossible to simultaneously gain muscle while losing (or at least maintaining) current fat deposition?

sijomial

armylife wrote: »

You don't replace fat with muscle that violates the laws of thermodynamics. You either burn fat or build muscle. That is why I asked. If your main goal is to burn fat, increasing protein intake can help to save muscle. If your number 1 goal is to gain muscle, then you will have to put up with some (though controllable) fat gain. That is why I asked.

It's nothing to do with laws of thermodynamics!

Yes you can reduce fat and increase muscle at the same time - it's commonly called recomp as per the title of this thread.

Yes OP that sounds a reasonable plan. Nice and simple.
You might like to have a skim read through the recomp thread in the maintaining weigh forum to see other people's experience.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

kwtilbury

DrEnalg wrote: »

So it's impossible to simultaneously gain muscle while losing (or at least maintaining) current fat deposition?

Not impossible, just very difficult. I usually end up going to mini bulking/cutting phases.

sijomial

DrEnalg wrote: »

So it's impossible to simultaneously gain muscle while losing (or at least maintaining) current fat deposition?

No recomp is perfectly possible for most people. Speed of muscle growth will depend on many factors (gender, age, training history, current training status, current body composition, genetic gifts...).

If you are lean and highly trained it may not be possible or may be tediously slow.
It's assumed to be slower than bulk/cut cycles but that's impossible to put a number on.

This is an interesting read....
http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/

ElJefeChief

sijomial wrote: »

armylife wrote: »

You don't replace fat with muscle that violates the laws of thermodynamics. You either burn fat or build muscle. That is why I asked. If your main goal is to burn fat, increasing protein intake can help to save muscle. If your number 1 goal is to gain muscle, then you will have to put up with some (though controllable) fat gain. That is why I asked.

It's nothing to do with laws of thermodynamics!

Yes you can reduce fat and increase muscle at the same time - it's commonly called recomp as per the title of this thread.

Yes OP that sounds a reasonable plan. Nice and simple.
You might like to have a skim read through the recomp thread in the maintaining weigh forum to see other people's experience.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

Yeah I've skimmed that thread in the past. Just double-checking. I also figured it was a good time to recomp as I'm somewhat on the upper end of a normal BMI (hovering around 24), so I have some 'extra' to work with as I attempt this. Thank you.

jemhh

I never know why people say that it is very difficult to do a recomp. You eat around maintenance and lift and do whatever other exercise you want to do.

ElJefeChief

sijomial wrote: »

DrEnalg wrote: »

So it's impossible to simultaneously gain muscle while losing (or at least maintaining) current fat deposition?

No recomp is perfectly possible for most people. Speed of muscle growth will depend on many factors (gender, age, training history, current training status, current body composition, genetic gifts...).

If you are lean and highly trained it may not be possible or may be tediously slow.
It's assumed to be slower than bulk/cut cycles but that's impossible to put a number on.

This is an interesting read....
http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/

According to my FitBit Aria, my BF% is consistently around 16 currently (give or take). I did some measurements last night for the first time, which pegged me at around 22%, but I think that's probably not correct...

Either way, I won't say I'm "lean," but probably at least as far as cardio is concerned, I'm at a pretty good training level - I currently can clock five miles in under 40 minutes as a casual workout.

hill8570

Usually easier to build muscle by doing a "clean bulk" (eating a couple of hundred a day over maintenance) rather than eating strictly maintenance. If you start getting too fluffy, then do a mild deficit for a bit. Depends on how quickly you put on muscle (which is fairly quickly for the first few months, then generally tapering off).