Confused about maintenance, muscle, and recomp

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krael65
krael65 Posts: 306 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi all. I've been reading a bit about recomp, and think it's something I'd like to do. But I'm confused as to how to go about it.

My stats:
- 52 yo female
- 5'2"
- maintaining, 112-115 lbs

I dropped 20+ pounds over the last year. My main form of activity is walking.

I'm fairly satisfied with my current weight. However, I have some extra flabby bits. (I've heard the term "looking like a melted candle"... seems to describe me. I had twins at 42; that's my excuse!) I wouldn't mind dropping a couple more pounds, but it's not required. Since I did mainly cardio during my weight loss, I believe it's time to add lifting back into the mix.

From what I'm reading about recomp, one is advised to lift progressively heavier weights, eat at or slightly below TDEE (including adequate protein), and do minimal cardio, preferably in the form of HIIT.

I use a FitBit Blaze to track my CO. I'm short -- and without my purposeful walking (60 minutes most days), my TDEE seems to be around 1600-1700 calories. Now, I like food. So I walk. So's I can burn more calories. So's I can eat more food. 1700 calories is so very much not enough for me!
QUESTIONS
- Will my 60 minute walks interfere with recomp? Is it considered too much cardio? If I do less cardio, my TDEE will be lower, and therefore I will not be able to eat as much. This is important to me.

- What happens if I lift weights, but don't necessarily do a "recomp"? I recently added a Fitness Blender workout to my rotation: "Total Body Strength Training with Dumbbells - Challenging Dynamic Superset Workout". Am I building muscle? Am I just strengthening what I have? I sure feel like it's doing something... is this just a waste of my time?

- What is the alternative to recomp when using weights -- would it be just maintaining the muscle I have? I've heard people say "there's no such thing as toning". But what if one is lifting, but not progressively heavier weights... I sure feel achy -- it must be doing something?! Don't the muscles get tighter, even if you're not adding muscle, per se? (And wouldn't that be what people refer to as "toning"?)

- What do people do after they've built all of the muscle they can or want to build? How does one maintain that muscle, if one is not lifting progressively heavier weights? I mean, at some point a person has to max out (either physically or emotionally). No?

Thanks in advance. Any insight appreciated!

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,738 Member
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    This very informative thread has answers to some of your questions:

    Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat
  • krael65
    krael65 Posts: 306 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This very informative thread has answers to some of your questions:

    Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

    Thank you for responding. I've actually read through a few pages of that thread, and i wasn't really seeing answers to my questions. I guess I'll have to read further.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,738 Member
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    rkmomm wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This very informative thread has answers to some of your questions:

    Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

    Thank you for responding. I've actually read through a few pages of that thread, and i wasn't really seeing answers to my questions. I guess I'll have to read further.

    If it isn't answered in the thread, that might be a good place to ask. I saw that you hadn't gotten an answer here, hoped that thread might help . . . sorry. I'd answer your questions here, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to give you great answers.
  • krael65
    krael65 Posts: 306 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    rkmomm wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This very informative thread has answers to some of your questions:

    Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

    Thank you for responding. I've actually read through a few pages of that thread, and i wasn't really seeing answers to my questions. I guess I'll have to read further.

    If it isn't answered in the thread, that might be a good place to ask. I saw that you hadn't gotten an answer here, hoped that thread might help . . . sorry. I'd answer your questions here, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to give you great answers.

    Thanks! I guess i didn't want to hijack that thread... but you're right. I can ask there. :)
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
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    I'm not an expert but I've done a lot of research on weight lifting in general and I've been weight lifting for a few years.

    If you're lifting but not progressively lifting then you are probably only maintaining the muscle you have and not growing your muscles.

    There is no such thing as toning. That toned look you see is actually muscle that people have gotten by progressively lifting.

    Genetics plays a large part in muscle growth so, yes, I would think at some point you would max out with your muscle growth. However, I would imagine that it would take years and years of progressive lifting to max out.

    As for cardio, from what I understand with recomp, it's a lot of trial and error at first. So if you're losing weight while recomping then you might want to back off so much cardio.

    There are definitely people here who are much more knowledgeable than me about all of this. Hopefully they will hop in and answer your questions in greater detail.
  • jps2222
    jps2222 Posts: 61 Member
    edited April 2017
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    I've been at this for a little over a year, lost just over 50 pounds, and am figuring out maintenance now. My workout, which is usually about 3 days a week, almost always involves some cardio and some weight training, and this hasn't changed when I moved from losing to maintenance. I also haven't made any changes to my diet for this stage (except trying to get enough calories that I don't keep losing!), and have never paid attention to micronutrients. I don't do heavy lifting, but the advice my trainer gave me was to work to muscle fatigue. That can happen with tons of reps with lighter weights or fewer reps with heavier weights. Mostly I work at a weight at which I can do 2-3 sets of 15 reps. When that gets too easy, I bump up the weight a little bit. It doesn't seem like much, and I always feel like such a lightweight compared with the serious body builders at the gym, but it's doing what I want: I'm stronger and am developing clear definition. Good enough for me!
  • krael65
    krael65 Posts: 306 Member
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    Thanks for the replies, people! I had googled to find info on recomp, and there's a lot of conflicting information on the interwebs (I know, what a surprise). Hence my confusion. I mean, how do I know which are reputable sources or what is outdated info (aka, a "body builder myth from the dark ages")? :)

    I was probably overthinking it, so this helps clear things in my mind.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I still do a ton of cardio along with lifting. It's tricker to maintain weight because you have wider variance day to day in calorie burns. As long as you eat more on cardio days, you're fine.

    The one concern with cardio is that it could hinder recovery from the lifting sessions. The muscle growth comes during the recovery and if that recovery time is spent with heavy cardio, then the muscle might come slower.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    rkmomm wrote: »

    From what I'm reading about recomp, one is advised to lift progressively heavier weights, eat at or slightly below TDEE (including adequate protein), and do minimal cardio, preferably in the form of HIIT.

    I use a FitBit Blaze to track my CO. I'm short -- and without my purposeful walking (60 minutes most days), my TDEE seems to be around 1600-1700 calories. Now, I like food. So I walk. So's I can burn more calories. So's I can eat more food. 1700 calories is so very much not enough for me!
    QUESTIONS
    - Will my 60 minute walks interfere with recomp? Is it considered too much cardio? If I do less cardio, my TDEE will be lower, and therefore I will not be able to eat as much. This is important to me. No, walks will not interfere.
    I'm not sure where you heard the minimal cardio thing, that is false

    - What happens if I lift weights, but don't necessarily do a "recomp"? I recently added a Fitness Blender workout to my rotation: "Total Body Strength Training with Dumbbells - Challenging Dynamic Superset Workout". Am I building muscle? Am I just strengthening what I have? I sure feel like it's doing something... is this just a waste of my time? Most any strength training is going to help retain/build muscle. You are worryinh about details that don't matter

    - What is the alternative to recomp when using weights -- would it be just maintaining the muscle I have? I've heard people say "there's no such thing as toning". But what if one is lifting, but not progressively heavier weights... I sure feel achy -- it must be doing something?! Don't the muscles get tighter, even if you're not adding muscle, per se? (And wouldn't that be what people refer to as "toning"?)See above

    - What do people do after they've built all of the muscle they can or want to build? How does one maintain that muscle, if one is not lifting progressively heavier weights? I mean, at some point a person has to max out (either physically or emotionally). No?Then just keep lifting at what ever level you've reached. It's really not as complicated as you are trying to make it

    Thanks in advance. Any insight appreciated!

  • krael65
    krael65 Posts: 306 Member
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    Thank you. Yes, I do tend to overthink things!
    ...and I heard the minimal cardio thing from a different web site. Happy to hear that's false.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    OP, I'm no expert, but recomp isn't a specific workout. It just means changing your body composition while maintaining your weight. So you will be very slowly building muscle while very slowly losing a little more fat, while staying at the same weight. It's a process that takes years.

    All you really must do is some kind of activity that will build muscle and eat at the appropriate calorie level. I can't do any better on specifics than @sijomial and the recomp thread linked above. Good luck!

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