Another recomp question..

aubyshortcake

Hello! I'm in week one of my recomp, and I have a basic understanding of how it works (eat around maintenance, get on a progressive lifting program).

My question is, how does it actually work.. Or should I say WHY does it work? What makes it possible to eat at maintenance and still build muscle and lose fat? Does the muscle growth get something it needs from the fat?

I'm just curious about the science behind it.

heybales

More of what you eat goes to nutrients for repairing the muscle, and insulin sends the protein and carbs where they are desired in that regard.

You drop out of insulin mode after eating, faster then if no workouts, back into mainly fat burning mode (which is around 90% of energy source during non-exercise time of the day).

Whereas eating at maintenance not doing much the body must repair or replenish from - some carbs go out to liver and whatever muscle stores got used, which may not be much - excess converted and stored as fat if not needed for immediate energy use. Protein too eventually if not needed elsewhere.

Drop out of insulin mode (takes longer in comparison), fat burning back on, you burn up some of what you stored. Balance.

RavenLibra

My understanding is that having x amount of lean muscle mass requires x amount of calories to maintain... since you are only eating at maintenance or slightly higher, your body does make use of the stored energy (fat) in order to retain said muscle mass... I always refer to Dwayne Johnson... in order for him to maintain his muscle mass...he consumes in excess of 5000 calories/ day... were he to eat "normal" he would not be able to maintain his mass... so more muscle requires more calories to maintain... therefore if you eat at a surplus... you will gain muscle... as long as you work on adding muscle... and lose fat... it is a slower process than going straight calorie deficit... but in my mind the results are longer lasting... and who would not want to be fitter and stronger when they get where they are going?

sijomial

aubyshortcake wrote: »

Does the muscle growth get something it needs from the fat?

Fat is an energy store. So instead of using your food intake for energy you are using your body fat stores to a degree.

According to Eric Helms the metabolic cost of building 1lb of muscle is approx. 3,500 cals.

Daily maintenance of each pound of muscle is very low though unfortunately ( @RavenLibra ). About 6cals/day according to Lyle McDonald. Obviously actually using that muscle rather than being at rest makes a difference.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dissecting-the-energy-needs-of-the-body-research-review.html/


A bit of a fun fact....
Everyone successfully recomping without changing body weight is actually at a energy deficit.
Partly the cost of building the muscle, partly that as an energy store fat is more than twice the calories per pound than muscle.

heybales

I'll have to look up Eric's reference for that.

Curious if the same study as this which is sadly LBM not specifically tested muscle mass -
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/778012

sijomial

heybales wrote: »

I'll have to look up Eric's reference for that.

Curious if the same study as this which is sadly LBM not specifically tested muscle mass -
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/778012

@heybales
I just remembered it from the article by Eric Helms and Lawrence Judd, paragraph just before the conclusion.
https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/calorie-deficit-gain-weight/

Memorable as it seems almost too convenient to be the same as the energy in a pound of fat!



•If you use the 3500 kcal/lb rule to predict the energy surplus or deficit associated with the weight change found in these subjects, it actually tends to give numbers that correlate quite well with the numbers calculated from the metabolizable energy densities (within 200 kcal, for the most part).From a practical standpoint, this means that for a lot of trainees who are weight stable, aren’t coming back to training from a layoff, aren’t undertaking a crazy new training regimen, or are enhanced lifters about to start a drug regimen (a.k.a all the scenarios in which rapid muscle growth is expected), the 3500 kcal/lb rule predicts weight loss quite well. It also predicts muscle gain quite well in those who are in similar scenarios to those listed above. Based on the metabolizable energy density, a pound of muscle contains approximately 800 kcal. Literature shows that it takes approximately 4-6 times as much energy to build muscle, which puts the total caloric “cost” of a pound of muscle at roughly 3500 kcal. In a practical realm, this means that setting up calorie intake for slow weight gain (gains of <1.5% of bodyweight per month) based on the 3500 kcal/lb rule should predict weight gain relatively well.

aubyshortcake

This is really interesting! Thanks all for replying!