Body Recomp??

dscampbell1979

Looking for some advice. I'm 5ft9 and 136 lbs. I'm thinking I need body recomp but not really sure. I've been eating at maintenance. Which I'm not even sure where to put myself for that honestly. Am I lightly active? Active? Maybe even sedentary? I'm a stay at home mom.
My real question though involves "cardio". I'm doing stronglifts 5x5 three days a week. I also do a 25 minute an routine 6 days a week. Then 30 minute incline training on the treadmill on lift days and 45 min on non lift days. Is this cardio? Is this hurting my gains? I'm getting stronger. I know that. I feel that. But my butt is NOT getting bigger whereas for the first time in my life I am starting to see the outline of my abs! The lines down the sides and the v at the bottom. Think I still need to lose fat in the middle but I'm stoked to see what I can. So is the treadmill hurting any gains I could be seeing in my lower body? Need advice from someone more experienced than this newbie

RoxieDawn

On your activity level... You are a stay at home mom running around chasing little ones all day (on your feet a good bit during the day)? If so between lightly active and active. This setting does not include exercise.

The only way cardio is hindering your progress is if you are not recovering well enough between your lifting secessions and added cardio on non lifting days. Since your are maintaining you are eating enough calories for energy balance. Recomp is a slow process, keep an eye out on your lifting performance and recovery and cut back on cardio if you need to.

L1zardQueen

Have you read this?

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

sgt1372

This is a more complicated question than can be answered here.Too many variables.

I'll just tell you my story. I'm male so it may not entirely apply to you but it should at least be illustrative.

I dropped 36# from 196 to 160 (which was my initial goal weight) in 5 months just lifting (doing Starting Strength which is similar to Stronglifts). Did very little cardio during this time period.

Went into maintenance and started getting my BF measured after the 1st 5 months.

Over the next 18 months, I dropped an additional 5# (not intentionally but as a result of still eating at a very slight deficit) from 160 to 155 and my BF dropped from 17% down to 8% (as measured by hydro), which means that my LBM increased 14.6# from 128# to 142.6 and my BF decreased 19.6# from 32 to 12.4#, which also means that I was able to recomp (or convert) 14.6# of fat/LBM and lose an additional 5# of BF on top of that in the process.

However, in the last 18 months, I also gradually cut back on lifting w/the goal of maintaining the strength that I developed in the 1st 5 months (which already put me in the "elite" category for men my age/weight on the Strength Level website) and I substantially increased cardio (rowing which is my cardio of choice).

I now do BW exercises and heavy lifting only for an hour a day every other day 4 days a week (much less than I was doing previously) but I now also row 10k meters a day 7 days a week, which is a lot of rowing, but I do it mainly so that I can eat more while still maintaining my weight.

My maintenance level is 1650 net cals/day which would be a very restrictive diet on its own. So, instead, I burn about 550 cal/day rowing which allows me to eat more - - about 2200 cals a day, which provides me w/more nutrition (particularly protein which I consider essential) and also prevents hunger.

This has worked well for me in recomping a significant amount of weight and in vastly altering the appearance of my body for the better - much learner and muscular.

Can't say if this will work for you or anyone else but it did (and continues to) work for me.

sijomial

Yes your treadmill is cardio as it raises your heartrate and is an aerobic exercise.

Why in particular do you seem to think cardio "hurts your gains"?

Even more particularly why do you think that what is really pretty low volume hurts your muscle growth?

dscampbell1979

I don't know that's why I asked. Wasn't sure if the cardio was causing my body to burn muscle instead of fat. Is this not a thing? Swear I've read this is possible.

RoxieDawn

dscampbell1979 wrote: »

I don't know that's why I asked. Wasn't sure if the cardio was causing my body to burn muscle instead of fat. Is this not a thing? Swear I've read this is possible.

Its not a thing.

stanmann571

dscampbell1979 wrote: »

I don't know that's why I asked. Wasn't sure if the cardio was causing my body to burn muscle instead of fat. Is this not a thing? Swear I've read this is possible.

Generally in a deficit or a cut, you'll lose fat and LBM-Lean Body Mass/Which includes muscle. Getting enough protein, doing strength training and not running an excessive deficit are the keys to reducing or sparing muscle loss. It is almost impossible to eliminate it.

sijomial

dscampbell1979 wrote: »

I don't know that's why I asked. Wasn't sure if the cardio was causing my body to burn muscle instead of fat. Is this not a thing? Swear I've read this is possible.

Your preferred fuels are fat and glycogen (stored form of carbs).
Burning muscle for fuel would be your body's last resort - normally in starvation situations (not the mythical "starvation mode"!).

dscampbell1979

Good to know. Thank you! Honestly I'm not great at tracking calories and if anything tend to over estimate how much I consume and under estimate calorie burn from workouts (perfectly explained in my worst case scenario personality lol) so wanted to make sure that wasn't hurting any muscle gains I could be seeing.