Body Recomp

Mikee469 · May 2018

My initial goal was to lose weight, but portion control can be rather miserable. Instead I changed to the long term approach of maintaining weight but putting on lean mass.

Has anyone done this and if so what was your approach?

Keep in mind, my goal was only to drop 15-20lbs that came from a new desk job.

hesn92 · May 2018

Check out the “goal -maintaining weight” section of the forum. There is a post in there about recomp that is very helpful

steveko89 · May 2018

I tried this for a while and really just felt like I was spinning my wheels, it can be a pretty slow slog. There are studies out there that have shown the optimal range for most men to gain muscle is 8-15% body fat; hence the typical advice to cut to 10%, then bulk to 15%. As a fellow desk jockey, I know it can be easy to gain weight sitting around all day and trying to cut really does suck, but I think you'll ultimately be better off if you focus on leaning back out first and then hope on a clean bulk. How big of a deficit were you trying to maintain? I know if I try to cut aggressively I can't stick with it, but as long as I stay at a deficit for 0.5-0.75% body weight loss per week, I can get by. Any more I stay pretty firmly in the 170s so that works out to ~500-650 calories/day.