Body Composition and Setting Goals on MFP

JessiesGirls520

Hi all, I'm at the point where my BMI, Body Fat %, and weight are in healthy/average ranges. I just want to change my body composition and change my body fat percent from 24% to 18%. Should I set my calorie intake to lose weight (.5 or 1 pound a week) or leave it maintenance and just focus on my workouts? Thanks!

kitkat4141

Eat at maintenance and focus on workouts. Lift heavy!

tomcornhole

Eat at maintenance and focus on workouts. Lift heavy!

^^^ This. But it is a very inefficient approach to lowering BF%. A more efficient approach is to eat at a surplus, lift heavy weights and build some muscle. Then do a cut to reduce fat. But that requires your weight to go UP and that can be psychologically terrifying. I'm new to maintenance and have no desire to gain weight so I am eating at maintenance and doing heavy lifting. The common belief is you cannot gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. While this might be easy to buy into, I have been doing it. I have dropped my BF by 3% while maintaining my goal weight of 185 lbs. But it is slow. But I'm not mentally ready to bulk, and it's summer and I like how I look without a shirt on right now. I'll do a bulk this winter. Then cut in the spring.

Tom

CoderGal

Eat at maintenance and focus on workouts. Lift heavy!

^^^ This. But it is a very inefficient approach to lowering BF%. A more efficient approach is to eat at a surplus, lift heavy weights and build some muscle. Then do a cut to reduce fat. But that requires your weight to go UP and that can be psychologically terrifying. I'm new to maintenance and have no desire to gain weight so I am eating at maintenance and doing heavy lifting. The common belief is you cannot gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. While this might be easy to buy into, I have been doing it. I have dropped my BF by 3% while maintaining my goal weight of 185 lbs. But it is slow. But I'm not mentally ready to bulk, and it's summer and I like how I look without a shirt on right now. I'll do a bulk this winter. Then cut in the spring.

Tom

^This. I ate at a surplus+weights. Worked like a magical charm!

pcastagner

The recomp approach is only slow if you don't measure all the improvements being made. Especially if doing body weight stuff, it's really fun after losing weight for six months to eat at maintenance and see all these athletic gains.

I kind of have to disagree with "lift heavy" because it is half true. I was progressing slowly until I changed it to "lift heavy sometimes and light other times". I just alternate between 3 reps (heavy) and 8-12 reps (light). Now I'm back on track! I started losing weight rapidly after coming to Japan for a job, and I seem to be hanging on to muscle much better than I was when eating at a deficit and always aiming for 6 reps.


The lean gains approach to total cals might be worth trying. Lift four days a week and on those days eat over maintenance (say, 250 cals), and on your rest days try to eat 250 under.

JessiesGirls520

Thanks everyone! I'm resetting my calorie goals and going to give it a go! I'm doing T25 right now but will soon be moving on from the cardio portion to the weights section so I should be on track soon.

This has been so helpful! xoxo

CoderGal

Thanks everyone! I'm resetting my calorie goals and going to give it a go! I'm doing T25 right now but will soon be moving on from the cardio portion to the weights section so I should be on track soon.

This has been so helpful! xoxo

FYI from my understanding T25 is mostly cardio/endurance training? So if it involves lifting it probably involves light weights below the 20lb mark for many reps. That's a beginning. But it's more of a endurance thing then a strength thing. I was doing HIIT previously and found that I topped out within a month and couldn't increase my weights farther. Heavy lifting is far more efficient when it comes to preserving muscle (85% your max rep for ~5 reps).

Wizeman22

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