Body recomposition

lexabeep

Im looking for some help regarding this topic. I have been in a calorie deficit for the last few months and have really begun to plateau these last few weeks. I keep ranging right around the same weight plus or minus 2-3 lbs. The biggest change is I've become even more active, lifting more and hiking alot. Which I thought would turn out to increase my weight loss. But now I'm just staying around the same weight. Is it possible Im just gaining muscle weight? And experiencing 'body recomposition'. What's the best way to measure this so I don't get caught up with the number on the scale? Thank you for any advice.

AnnPT77

How long is a few weeks, and how does that timespan line up with the increased exercise?

Muscle gain, sadly, is slow . . . quarter pound a week would be a good result for a woman under ideal conditions, and ideal conditions include a calorie surplus among other things. As you know, a quarter pound a week would be a pretty slow rate of fat loss, around 250 calories daily deficit. It's not very likely that a normal good rate of muscle gain will outpace pretty much any reasonable rate of fat loss, unfortunately. OTOH, increased exercise tends to increase water retention, and that's a pretty quick effect. It can hide fat loss on the scale, until the fat loss outpaces it.

Even my weight trending app thought I was maintaining, maybe even gaining, for around a month last year, when I was actually losing fat very slowly (intentionally slowly, in my case), but had resumed strength training (I always add a couple of pounds of water weight when I do that). Sometime the following month, the scale started slowly dropping again.

I wish I had a great answer for you, about how to know things are going OK. Tape measurements might give you a hint, since usually some of those will decrease if fat loss is happening, even with a little water weight in the picture. Other than that, the only thing I know is patience, and time.

If the weight loss gradually slowed as you stayed at the same calorie intake, it's possible that you've reached maintenance calories for your now-lighter body weight (the actual numbers should tell you how likely that is or isn't). If the stall was more sudden, and your daily life activity hasn't changed noticeably alongside the exercise increase, water weight is a strong possibility, IMO.

wiigelec

As far as I know, calipers are the most accurate at-home method for determining body composition. AccuMeasure has a set specifically designed for using alone and only requires one measurement.

You can track your percent body fat and lean body mass weekly to find out where you are increasing and or decreasing.

serapel

I visually guess my BF % based on pics of various body fat percentages from Google searches. I’m just as accurate as those Tana machines lol

ninerbuff

More activity requires more recovery. And part of that recovery will include water in your system. You're LIKELY NOT gaining muscle unless you're progressive overloading the muscle in your system. And even then, muscle gain on recomp is REALLY slow. Most people would be lucky to gain 2lbs a year.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

lexabeep

Thank you for the information.