Female body recomposition

squatsanddeadlift

I was having a chat with a guy who is well into his SL 5X5. We were discussing my goals which is to be as strong as I can and as lean as I can. We were discussing that I struggle with calorie counting because I hate to feel hungry and restricted. He suggested that I take a body recompostion approach to my training rather than a cut loads of calories. I kind of understand but I don't

He said I should be eating close to my calorie goal each day while lifting heavy. Is this correct?

I am female 5'2, I will be heading back into SL 5X5 this month (I had to stop due to expenses) 25 years old.

This is what my calories look like for me: BMR being 1456

Activity Level

Daily Calories

Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1747
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2002
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2257
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2512
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2766

I tended to eat at 1600 calories but I can never stick to this amount.

So based on that say I ate at moderately active less a few calories for a cut would this give me the desired result?

Oh I run a couple of times a week nothing major just a mile or so and I cycle to and from work which equates to about 20 miles a week.

Thanks!

Keeta83

I'm kinda in the same boat...stopping by to see what everyone says.

wolfsbayne

Me too.

stuffinmuffin

Are you still trying to reduce your dress size, or maintain your current size - albeit gain some strength/weight and reduce fat?

JoRocka

Well
have you maxed out your linear gains on strong lifts? You say you're going back to it? how far did you get with it? how long have you been lifting?

secondly recomping is horribly inefficient- if you have already pushed linear gains as far as you go- you're probably not going to be happy with recomping.

I'd either go for a cut- or go for a bulk and then come back down to where you are now.

BUT- if you are still in your linear gainz stage- go for the"recomp" bit and see what it does for you- you probably won't be wildly happy if you're looking for short term results (by short term I mean 6 months)- but you'll keep the body you have now more or less.

vjohn04

Well
have you maxed out your linear gains on strong lifts? You say you're going back to it? how far did you get with it? how long have you been lifting?

secondly recomping is horribly inefficient- if you have already pushed linear gains as far as you go- you're probably not going to be happy with recomping.

I'd either go for a cut- or go for a bulk and then come back down to where you are now.


BUT- if you are still in your linear gainz stage- go for the"recomp" bit and see what it does for you- you probably won't be wildly happy if you're looking for short term results (by short term I mean 6 months)- but you'll keep the body you have now more or less.

I usually agree with your feedback, but I have to disagree.

Folks can recomp and have noticeable difference in 6 months.... and be wildly happy.

The notion that recomping is so slow and inefficient is frustrating, because it just simply isn't true. Yes, cuts and bulks have their place, but I firmly believe recomping is underutilized and gets a negative reputation. It can provide stellar results and folks shouldn't be steered away from this tool / method. (the last bit is more of a rant in general and not pointed at you jo)

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Are you moderately active then? 90% of moderately active would give you 2031 calories a day, which is pretty easy to sustain.

danelutza19

Hi fellow stronglifter,

Body recomp is a great idea! The guy was right about your calorie intake: you will build muscle and use fat at the same time.
There are a few conditions for this to work: you need to eat to fuel your body to increase lean muscle mass. In your situation that should put you around 2000 calories a day. You need to eat protein, aim for at least 100g /day.
Just for illustration purposes take a look at this picture to get a better idea of what 5lb of fat vs 5 lb of muscle looks like. ( disregard the text on the web page but save that picture in your brain)

http://becomesaiyan.com/295/the-difference-between-muscle-and-fat/


You might not drop more than 0.5 lb a week, if that, but take measurements and pictures monthly and sit back and watch you body change.
For extra credit try to up your fat intake and lower carbs ( bread, pasta, rice).
If stronglifts gains slow way down, consider switching to the next program in stronglifts: madcow.

Please allow for proper recovery after workouts because you body will work hard once the weights go up on stronglifts. Treat your body right and it will do right by you. Expect you butt to become perky, definition in your quads and biceps plus a super strong core and abs from the overhead press.

Feel free to ask if you have more questions.

JoRocka

Well
have you maxed out your linear gains on strong lifts? You say you're going back to it? how far did you get with it? how long have you been lifting?

secondly recomping is horribly inefficient- if you have already pushed linear gains as far as you go- you're probably not going to be happy with recomping.

I'd either go for a cut- or go for a bulk and then come back down to where you are now.


BUT- if you are still in your linear gainz stage- go for the"recomp" bit and see what it does for you- you probably won't be wildly happy if you're looking for short term results (by short term I mean 6 months)- but you'll keep the body you have now more or less.

I usually agree with your feedback, but I have to disagree.

Folks can recomp and have noticeable difference in 6 months.... and be wildly happy.

The notion that recomping is so slow and inefficient is frustrating, because it just simply isn't true. Yes, cuts and bulks have their place, but I firmly believe recomping is underutilized and gets a negative reputation. It can provide stellar results and folks shouldn't be steered away from this tool / method. (the last bit is more of a rant in general and not pointed at you jo)

izokay nothing taken personally but I suspect we are going to have to agree to disagree on it- which is cool to.
She sounds like she's in a good place to recomp since she she doesn't want to put on much size- and she doesn't want to really lose weight- so I mean- she's a candidate for sure.

it's exceptionally slow. and compared to what you can do in 6 months with a cut or bulk- it's inefficient. and slow- that's the whole POINT of recomping. if it wasn't slow- it would be a mini bulk. But it's not.

it's not BAD- so I"m not sure why you think it gets "negative" reputation- it's just not nearly as useful- and for a woman trying to get results- usually its just not stacking the deck her favor.

I guess I am of the mind set that success lends itself to self driven motivation.

And recomp doesn't lend itself to the same kind of tangible results that a cut bulk cycle does- and you add that to the fact 1.) you have to convince women to lift (often times) and 2.) they are harder to put significant muscle on... trying to facilitate the best route to success points way more often to a cut bulk cycle than recomping.

I think she's in a good place for a recomp if that's what she wants- not really changing significant size- but it's just not as efficient as a cut bulk cycle.

MityMax96

eat around maintenance.
Make sure your macros are on point for your calories.

Enjoy....

But you do have to be patient, will take its time

MityMax96

Well
have you maxed out your linear gains on strong lifts? You say you're going back to it? how far did you get with it? how long have you been lifting?

secondly recomping is horribly inefficient- if you have already pushed linear gains as far as you go- you're probably not going to be happy with recomping.

I'd either go for a cut- or go for a bulk and then come back down to where you are now.


BUT- if you are still in your linear gainz stage- go for the"recomp" bit and see what it does for you- you probably won't be wildly happy if you're looking for short term results (by short term I mean 6 months)- but you'll keep the body you have now more or less.

I usually agree with your feedback, but I have to disagree.

Folks can recomp and have noticeable difference in 6 months.... and be wildly happy.

The notion that recomping is so slow and inefficient is frustrating, because it just simply isn't true. Yes, cuts and bulks have their place, but I firmly believe recomping is underutilized and gets a negative reputation. It can provide stellar results and folks shouldn't be steered away from this tool / method. (the last bit is more of a rant in general and not pointed at you jo)

No ppl should not be steered from doing it
It is a good idea for certain ppl depending on their goals.....

But it is not the most efficient of the processes.

Because with a recomp, you are trying to shift your body weight from that being one with mostly fat, to a body weight that is less fat and more muscle.

Now even in a caloric surplus, putting on actual muscle is a dreadfully slow process......
If you do everything right (sleep, exercise, nutrition, timing, etc...) a guy can hope to put on about 2lbs of muscle per month.
A woman I think is in the neighborhood of 1 lb.
And that is in a surplus.

Now if you are eating at maintenance, then how slow will that process be??

So for some ppl out there, a recomp is the way to go....the OP might be fine with doing it like that.

For others that want to have "quicker" results.....then a bulk or cut will be the best option.

Plus I wonder for those on a recomp....how many ppl are actually eating less calories than they need...
So it ain't really muscle they are putting on.....but just shedding Body Fat, and as a result their muscles are popping.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I have no problem recommending re-composition for women. A lot of women have a really hard time with the idea of purposely gaining weight. Let them try a recomp. Let them get into the habit of lifting and not dieting, grow to love it. If they are seeing progress in their recomp, great, if not, THEN they might be open to the idea of gaining (after they already love lifting, and want to see quicker results, and possibly have been exposed to beautiful fitness model looking ladies in the weight room).

bwright9752

I was having a chat with a guy who is well into his SL 5X5. We were discussing my goals which is to be as strong as I can and as lean as I can. We were discussing that I struggle with calorie counting because I hate to feel hungry and restricted. He suggested that I take a body recompostion approach to my training rather than a cut loads of calories. I kind of understand but I don't

He said I should be eating close to my calorie goal each day while lifting heavy. Is this correct?

I am female 5'2, I will be heading back into SL 5X5 this month (I had to stop due to expenses) 25 years old.

This is what my calories look like for me: BMR being 1456

Activity Level

Daily Calories

Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1747
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2002
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2257
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2512
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2766

I tended to eat at 1600 calories but I can never stick to this amount.

So based on that say I ate at moderately active less a few calories for a cut would this give me the desired result?

Oh I run a couple of times a week nothing major just a mile or so and I cycle to and from work which equates to about 20 miles a week.

Thanks!

You've gotten a lot of great ideas and advice from the folks above and I'm not going argue the finer points of whether to bulk, cut, recomp or stop altogether and drink a lot of beer (no one actually recommended that one but I think it sounds good). Don't take what I say as anything other than what works for me - I'm not saying it's the only way to be successful, I'm just saying it has worked for me all my life.

But I will say that I believe you are setting yourself up for failure with your second sentence. Being as strong as you can and as lean as you can is not a goal, it might be an ideal but it is not goal. A goal would be:
I want to squat 185lbs for 5 sets of 5 reps by 1/1/15.
You could incorporate the lean part into that as well saying:
I want to squat 185lbs for 5 sets of 5 reps by 1/1/15 while weighing 132 lbs.

I am a big believer in setting SMART goals:
Specific - "as strong as I can be" is not as specific as "Squat XXX.
Measurable - same as above.
Attainable - If you are currently squatting 135lbs 5x5 and you are as strong as you've ever been, its probably not attainable to say you want to squat 325lbs in 4 months.
Relevant - does it fit in the big picture of your life? If your objective is to be strong and lean then the goal above fits into that. If you objective is to be CEO of a major corporation, that goal won't help much.
Time Related: This creates urgency and helps you avoid procrastination.

I also believe you shouldn't set too many goals at one time or you will lose focus. Setting a weight goal for each of the SL 5x5 exercises at once might be too much. Starting with a squat or dead lift goal is a good way to focus your attention on a general strength exercise, once you've hit that goal you may want to work on your back so you set a pull up goal.

My current goal is to bench press 350 with 10% body fat on the day I turn 50 in December. I've been working on this goal for 6 months now and I really like it because it keeps my on track with my diet, my cardio and all of my lifts not just bench press because I need a strong core, strong tris and shoulders to hit that goal.

husseycd

I recomped for about a year, with decent results. And then I felt like I completely stalled out, so this winter I will bulk. I really started thinking about a bulk when I wasn't progressing on my lifts. Plus I realized if I truly want to build muscle in areas where it's lacking (um, glutes), then I need to bulk.

You are considerably younger than I am, so you may have even better results recomping. Try it. If you feel like you aren't getting the results you want fast enough, you might want to look into a (or several) bulk/cut cycle.

rosebette

As someone who was advised to "recomp" (I'm not a serious bodybuilder) rather than to focus on losing weight, I'm following this thread. But I really do feel like an amateur and ignoramus. What does it mean to "recomp" versus to "Cut" or "Bulk". Also, I have no intention of squatting 185 lbs. or even 100 lbs. Could I have some definitions of the lingo?

BusyRaeNOTBusty

As someone who was advised to "recomp" (I'm not a serious bodybuilder) rather than to focus on losing weight, I'm following this thread. But I really do feel like an amateur and ignoramus. What does it mean to "recomp" versus to "Cut" or "Bulk". Also, I have no intention of squatting 185 lbs. or even 100 lbs. Could I have some definitions of the lingo?

Squatting 100lbs should be obtainable for most women. Don't sell yourself short!


But a recomp = eating at maintenance in an attempt to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

Cut = eating at a deficit in order to lose fat

Bulk = eating at a surplus to gain muscle (and some fat that inevitably comes with the muscle).


Someone looking to gain muscle will usually bulk for a period of time, gaining both muscle and fat (hopefully more muscle than fat), then cut for a period of time hopefully loosing most of the fat gained and keeping most of the muscle gained. The net result is an increase in muscle and the same or less fat as when you started.

squatsanddeadlift

Thanks for the replies

Are you still trying to reduce your dress size, or maintain your current size - albeit gain some strength/weight and reduce fat?

Well I want to shred the fat and keep/maintain/increase muscle

squatsanddeadlift

Well
have you maxed out your linear gains on strong lifts? You say you're going back to it? how far did you get with it? how long have you been lifting?

secondly recomping is horribly inefficient- if you have already pushed linear gains as far as you go- you're probably not going to be happy with recomping.

I'd either go for a cut- or go for a bulk and then come back down to where you are now.

BUT- if you are still in your linear gainz stage- go for the"recomp" bit and see what it does for you- you probably won't be wildly happy if you're looking for short term results (by short term I mean 6 months)- but you'll keep the body you have now more or less.

I was lifting while doing crossfit so I wasn't putting much weight on the bar. I have been lifting for 1 yr. Stopped for 3 months due to money. Went back to the gym this week where I plan to start light.

I happy to put the time in. My issue with cut and bulk is if I cut calories to low (1600 or less) I binge to high heaven. But then perhaps that is due to cutting them to low while being quite active.

margannmks

I recomped for about a year, with decent results. And then I felt like I completely stalled out, so this winter I will bulk. I really started thinking about a bulk when I wasn't progressing on my lifts. Plus I realized if I truly want to build muscle in areas where it's lacking (um, glutes), then I need to bulk.

You are considerably younger than I am, so you may have even better results recomping. Try it. If you feel like you aren't getting the results you want fast enough, you might want to look into a (or several) bulk/cut cycle.

That describes me as well. I wasnt meaning to recomp,but apparently dont count my calories well enough to be at a decent enough deficit to lose weight. I lose maybe a pound a month. I have been like this for almost a year and have liked the tranformation to this point but am now stalled too . Im also going to try a bulk for the same reason. My question is with such weird weight flucuations how do you know if your getting fat or muscle. Is measuring better than weighing is it just look in the mirror, go by your clothes fitting or what. I know some fat gain is gonna happen but of course we want to minimize it . Is there a way really know if your on track. Thanks

squatsanddeadlift

Are you moderately active then? 90% of moderately active would give you 2031 calories a day, which is pretty easy to sustain.

I would say so, bike to and from work, run 3x per week and now 3 lifting sessions a week.

Although the bike is slow pace as is the running (probably argue its walking lol)

squatsanddeadlift

Hi fellow stronglifter,

Body recomp is a great idea! The guy was right about your calorie intake: you will build muscle and use fat at the same time.
There are a few conditions for this to work: you need to eat to fuel your body to increase lean muscle mass. In your situation that should put you around 2000 calories a day. You need to eat protein, aim for at least 100g /day.
Just for illustration purposes take a look at this picture to get a better idea of what 5lb of fat vs 5 lb of muscle looks like. ( disregard the text on the web page but save that picture in your brain)

http://becomesaiyan.com/295/the-difference-between-muscle-and-fat/


You might not drop more than 0.5 lb a week, if that, but take measurements and pictures monthly and sit back and watch you body change.
For extra credit try to up your fat intake and lower carbs ( bread, pasta, rice).
If stronglifts gains slow way down, consider switching to the next program in stronglifts: madcow.

Please allow for proper recovery after workouts because you body will work hard once the weights go up on stronglifts. Treat your body right and it will do right by you. Expect you butt to become perky, definition in your quads and biceps plus a super strong core and abs from the overhead press.

Feel free to ask if you have more questions.

Great link! thanks!

Thanks for the advice. Currently set at 2,000 calories with 120g of protein.