Any benefit to "recomp" vs constant deficit?

jonnythan

So I'm within about 7 pounds of my goal. I'm currently about 12.8% body fat and my goal is to get to around 10 and then maintain it for a few months before starting a slow bulk in the fall. I currently run a deficit of around 375-400 calories a day, every day. I lift 3 days a week and generally do something active every other day (or sometimes the same day) like tennis, cycling, etc.

I was wondering if there would be any benefit to switching to more of a recomp kinda plan where I eat a 400-500 deficit on non-lifting days and then maintenance on lifting days. My weekly deficit would go from about 2700 to 2000, but would there be any muscle-sparing or muscle-building benefits?

Since I lift in the evening after work, this would effectively mean that on lifting days I'd just eat a very large dinner and eat pretty normally on rest days.

cmeiron

bump for replies.

magerum

Purely anecdotal, but I did something similar for a year and realised a lot of lifting gains as well as physique changes. I gained about 15lbs, but only an inch in the waist. I managed it a bit differently. I ate the same amount every day and used exercise the manage my deficit/surplus on given days.

I'm back to a deficit for about another 10 lbs then I'm going to do it again. Much the same way. Rinse and repeat.

Sarauk2sf

It really depends on how patient you are.


The problem with recomping - it is very inefficient and hit and miss. Your TDEE changes daily, your food is absorbed and utilized at different rates and throughout a relatively long period of time - so what you eat one day will not necessarily to towards a surplus and therefore muscle gains for that day. So this makes it a bit of a crap shoot. Obviously some of the times, it will go towards muscle gains, which is why people do it when they do not want to do a straight bulk/cut cycle.

However, if you go for a recomp, you should really be looking to eat at maintenance on average. If you are in a deficit any gains will be even more hit and miss and be at a snails pace, mainly for the reasons noted above, but even more so.

jonnythan

It really depends on how patient you are.


The problem with recomping - it is very inefficient and hit and miss. Your TDEE changes daily, your food is absorbed and utilized at different rates and throughout a relatively long period of time - so what you eat one day will not necessarily to towards a surplus and therefore muscle gains for that day. So this makes it a bit of a crap shoot. Obviously some of the times, it will go towards muscle gains, which is why people do it when they do not want to do a straight bulk/cut cycle.

However, if you go for a recomp, you should really be looking to eat at maintenance on average. If you are in a deficit any gains will be even more hit and miss and be at a snails pace, mainly for the reasons noted above, but even more so.

What I'm really looking for is long-term efficiency, I think. So it sounds like my original plan of continuing a deficit until I reach my goal, then doing a slow bulk, will achieve that more effectively, yes?

Sarauk2sf

It really depends on how patient you are.


The problem with recomping - it is very inefficient and hit and miss. Your TDEE changes daily, your food is absorbed and utilized at different rates and throughout a relatively long period of time - so what you eat one day will not necessarily to towards a surplus and therefore muscle gains for that day. So this makes it a bit of a crap shoot. Obviously some of the times, it will go towards muscle gains, which is why people do it when they do not want to do a straight bulk/cut cycle.

However, if you go for a recomp, you should really be looking to eat at maintenance on average. If you are in a deficit any gains will be even more hit and miss and be at a snails pace, mainly for the reasons noted above, but even more so.

What I'm really looking for is long-term efficiency, I think. So it sounds like my original plan of continuing a deficit until I reach my goal, then doing a slow bulk, will achieve that more effectively, yes?

In my opinion, that would be the way to go. Doing a slow bulk you can limit fat gains.

jonnythan

Awesome. Thanks.