Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat
usmcmp
Posts: 21,219 Member
There's a lot of talk about recomposition through the boards, so I wanted to have a place where we can compile research on it and experiences with it.
When is recomp appropriate? When you are at a decent weight for your height, but your body fat is still at a level that is undesirable to you recomposition is probably a good option. It's a way to maintain your weight, eat well and still lose fat. This is a slow process and can feel like spinning your wheels, but it can be less mentally stressful than bulk and cut cycles.
The keys to recomposition are:
1. At the end of the week you have eaten at about your TDEE. You may choose to cycle calories or eat at a flat rate every day, this should fit your personal preference. If you have a consistent workout schedule using a TDEE calculator should place your goal fairly close to your actual maintenance. The only way to know for sure is to monitor your weight and calories over time while adjusting calories when you have an up or down trend.
2. Getting adequate protein. Protein is a building block of muscle. The goal of recomposition is to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Protein, carbohydrates and fats play different roles in the muscle building process, so make sure that you keep to a macronutrient set up that works for you. This may need to be adjusted over time.
3. Lift! Following a good lifting program is the key to the entire process. It's where the magic happens. Pick a program that you will enjoy and that is going to challenge you. Continue to focus on improving.
4. Take pictures and measure. It's a slow process and you may feel you are making no progress. Your measurements will help you see that you are making progress.
Feel free to share stories of recomposition and any research you have seen on it. Ask questions if you have any.
When is recomp appropriate? When you are at a decent weight for your height, but your body fat is still at a level that is undesirable to you recomposition is probably a good option. It's a way to maintain your weight, eat well and still lose fat. This is a slow process and can feel like spinning your wheels, but it can be less mentally stressful than bulk and cut cycles.
The keys to recomposition are:
1. At the end of the week you have eaten at about your TDEE. You may choose to cycle calories or eat at a flat rate every day, this should fit your personal preference. If you have a consistent workout schedule using a TDEE calculator should place your goal fairly close to your actual maintenance. The only way to know for sure is to monitor your weight and calories over time while adjusting calories when you have an up or down trend.
2. Getting adequate protein. Protein is a building block of muscle. The goal of recomposition is to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Protein, carbohydrates and fats play different roles in the muscle building process, so make sure that you keep to a macronutrient set up that works for you. This may need to be adjusted over time.
3. Lift! Following a good lifting program is the key to the entire process. It's where the magic happens. Pick a program that you will enjoy and that is going to challenge you. Continue to focus on improving.
4. Take pictures and measure. It's a slow process and you may feel you are making no progress. Your measurements will help you see that you are making progress.
Feel free to share stories of recomposition and any research you have seen on it. Ask questions if you have any.
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Replies
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tagging to follow.
out of curiosity, as carbs are more important on a bulk; should your carbs and protein be pretty evenly distributed on a recomp, or would you want more coming from protein, and less from carbs?9 -
tagging to follow.
out of curiosity, as carbs are more important on a bulk; should your carbs and protein be pretty evenly distributed on a recomp, or would you want more coming from protein, and less from carbs?
I think that's going to be a personal thing. I have carbs a bit higher than protein on a bulk and while I was in recomp for a few months. I also have lots of calories to play with. I generally set protein first and divide carbs and fat after. I see better results with protein around .8-1g per pound of lean body mass.
ETA: The reason I'm not putting suggestions on percentage split out there is because sometimes the splits simply do not fit in with natural eating habits, which could lead to frustration and possibly failure.36 -
Following to learn. Not here yet, but I will be one day.59
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Thanks for the info
I looked into this, but since I do body-weight strength training and not heavy lifting, I don't think it would work for me, bummer! 14 -
tagging to follow.
out of curiosity, as carbs are more important on a bulk; should your carbs and protein be pretty evenly distributed on a recomp, or would you want more coming from protein, and less from carbs?
I think that's going to be a personal thing. I have carbs a bit higher than protein on a bulk and while I was in recomp for a few months. I also have lots of calories to play with. I generally set protein first and divide carbs and fat after. I see better results with protein around .8-1g per pound of lean body mass.
interesting..
I have never tried recomp...
I ran the bulk last winter and cut this spring. As of this week, I am on .5 pound per week loss with the plan to transition to maintenance in August, and bulk again in September....2 -
Sarasmaintaining wrote: »Thanks for the info I looked into this, but since I do body-weight strength training and not heavy lifting, I don't think it would work for me, bummer!
There are ways you can add resistance to body weight exercises and there are modifications that make body weight exercises harder. Progressive overload is generally viewed as adding more weight, but we can overload the muscles in other ways.33 -
Noob on recomp. Am all ears.15
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When I went to maintenance a couple of years ago I basically did a re-comp. When I started in maintenance I was about 15-16% BF.
I wasn't deliberately trying to re-comp...I was just eating to maintenance and eating well and hitting the weight room with some solid programming and riding my bike a lot. Over the course of about 1 year and 4 months I went from 15-16% BF to right around 12% BF while maintaining a weight of 182 Lbs on average.
For me, it was a great way to go about things as I already had a fair amount of muscle on me and really I just wanted to focus on my overall fitness. Eating maintenance and training brought me some huge fitness gains which is what I was really after...dropping a few % points was gravy.
Subsequent to that, I did my first bulk last fall and through February. Lifting on a surplus was incredible...PR after PR after PR. It was a nice little experiment, but I likely won't do one again because I really hate cutting...I should be done cutting now, but I keep getting lazy. I'm at about 15% now and I'm considering just maintaining as with my previous experience, I eventually dropped some fat...but I can attest to how slow that process is.53 -
Thanks for the info! I've been curious about this for a while, but didn't know what to call it or what the results would be like. I think it's difficult to wrap my head around eating at maintenance after so long at a deficit.14
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I'm working on that right now. I am so through with cutting, so no bulk n cut cycles for me lol. It *is* a slow process but the results are def visible. I'm patient enough, no problem.18
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cwolfman13 wrote: »When I went to maintenance a couple of years ago I basically did a re-comp. When I started in maintenance I was about 15-16% BF.
I wasn't deliberately trying to re-comp...I was just eating to maintenance and eating well and hitting the weight room with some solid programming and riding my bike a lot. Over the course of about 1 year and 4 months I went from 15-16% BF to right around 12% BF while maintaining a weight of 182 Lbs on average.
For me, it was a great way to go about things as I already had a fair amount of muscle on me and really I just wanted to focus on my overall fitness. Eating maintenance and training brought me some huge fitness gains which is what I was really after...dropping a few % points was gravy.
Subsequent to that, I did my first bulk last fall and through February. Lifting on a surplus was incredible...PR after PR after PR. It was a nice little experiment, but I likely won't do one again because I really hate cutting...I should be done cutting now, but I keep getting lazy. I'm at about 15% now and I'm considering just maintaining as with my previous experience, I eventually dropped some fat...but I can attest to how slow that process is.
that is interesting..
I have always thought about doing a recomp but not sure if I have the patience for it. I like bulking because like you said the lifts feel great and you keep nailing PR's; however, transiting from the bulk to the cut phase does blow, because you are used to eating more, and 2400 calories after eating 3100 + looks and feels like nothing...
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I did a bulk after my last bodybuilding competition and then I maintained at the top of the bulk for about 6 months. In that time I have gotten visibly leaner and I dropped a pant size while maintaining my weight. I'm sure if I counted calories accurately through the bulk and recomp I would be leaner at the moment.7
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Yay!
So, a few questions:
1. Is there some bodyfat range that should be a minimum for doing a recomp? I imagine the higher the bf%, the longer the recomp will take. I hate cutting, but feel like I still have some fat to lose before I switch things up.
2. What's everyone experience with the mental aspect? I know I'm not mentally ready for a bulk, but what can I expect while doing a recomp?
3. My nutrition is around 135P/70F (always over)/160C. Yay or nay?
Thanks for this thread!9 -
tagging2
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I don't have any research, but I'll post my results here. I've been recomping for about 2 years. I have chronic illness and eating at a deficit can be too much stress on my system.
On the left I was 125 lbs, 24% body fat according to the Eat, Train, Progress body fat estimation thread. On the right I'm still 125 lbs but 2 sizes smaller.
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Is there a amount of time you need to lift each week? I do 3 days about an hour each day focusing on day 1 arms day 2 chest and shoulders and day 3 legs and back. Each exercised done 2 to 3 times with increasing weight.4
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cwolfman13 wrote: »When I went to maintenance a couple of years ago I basically did a re-comp. When I started in maintenance I was about 15-16% BF.
I wasn't deliberately trying to re-comp...I was just eating to maintenance and eating well and hitting the weight room with some solid programming and riding my bike a lot. Over the course of about 1 year and 4 months I went from 15-16% BF to right around 12% BF while maintaining a weight of 182 Lbs on average.
For me, it was a great way to go about things as I already had a fair amount of muscle on me and really I just wanted to focus on my overall fitness. Eating maintenance and training brought me some huge fitness gains which is what I was really after...dropping a few % points was gravy.
Subsequent to that, I did my first bulk last fall and through February. Lifting on a surplus was incredible...PR after PR after PR. It was a nice little experiment, but I likely won't do one again because I really hate cutting...I should be done cutting now, but I keep getting lazy. I'm at about 15% now and I'm considering just maintaining as with my previous experience, I eventually dropped some fat...but I can attest to how slow that process is.
that is interesting..
I have always thought about doing a recomp but not sure if I have the patience for it. I like bulking because like you said the lifts feel great and you keep nailing PR's; however, transiting from the bulk to the cut phase does blow, because you are used to eating more, and 2400 calories after eating 3100 + looks and feels like nothing...
Yeah, I think it really depends on what the goals more than anything. I think if you're after physique goals and in particular adding on muscle, the bulk/cut is the way to go. If goals are more general fitness oriented then, at least in my experience, the re-comp just tends to come with the territory naturally. I was so focused on the fitness aspect that I really didn't notice the slowness of the re-comp until I actually sat down and thought about it and I was like, "wow...I've been in maintenance for over a year and look at that...some abs popped that weren't there when I started maintenance."
Also, when I went into maintenance I had a fair amount of muscle on me so I wasn't one of those people that dieted down and then was like, "crap...now I'm skinny"...I had a fair bit of muscle mass on me so I wasn't necessarily in a hurry to put on more. Actually, the only reason I really did my bulk was 1) experiment; 2) I had hit some fitness plateaus, namely in my Oly lifts that I was not happy about.14 -
Yay!
So, a few questions:
1. Is there some bodyfat range that should be a minimum for doing a recomp? I imagine the higher the bf%, the longer the recomp will take. I hate cutting, but feel like I still have some fat to lose before I switch things up.
2. What's everyone experience with the mental aspect? I know I'm not mentally ready for a bulk, but what can I expect while doing a recomp?
3. My nutrition is around 135P/70F (always over)/160C. Yay or nay?
Thanks for this thread!
1. There is a body fat range for bulk and cut, but recomposition doesn't have one. All that is required to recomp is to be at a normal weight and have body fat that you still want to lose. If you are still in the overweight category by a bit it's a good idea to keep losing fat.
2. Recomp is mentally tough to see no scale change and no real visible changes from week to week. You'll feel like you are making no progress. Measuring is important.
3. Sounds like your macros are good. At this point you are eating adequate amounts of all three, so as long as you can comfortably continue and you see results there's no reason to adjust.15 -
This content has been removed.
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Is there a amount of time you need to lift each week? I do 3 days about an hour each day focusing on day 1 arms day 2 chest and shoulders and day 3 legs and back. Each exercised done 2 to 3 times with increasing weight.
Three times per week is good, but isolating arms as one of your three days is not using your time effectively. I suggest looking into the other beginning lifter threads for ideas on programs that are going to help. New Rule of Lifting is one that is talked about frequently.2 -
ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »I don't have any research, but I'll post my results here. I've been recomping for about 2 years. I have chronic illness and eating at a deficit can be too much stress on my system.
On the left I was 125 lbs, 24% body fat according to the Eat, Train, Progress body fat estimation thread. On the right I'm still 125 lbs but 2 sizes smaller.
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@usmcmp thank you so much for this! I have been looking for recomp info, as I'm preparing to transition to maintenance and focus on recomp at that point. You break things down so simply, cutting away all the fluff that really comes down to personal preference, and it really clears up so much confusion. Thank you thank you thank you!7
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Great thread. Will be back when the time comes!1
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I did a bulk after my last bodybuilding competition and then I maintained at the top of the bulk for about 6 months. In that time I have gotten visibly leaner and I dropped a pant size while maintaining my weight. I'm sure if I counted calories accurately through the bulk and recomp I would be leaner at the moment.
interesting...I think that I cut too aggressively after this bulk and I would of been better off shooting or .5 pound per week loss instead of one pound per week loss..
eh, live and learn...4 -
Well, of course I am jumping in as I am a big proponent of recomp (mainly because I know my mind isn't strong enough to handle bulk and cut cycles just yet.
Anyway, I have been recomping since January 2014. This is also the time I started lifting weights after losing 80lbs doing nothing but cycling. I was 36 years old at the time and hadn't lifted weights since high school.
In January, I started at 176lbs. I have been eating at maintenance or right around it since then based on scale weight as my weight still fluctuates between 173 and 181 depending. I do tend to eat more on lifting days (M, W, Thur, F) and less on off days. I also burn about 4000 calories per week on cardio (Cycling). Of course this fluctuates but 4000 is roughly the average. I try to eat right around 3200 calories daily which allows me to maintain my weight. ( a little more right now as the cardio is a bit higher )
When I started I was "skinny fat". Lost all the weight. Still wasn't happy. I knew I wouldn't be but didn't care as I had a plan to lose it first, then lift. That was the right way for me as it was the plan I knew I could stick to.
I am not sure on BF as I wasn't all that knowledgeable and am just not sure. Looking back, I would guess I was probably around 18-20% when I hit my goal weight? Not sure really and don't have any after pictures from that time as I knew I wasn't done. Now I sit right around 12% if I'm guessing.
Measurements
Biceps - Before 13" - After 15.75".
Chest - Before 38.5" - Now 42.75"
Waist - Before 35.5" - Now 31"
I can't remember my leg measurements as they haven't changed a ton and have only grown about an inch or so in the quads. Will update with calf and quads when I get home. Don't have the info handy.
Strength gains
Bench - Before - 135lbs - After 255lbx3 is the best I've done. Haven't truly maxed lately.
Squat - Before - unsure - After 325lbx5
OHP - Before - 80lbs - After 185x5
DL - Before - Unsure - After 305x5
My plan is to continue on with what I am doing. I can honestly say that at this point, I have no intention of doing a bulk and cut cycle as I am happy with the results I have had and haven't really thought it was that slow of a process. I will just continue to eat a lot of food, ride a lot bikes, and lift a lot of heavy *kitten* and see where it takes me.
19 -
Is there a amount of time you need to lift each week? I do 3 days about an hour each day focusing on day 1 arms day 2 chest and shoulders and day 3 legs and back. Each exercised done 2 to 3 times with increasing weight.
Three times per week is good, but isolating arms as one of your three days is not using your time effectively. I suggest looking into the other beginning lifter threads for ideas on programs that are going to help. New Rule of Lifting is one that is talked about frequently.
That's what I have as my plan, good to know it comes recommended.
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mamapeach910 wrote: »Is there a amount of time you need to lift each week? I do 3 days about an hour each day focusing on day 1 arms day 2 chest and shoulders and day 3 legs and back. Each exercised done 2 to 3 times with increasing weight.
Three times per week is good, but isolating arms as one of your three days is not using your time effectively. I suggest looking into the other beginning lifter threads for ideas on programs that are going to help. New Rule of Lifting is one that is talked about frequently.
That's what I have as my plan, good to know it comes recommended.
I like it because it's educational, not just a workout. I think learning about lifting is as important and doing it.2 -
Thanks for this, I'm 11 pounds above goal and I've been meaning to read up on this.3
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Well, of course I am jumping in as I am a big proponent of recomp (mainly because I know my mind isn't strong enough to handle bulk and cut cycles just yet.
Anyway, I have been recomping since January 2014. This is also the time I started lifting weights after losing 80lbs doing nothing but cycling. I was 36 years old at the time and hadn't lifted weights since high school.
In January, I started at 176lbs. I have been eating at maintenance or right around it since then based on scale weight as my weight still fluctuates between 173 and 181 depending. I do tend to eat more on lifting days (M, W, Thur, F) and less on off days. I also burn about 4000 calories per week on cardio (Cycling). Of course this fluctuates but 4000 is roughly the average. I try to eat right around 3200 calories daily which allows me to maintain my weight. ( a little more right now as the cardio is a bit higher )
When I started I was "skinny fat". Lost all the weight. Still wasn't happy. I knew I wouldn't be but didn't care as I had a plan to lose it first, then lift. That was the right way for me as it was the plan I knew I could stick to.
I am not sure on BF as I wasn't all that knowledgeable and am just not sure. Looking back, I would guess I was probably around 18-20% when I hit my goal weight? Not sure really and don't have any after pictures from that time as I knew I wasn't done. Now I sit right around 12% if I'm guessing.
Measurements
Biceps - Before 13" - After 15.75".
Chest - Before 38.5" - Now 42.75"
Waist - Before 35.5" - Now 31"
I can't remember my leg measurements as they haven't changed a ton and have only grown about an inch or so in the quads. Will update with calf and quads when I get home. Don't have the info handy.
Strength gains
Bench - Before - 135lbs - After 255lbx3 is the best I've done. Haven't truly maxed lately.
Squat - Before - unsure - After 325lbx5
OHP - Before - 80lbs - After 185x5
DL - Before - Unsure - After 305x5
My plan is to continue on with what I am doing. I can honestly say that at this point, I have no intention of doing a bulk and cut cycle as I am happy with the results I have had and haven't really thought it was that slow of a process. I will just continue to eat a lot of food, ride a lot bikes, and lift a lot of heavy *kitten* and see where it takes me.
Thank you for sharing!4
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