Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat

How beneficial would stronglifts 5x5 be for a recomp.( As well as 3 cardio sessions a week).

I'm at 13 % body fat.
141lbs.
5'6"

And if so should I eat and maintenance or aim a little higher?

Any help appreciated.

sijomial wrote: »

Giolis wrote: »

My understanding is that the actual act of lifting weights only minimally increases how much you burn afterwards. The benefit comes from building more muscle which require more calories to maintain.

HIIT type training is said to continue burning calories long after and at a higher rate.

@Giolis
Both these two things are pretty much myths unfortunately - for practical purposes.

The calorie burn from muscle at rest (the body maintaining muscle tissue) is minimal so adding a few pounds of muscle is totally irrelevant, it's activity and exercise that makes the difference.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dissecting-the-energy-needs-of-the-body-research-review.html

HIIT type training does have a larger EPOC than low level steady state cardio exercise but it's potentially a larger proportion of a much smaller number. Real HIIT is very short duration and that time also includes recovery time - it just isn't a big calorie burner.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/steady-state-versus-intervals-and-epoc-practical-application.html/

Train to progress your fitness, strength, hypertrophy and sporting goals not some irrelevant calorie burning advantage.

I am a bit late responding, but I got it and understand. I need to get out of the weight loss mindset and into strength. (for me)

Thanks All, again.

I am now about 7 months into recomp. I am FINALLY starting to see small changes in my legs. I can't believe I took an underwear pic and am posting it! I am just so excited to see what changes will happen in the next 3-6 months!

jamieedwards725 wrote: »

loulamb7 wrote: »

Recomp is a very slow process. If I were a 24 year old male at 13% BF, I would opt for a bulk/cut cycle.

What are the reasons for this? Thank you...

A bulk/cut is more efficient at developing muscle mass because you're providing your body the surplus calories to build muscle faster than a recomp. Hormonally (higher testosterone) and BF% wise, you're in a good place to start a bulk.

Plan B - you have enough to keep losing to healthy weight/body fat levels.
It could take a long long time to recomp those changes.

But - confirm you stop at healthy weight, no matter what amount of fat you feel still needs to be gone, start recomp then with whatever is left.

If the lifting is under 1 year of experience, you may have just a tad more of gains you can get while losing fat.

You may also decide at some point the weight increase on the bar feels more important than the extra fat gone from the body. Recomp then.

And then again - nothing to stop doing a recomp for a bit, then deficit to lose say 2 lbs in couple weeks, then recomp, repeat.

I think TDEE vs. MFP method is a matter of preference. I personally prefer the TDEE method because my exercise schedule is very regular and I like having a good amount of food every day. I also like to view exercise as strictly for health and body comp, not as calories burned. When I did the MFP method, I kept overeating and saying I would make up for it with exercise and then never doing the extra exercise.

But that is just me. Some people like have big eating days on exercise days (maybe for some weekend indulgences) and don't mind the smaller portions on non-exercise days.

Edited to add: MFP method or some riff off of that might also be better for people that have long endurance workouts on certain days. My workouts are all 1 hr or less and mostly weight lifting so I don't have a workout day with tons of calories over non-workout days. Someone that rides a bike on the weekend for 3 hours will need to eat more that day to make up for the workout.

I currently lift 3 days a week (SL 5x5) and do a short cardio + abs session at least one other day. If I have the time and energy I will do 2 short cardio sessions a week. I used the scoobyworkshop calculator, which has been pretty accurate for me. I think I can get away with 50-100 calories more than the calculator says, so I am still playing around with my TDEE number.

In a few weeks I plan to change my program to a 4 day a week upper/lower program with higher volume so I'm guessing I will need to up my calories once that starts.

I have a bit of a question about the difference between recomp and cutting as part of the start of a cut/bulk cycle.
I am male, 5"8 and 162lbs, 20%bf (machine measured so probably not accurate). I had initially intended to drop down to around 157lbs but I'm starting to think that I don't want to go down that far. The following picture was taken last month



I am quite happy with my weight loss but am starting to feel that I am moving towards looking scrawny. Therefore I'm thinking that recomping to around 15% BF is the best plan and then going in to a bulk / cut cycle until I am perhaps back up to around 170lbs and then move in to recomp again and keep around there, depending on how I feel/look at 170 with a low BF%

What sort of targets should I be aiming for with recomping to 15%?

Thanks AslSmile, I guess i should have been more specific with targets.
What I meant was I can predict weight loss and weight gain so can set targets in relation to those. But don't know how slow or quick recomp can work. Is it possible to have a time frame to have lost 5% bf?

dmt4641 wrote: »

If I were you I would lose a little more to get closer to 15%. A 5% body fat reduction is going to take a while in recomp. I don't know a specific timeline, but a shot in the dark is a minimum of 9 months to a year. You could lose 3% at a small deficit much faster, and then take a couple months of recomp before starting a bulk. That way you never quite make it to scrawny, but put yourself in a better position to bulk months earlier.

^ I agree. You may get frustrated with recomping for a year trying to get your body fat down. Maybe eat at maintenance/recomping briefly if you are tired of "dieting" and then continue cutting.
Additionally, I'd guess you need to be closer to 150lbs in order to get closer to 15% BF.

I am glad I re-visited this post as it seems I need to do about a month or two more of high cardio to lose a bit more BF. I am happy to at least be able to say I am finally wrapping my head around this process. My eyes would cross when I was first reading up on this. My question is, what is generally considered light cardio?

High cardio is not necessary for weight loss. If you still need to lose some fat, adjust your calories to a reasonable deficit and continue lifting heavy. Cardio can be added for health and fitness.

I wish I was ready to recomp but I am still at approx. 30% BF according to my scale. (I know they are not accurate but I tend to believe this estimate) Ugh!

Tagging - need to lose 10 more pounds first.

You are at goal but want to continue cutting?