Recomposition: Maintaining weight while losing fat
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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.1 -
Thanks. Its always been quite nice to see how many calories I have extra, but will try looking at the TDEE method and regulate my exercise sessions.
How often do you lift?0 -
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.0 -
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.
Thanks for the confirmation.
Yes, I will continue to eat at a deficit, probably to lose another 6-10pounds, over the next 4+ months, while continuing to lift as heavy as I can.
(It's really hard for me to lose weight. Being so short, my TDEE is only about 1450-1550.
THIS is actually my lowest weight since I hit puberty).
I'll check in again in January with updates.
I've been lifting for ~2+ years.
Thanks,
Amanda0 -
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%?1 -
What exactly do you mean with targets?
Lift heavy (aka follow a good (beginners) progressive overload program)
Eat at maintenance
About 0.8 grams of protein and 0.4 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight are recommended.
You can eat more than that if you want, and/or fill the other calories with carbs.
And be patient. Recomp is a slow process.0 -
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?0 -
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.0
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^ 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.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.
Additionally, I'd guess you need to be closer to 150lbs in order to get closer to 15% BF.0 -
^agree as well. I'm currently in the same position as you. I think your assessment of BF is fairly accurate.
I started a recomp about six weeks ago using SL 5x5. I'm still going up on the weights so I'm getting my muscles used to lifting and accustomed to the progressive resistance but I haven't noticed any change body wise. Which in terms of motivation isn't great so (being impatient) I just decided to drop my calories to just below maintenance (about 150 cals a day) to help with the fat loss. I'm shooting for less than a half pound loss a week and I'm giving myself till December or until I'm no longer able to add weights to my lifts and then reevaluate.
When you stall on your lifts and have tried de-loading and are still not able to break through the plateaus I think at that point in time it will be necessary to increase calories and add some mass, IMO.
Good luck.0 -
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?0
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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.0
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Thank you all. Going to stick with 1/2 lossa week target while increasing my strength work and continue with my running. 5% of current fat would be 8lbs so that's my new target loss and then I'll look again after that. Which should take me nicely into the new year.0
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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!0
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Well throwing in core workouts, more cardio and changing this and that in my personal life, the fat should drop off fairly quickly. It is interesting seeing my actual daily diet broken down into numbers. Now that I have a better understanding of TDEE, I realized I'm still eating the same way I did over 2 years ago when I actually needed to lose weight. Thus why I was curious why this thing kept telling me to eat a 1000+ more calories then I was used to. I do not need to lose weight, just the squishy belly so it matches the rest of me.0
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Tagging - need to lose 10 more pounds first.
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What if you don't have patience for a recomp? How far is too far when cutting? I was at goal weight but I don't have patience to maintain so wanted to cut right down to get the bf % off then bulk .. I'm not sure if it will work I'm completely new to all of this .. I weigh 124lbs just now but I'm worried I don't wanna have to look like a stick insect to get the ideal bf % I would like. I would say I'm between 22-24% just now I would like between 18-20% if possible but I don't wanna look like a skinny thing to have it
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You are at goal but want to continue cutting?0
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