Recomp while still having fat?
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duddysdad
Posts: 402 Member
I am 36/Male/6'5", current weight is 218. I am currently 8 pounds overweight, but I have fat that I want to get rid of, but I don't really want to lose any more weight. My lowest weight was 179 and I looked too thin but still had some fat.
Would it be possible to maintain my weight (or lose/gain) while doing a recomp, lose the fat, and gain muscle? Could I get rid of my fat without diet, only lifting while building muscle? I've dieted almost two years to get to this point and I would like to start eating at maintenance. I know it would be a long and slow process, I am not worried about that, I am just curious if it is even possible to do this?
I would like to start lifting heavy while eating plenty of protein at maintenance. I've seen several lifting routines for recomp and would like to incorporate them, if this is possible.
I can answer any questions or clarify things. It's early and I have a toddler bugging me to watch cartoons.
Would it be possible to maintain my weight (or lose/gain) while doing a recomp, lose the fat, and gain muscle? Could I get rid of my fat without diet, only lifting while building muscle? I've dieted almost two years to get to this point and I would like to start eating at maintenance. I know it would be a long and slow process, I am not worried about that, I am just curious if it is even possible to do this?
I would like to start lifting heavy while eating plenty of protein at maintenance. I've seen several lifting routines for recomp and would like to incorporate them, if this is possible.
I can answer any questions or clarify things. It's early and I have a toddler bugging me to watch cartoons.
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Replies
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Check out Michael Matthews, muscleforlife.com... great info there0
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Check out Michael Matthews, muscleforlife.com... great info there
Good info, but it talks about dieting and I wanted to know if it's possible to do this without dieting. Can I eat at maintenance while lifting to build muscle and burn fat? For example, could I lose maybe 20 pounds in a year and slim down, but build some muscle and look leaner without cutting calories? I am sick of cutting calories and want to look better without it, but eat at a maintenance level.0 -
Yes, recomp works.3
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Yes, recomp works.
How well would it work for someone with a low LBM? When I was 179lbs, I still had maybe 10-15 pounds of fat left. Now that I am 218, you can imagine how much is there now. I don't really look fat, definitely no where near slim, kind of slightly overweight looking. My stomach slightly hangs, my chest is a little fat with puffy fat underneath my armpits. Everywhere else just looks normal.
I would like to start walking then jogging in addition to lifting.
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Yes, recomp works.
How well would it work for someone with a low LBM? When I was 179lbs, I still had maybe 10-15 pounds of fat left. Now that I am 218, you can imagine how much is there now. I don't really look fat, definitely no where near slim, kind of slightly overweight looking. My stomach slightly hangs, my chest is a little fat with puffy fat underneath my armpits. Everywhere else just looks normal.
I would like to start walking then jogging in addition to lifting.
If you still had some excess fat at 179lbs then you must have a fair amount at 218lbs. Recomping is not optimal when your bodyfat is high as your body is not in the optimal condition to gain muscle.
I would aim to get to around 15% bodyfat before moving to maitenance. You should lift weights all the time.2 -
Yes, recomp works.
How well would it work for someone with a low LBM? When I was 179lbs, I still had maybe 10-15 pounds of fat left. Now that I am 218, you can imagine how much is there now. I don't really look fat, definitely no where near slim, kind of slightly overweight looking. My stomach slightly hangs, my chest is a little fat with puffy fat underneath my armpits. Everywhere else just looks normal.
I would like to start walking then jogging in addition to lifting.
No idea. There is just too many variable to say how long it would take. Some people respond better to recomping than others I think. That's why I didn't say how long it would take in the first place. As Trigden said, recomp is generally recommended for around 15% body fat or thereabouts.
Some clarification though. If you were 179 with 10lbs of fat, that would've put you under 10% body fat. You sure that was the case?0 -
I'd have to agree with the posters above, test your body fat and see where you are. Is it body fat or a lot of loose skin? I ride between 10-13% body fat all the time based on calipers (not a DEXA scan) and recomp has done wonders for me, but I waited until my body fat was below 15% to start to move up to maintenance. For me that meant getting well into the normal range for BMI (I'm 6'2"). I would recommend getting down to around 190 before considering maintenance calories. I actually went down to 185 before starting maintenance and recomp, and after that managed to lose another 5 lbs just taking my time upping my calories. You're a bit taller than me so 190 should be sufficient. If you're tired of being at a high deficit then reduce it, but be warned it'll take longer to lose that last 20 lbs or so. It's tough to lose that last bit anyway. If you can lift heavy, start now. If you can't (I can't because of physical limitations) then do body weight exercises, but whatever you do, work those muscles always.0
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Yes, recomp works.
How well would it work for someone with a low LBM? When I was 179lbs, I still had maybe 10-15 pounds of fat left. Now that I am 218, you can imagine how much is there now. I don't really look fat, definitely no where near slim, kind of slightly overweight looking. My stomach slightly hangs, my chest is a little fat with puffy fat underneath my armpits. Everywhere else just looks normal.
I would like to start walking then jogging in addition to lifting.
No idea. There is just too many variable to say how long it would take. Some people respond better to recomping than others I think. That's why I didn't say how long it would take in the first place. As Trigden said, recomp is generally recommended for around 15% body fat or thereabouts.
Some clarification though. If you were 179 with 10lbs of fat, that would've put you under 10% body fat. You sure that was the case?
I re-read it a few times, I think he was 10lbs from goal weight rather than only of 10lbs of fat remaining. 10% is lean.0 -
trigden1991 wrote: »Yes, recomp works.
How well would it work for someone with a low LBM? When I was 179lbs, I still had maybe 10-15 pounds of fat left. Now that I am 218, you can imagine how much is there now. I don't really look fat, definitely no where near slim, kind of slightly overweight looking. My stomach slightly hangs, my chest is a little fat with puffy fat underneath my armpits. Everywhere else just looks normal.
I would like to start walking then jogging in addition to lifting.
No idea. There is just too many variable to say how long it would take. Some people respond better to recomping than others I think. That's why I didn't say how long it would take in the first place. As Trigden said, recomp is generally recommended for around 15% body fat or thereabouts.
Some clarification though. If you were 179 with 10lbs of fat, that would've put you under 10% body fat. You sure that was the case?
I re-read it a few times, I think he was 10lbs from goal weight rather than only of 10lbs of fat remaining. 10% is lean.
Ah, possibly what he meant. At 6'5 though, and trying to get to 165? Dizamn0 -
I am 36/Male/6'5", current weight is 218. I am currently 8 pounds overweight, but I have fat that I want to get rid of, but I don't really want to lose any more weight. My lowest weight was 179 and I looked too thin but still had some fat.
Would it be possible to maintain my weight (or lose/gain) while doing a recomp, lose the fat, and gain muscle? Could I get rid of my fat without diet, only lifting while building muscle? I've dieted almost two years to get to this point and I would like to start eating at maintenance. I know it would be a long and slow process, I am not worried about that, I am just curious if it is even possible to do this?
I would like to start lifting heavy while eating plenty of protein at maintenance. I've seen several lifting routines for recomp and would like to incorporate them, if this is possible.
I can answer any questions or clarify things. It's early and I have a toddler bugging me to watch cartoons.
Based on what you're saying I would eat at maintenance, lift weights on a well designed program that has you making progress in the gym, and focus on training performance. You can always go back into a deficit in a few months if you decide to, and you might feel differently about dieting at that point.3 -
Following, because I'm in a similar situation and want to recomp.0
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Would hope that you have been lifting while you were in deficit rather than wait until you got to goal....
Would also hope you have been eating plenty of protein while in a deficit.
In many ways these two items are more important while losing than they are when recomping at maintenance.
Yes you can recomp at any weight or bodyfat but obviously it depends on your ultimate goal physique and how much of a hurry you are in whether that's the best option.
Personally I would be most concerned at what apparently is very low LBM and work on that via training rather than aesthetics via dieting.
After two years of dieting definitely switch to maintenance even if you reconsider later.
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In for recomping while maintaining0
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What is a good BF% for a female to start recomp?0
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born_of_fire74 wrote: »What is a good BF% for a female to start recomp?
That's going to vary. At first I'd say look at your overall body-weight and look at the alternatives (cutting, bulking) and how they might affect your lifestyle.
I can tell you when I DON'T think it's a good idea:
- When you are both overweight and overfat and unhappy about it (or the opposite)
- When you have health related concerns that could be resolved by losing weight OR gaining weight.
Beyond those I honestly think there's a pretty comfortable range of bodyfat %s where recomping could be completely reasonable. I'd hate to get fixated on numbers in this case but if I had to peg a range for females I'd say 19-26% or so at a guess. That is absolutely not a set of hard numbers that will apply to everyone.2 -
born_of_fire74 wrote: »What is a good BF% for a female to start recomp?
That's going to vary. At first I'd say look at your overall body-weight and look at the alternatives (cutting, bulking) and how they might affect your lifestyle.
I can tell you when I DON'T think it's a good idea:
- When you are both overweight and overfat and unhappy about it (or the opposite)
- When you have health related concerns that could be resolved by losing weight OR gaining weight.
Beyond those I honestly think there's a pretty comfortable range of bodyfat %s where recomping could be completely reasonable. I'd hate to get fixated on numbers in this case but if I had to peg a range for females I'd say 19-26% or so at a guess. That is absolutely not a set of hard numbers that will apply to everyone.
Those numbers seem fair. I would guess most females at 26%+ are going to want fatloss (and/or a smaller scale number) faster than recomp would allow any way.
But like you said, not set in stone. Personally I feel like it might be harder to gauge progress during a recomp if you have higher bf..? (Just from what I've seen being well over 30% myself.)0 -
This article suggests a bf % of 19-24% for women and 10-12% for men to ideally begin recomping.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/initial-body-fat-and-body-composition-changes.html/1
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