Recomp, weight training help and feedback

kimny72 wrote: »

Why would you expect to see your weight go down if you didn't change your calories?

Three weeks is nothing. People work for months and years on building strength and muscle mass. Recomp is a slow process by it's nature.

Are you working a specific training program?

It is typical to gain some water weight when you start a new exercise regimen, that would probably explain the slight increase.

Have you read the recomp sticky post?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

warnongbri wrote: »

Hello, I think we're in a similar stage and I think I can address all your points. (Body Fat% accuracy, Calories, Body change and Training).

I'm currently 6 weeks into a post detrained state/basically novice recomp and strength training program. So a similar boat. I have in those 6 weeks maintained my weight almost exactly within half a pound/less than half a kg but doubled my lifts in almost all the compound categories. My sources of study have been Lyle McDonald and copious youtube videos of Jeff Nippard/Vitruvian/Jeremy Ethier all students or graduates of some form of exercise science or other.

Things I did:
1. Any online TDEE calculator such as this one: https://tdeecalculator.net/ will give you a range of calories you need to consume to be at maintenance according to what your perceived exercise exertion is.

*Note: I picked light because it fit best with what I perceived to be my daily activity level. Also, I wanted to make sure I got the form down perfectly for some lifts and to slowly get used to the balance of working out and eating right. In the past, I had made the mistake of assuming 3 days to be moderate exercise and ate accordingly but ended up eating too much.

Your caloric intake sounds about right though - (don't take my word for it, use the link )

2. I designed my macros intake according to 3 basic principles
2.1 Kept my calories at maintenance on the Light exercise setting as per TDEE above, as far as I could on a weekly average and did not undereat - nor did I try to carb/calorie cycle or any such thing. Daily fluctuations will happen but I just adjusted the next day
2.2 Ate between 0.8 to 1g of Protein per POUND of bodyweight which in your case will be between 110 and 137 g. This is quite crucial especially since you're strength training
2.3 My NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is pretty low as in outside of the gym the past 6 weeks have been relatively sedentary. So in that case, knowing my body metabolism is slower, I ate around 0.9 g of carbs per POUND (around 150g). The rest was fat. I cannot advise as to the carb intake because studies have shown carb intake ranges to be quite variable in successful trainees. That is something you'll have to experiment with.

3. My body fat percentage: Calculated it by
3.1 Using the NAVY seal method, it's simple only needing a tape measure http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy
It may or may not be accurate but what matters most is measuring it every week or two and in the same exact manner. The trend is what is important. If it gave 24% then went down to 23%, then fat has been lost even if a more accurate reading might have given 27%down to 26% or 21% down to 20%.
3.2 Did a google search for images of various body fat levels and ball parked what I looked like. Revisit every couple weeks.

*Note: My general philosophy has changed somewhat. If my body weight is staying the same when measured at the same exact time every day or two AND the weights I can lift are going up then over several weeks my body fat will be noticeably lower. But it may not be noticeable in a one or two week period. So basically I stopped the measurements and google image comparison.

4. Training and your 1kg increase: The 1kg increase could be just a daily fluctuation, I'd measure it daily at the same time for about a week and then see if its going up or not. In addition, it's not uncommon if you're detrained/novice to be at the same weight or even gain weight when doing a body recomposition. Plus you're noticing progress!

On Training: Since you mention bicep curls but also strength training, I'm curious to know what your program is.
This is what I learned and what has worked for me.

I do a program of Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Overhead Press and a Bar Bell Row. When I wanted to do bicep curls, I used a barbell. The reason is that my entire body needed a strong base of muscle before any benefit from isolation exercises (Dumb bell) could accrue. I don't know if your dumb bell lifts were just a one time or part of your program but I would focus more on the heavy compound lifts for at least 2 months increasing the weight at best every single workout day or at worst every week. Progressive overload is the single most important thing in strength training.

Ok whew! I hope that helped.

warnongbri wrote: »

skyhowl wrote: »

That was a very good reply! Thanks for that.

1-regarding the TDEE, you mentioned that you chose light exercise. For my measurements, my TDEE with light exercise is about ~1940 calories. If I choose Sedentary, it's ~1700 calories. For the past few months, my average total calories is ~ 1700. (Not considering any workouts or walking calories etc.). So I guess I am still within my maintenance calories (If I never make mistakes or errors with counting my calories.)

2- The macros are a big issue for me. I am struggling with my protein intake. I've been mostly plant-based for a few years now (I still eat meat, sometimes.. maybe once or twice every month if I am invited to someone's place for food.). Before strength training, I was getting only an average of 30-40 g of protein everyday because even though there's some plant-based food with good protein. it's usually high in carbs as well and are very filling in general (lentils, beans..etc.). I also hate cooking and just would rather bake some potatoes in the oven or some vegan bean burgers and eat those without needing to do much preparation. I knew I had to up my protein intake if I am going to do strength training. I know protein powders are not essential but I decided it was one option for easy 20 g of protein. I can then get another from my just normal plant-based food which gets me to about ~70 g of protein. I wouldn't mind eating tuna every day but I worry about mercury levels.. I am still adjusting now but I am still barely getting to 80 g if I focus on getting some protein in every meal. And then there's another issue I noticed especially the past week.. I began having issues with digestion (without going into many details) even though I am getting the same amount of fibre I always had (almost a minimum of 25 g every day). I just feel very bloated and I don't know if it's the protein or something else. I am actually afraid now to eat even more protein because ever since I started being plant-based, I never had issues with digestion at all.. - The weight gain issue I have may be due to my digestion issue but I can't tell since it is still an ongoing problem-

3- I will use that method to get an estimate for my body fat. I tried to look for photos on google before but I honestly can't tell. I see myself as +25% bf. The trainer that did my bf % on the machine at the gym said he thinks I am even less than 21% from what he can see. But I guess maybe he was just being nice. . But it honestly doesn't matter that much as long as I am using the same equipment or method to track my progress. Thanks for those recommendations.

4- True, I am noticing progress and that weight gain might be due to other reasons. And the physical progress was definitely a surprise since I didn't expect to see changes for a few months.

5- I do compound lifts. I was initially going to do the 5x5 lifting program as I know it is a good start to build strength. But my issue is that two of the upper body exercises (barbell press and overhead press) are a bit scary to me. The lowest fixed barbell at my gym is 10 kg. I can't imagine lifting a 10 kg barbell over my head without breaking my neck. I am planning to get personal trainer sessions at my gym to just help with some of these exercises that are a bit scary for me to do initially on my own. But, for now, I do maybe the same moves with dumbbells as I can go as low as 1 kg on each arm. But as I mentioned in a previous reply, I spend a lot of time at the gym.. (which is something I should probably change according to people's recommendation), so I do compound lifts for sure but I also do other lifts to train different muscle groups separately.

No Problem! Glad to have helped.

1. Sounds good. 1700 for a while more then

2. What I can offer are two of my favourite vegan fitness/bodybuilding youtubers; they are also husband and wife: check out Kathrine Moen and Jon Venus. They offer TONS of ideas on hitting protein goals on a vegan/plant based lifestyle.

For bloating, some protein powders might do that. You'll have to experiment. Also it's not essential to get whey protein necessarily which has more lactose. Try a Whey Isolate or another variant entirely.

Have other variables been the same when your protein intake went up? Try increasing for instance Tofu and decrease the powder. You'll get some additional carbs but maybe isolate the powder as being the issue.

3. Yup. Use other methods to track progress (scale weight and lifting weight)
4. All hail body recomp! haha

On the training program; getting a personal trainer might be a very good idea!! Just to get the form right and the fear of making a mistake kinda thing.

5x5 is the best program for its simplicity that I've come across for a beginner. That's the program I currently am on as well. In the time being, maybe you could substitute the barbell for dumbbells on the overhead and bench until you get a trainer. The point of 5x5 isn't using the barbell but more (a) learning proper form and (b) increasing the weights on every workout.

Ultimately find one routine that makes sense for you that has progressive overload i.e some increase in weights being lifted every single workout. It doesn't HAVE to be 5x5.

Look up Robin Gallant; she has some good stuff for compound full body without barbells.

Good luck! Just keeping increasing the weights and don't do too much isolation stuff!