Need Advice on Body Recomposition: I Can't Lose Body Fat and Gain Muscle - What am I Doing Wrong?

I found this site which was SO helpful: https://physiqonomics.com/body-recomposition/

I came up with the following:

BMR for Women = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

BMR = 655 + (4.35 x 131) + (4.7 x 67) – (4.7 x 36) = 1370.55

My BMR = 1370.55

Because I have unlimited access to Beach Body on Demand and no gym access, I will be choosing one of their programs and I will just have to up my weights to see progress overall... I also work from home and don't get to move much outside of my workouts, which is why I will be adding a simple step goal on top of my workouts.

If I do 80 Day Obsession which is 30 to 60 mins a day 6 days a week and I try to get in 10,000 steps a day, I've decided that I would be at the "Light Activity Level" because I'm otherwise sedentary throughout the day.

The 80 Day Obsession program includes:

• Strength
• Bodyweight Training
• Cardio
• Recovery
• Mobility & Flexibility
• Weight Loss
• Muscle Building
• Core
• Slim & Sculpt

(I couldn't decide if this program with the 10,000 step goal combined would be considered an activity level of active or lightly active as the descriptions for each are pretty vague on multiple sites and some sites have conflicting information, etc... I might exercise each day, but I'm mostly sitting at a desk all day - So, with that, I think I'll go with lightly active to be safe.)

***If anyone has advice on choosing the proper activity level or strongly believes that I should be going with the active level, that would be VERY helpful ***

Site I found says the following:

• Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2
• Lightly active (1-3 days per week of exercise): BMR x 1.375
• Active (3-5 days per week of exercise): BMR x 1.55
• Very active (5-7 days per week of exercise): BMR x 1.725
• Extremely active (physical job + 5-7 days per week of exercise): BMR x 1.9

However, I found this MFP thread that goes into more detail:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10070162/choosing-the-correct-activity-level

If my Activity Level is Lightly Active at 1.375, then the following would be my calculations:

1370.55 x 1.375 = 1884 Calories to maintain my current weight of 131lbs

This would put me at 1884 Calories per day for my maintenance and a macro split of the following after rounding:

P: 131 grams - 28%
F: 52 grams - 25%
C: 223 grams - 47%

This is still rather close to a 40/30/30 split just with more calories.

If my Activity Level is Active at 1.55, then the following would be my calculations:

1370.55 x 1.55 = 2124 Calories to maintain my current weight of 131lbs

This would put me at 2124 Calories per day for my maintenance and a macro split of the following after rounding:

P: 131 grams - 25%
F: 52 grams - 22%
C: 283 grams - 53%

This calorie bracket scares the $h*t outta me! I don't think I've eaten over 2000 calories per day in over 10 years! I think it might even give me a panic attack... But perhaps I have issues, lol

Anyways! Moving on!

If this is too much in carbs, the article I found says I can adjust as follows:

How to make adjustments during a recomp

The goal of the recomposition is to keep your weight pretty much the same (barring some fluctuations) while changes occur in your body composition. Over time you’ll likely be a little heavier due to increased muscle mass.

Below I’ve detailed how to make adjustments for the changes most likely to occur.

• Losing weight? Increase carb intake by 30–50 grams per day.
• Putting on weight and looking softer in the mirror? Reduce carb intake by 30–50 grams per day.
• Putting on weight but looking the same? Leave things as they are.
• Putting on weight, looking bigger but also softer? Reduce carb intake by 20–30 grams per day.
• Losing weight but looking tighter and leaner? Leave things as they are.

I think I'll give this a go and see how it helps! I'll be sure to come back and give updates, etc.

Thanks again for all of your kind words and input!

Cheers!

Lily~

sijomial wrote: »

Lily,

The BMR calculation and activity levels are done for you when you either use MFP or a decent average TDEE calculator (such as - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/ ) you really don't have to crunch the numbers yourself.

Be aware of the difference in how MFP and average TDEE methods accounts for your exercise calorie expenditure as that changes what the activity settings means (MFP excludes purposeful exercise) and what the subsequent BMR multipliers that get applied.
Mixing and matching sources talking about two different methods isn't a true comparison and lead to you getting the wrong numbers. e.g. You looked at a thread on how to set MFP's activity settings which specifically excludes exercise and also mentioned "another site" which very clearly includes exercise.

Your first decision is whether you want a calorie goal that varies daily in line with exercise or a same every day goal that already accounts for your exercise.

I want the same goal every day. and I know the difference between mfp and tdee but I want to know how many calories I actually need to make my goals... for example, I posted this on that thread: