Making changes to your body composition often seems like a challenging, confusing, and even emotionally fraught topic. Take, for instance, the pretty common question of how to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. But it’s also more than okay to have certain physical goals for yourself, a certain way to answer might not be as complicated as you think. That’s not to say that it’ll be easy or quick, but it’s certainly not impossible, and it involves a few basic principles that you’re probably already familiar with.
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“Most people focus entirely on the weight loss aspect when trying to recomp,” Molloy said. “However, I would argue that most people need to spend as much if not more time putting energy into building muscle mass as well.” Overall, you may want some personalized guidance to help get your muscle gain journey started and see you through.
Step 3.2 = Peri-Workout Nutrition
- Using protein supplements such as the best protein powders is another efficient way to “increase daily dietary protein intake…(and) maximize muscle protein synthesis”.
- Body recomposition means that you literally change the composition of your body, so it is made of less body fat and more lean muscle tissue than before.
- And chronically high levels of cortisol lead to reducing more muscle than fat.
- Making changes to your body composition often seems like a challenging, confusing, and even emotionally fraught topic.
- Building muscle mass results in an increased metabolic rate, meaning the body will burn more calories, since it takes more energy to maintain muscle tissue than adipose tissue (a.k.a. body fat).
- Your muscle is an incredible tissue that can grow stronger and bigger just from daily use and proper fueling.
But to build muscle, you need to consume more calories than you burn. As counterintuitive as it seems, intermittently increasing your calorie intake (specifically from carbohydrates) can help you overcome weight-loss plateaus by acutely “reviving” your metabolism (7). Thus, a calorie-cycling/carb-cycling diet is a practical approach for body recomposition. This “workaround,” if you will, makes use of higher-calorie days to support muscle growth while reducing calorie intake on other days to facilitate fat loss. Resistance training is more commonly referred to as weight training by gym goers, and it’s key to body recomposition.
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There you are in the gym with your headphones in, listening to your perfectly curated playlist as you tackle steps on the treadmill and reps at the weight rack. You’re on your way to achieving your annual fitness goals (atta girl!), but you may be curious if you’re experiencing weight loss and muscle gain at the same time—otherwise referred to as body recomposition. A deficit means that your body must tap into pre-existing fat to get the energy to move or exercise. On the flip side, your body needs to be in a calorie surplus to gain muscle.
Final Tips for Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
“I personally don’t count calories and numbers, but I focus on correct serving size and to make sure every time you eat, you get a complex carb and a protein.” In fact, because fat tissue and muscle tissue are separate systems, it’s perfectly possible to build muscle without a large caloric surplus and even without any surplus at all. In a previous blog, I’ve broken down the math explaining why this is possible.
What Is Body Recomposition?
There is no “ideal” ratio of macronutrients for body recomposition. If there’s anything we can gather from clinical studies, it’s that most active gym-goers fare best on a balanced diet mad muscles app review with a generous amount of protein (8). You don’t need to eliminate carbohydrates altogether or follow a fad diet (nor should you when you want to gain muscle and lose fat).