Body Recomposition Basics: How To Lose Fat And Gain Muscle At The Same Time?

Most people who are looking to lose weight want a slim yet toned body structure. This is only possible on a weight loss program where you focus on cutting fat while gaining muscle. In other words, focusing on body recomposition.

If you’re looking to get healthier, slimmer, or stronger, this is something you should learn about.

Let’s discuss!

What is Body Recomposition?

Body recomposition is an approach to health and fitness that focuses on body composition rather than weight. It emphasizes the importance of losing fat and building muscle at the same time.


Image Courtesy-
(Muscle and Brawn)

 


Body recomposition is not about weight loss. It is a lifestyle that is about healthy fat loss and healthy muscle gain. The process of body recomposition is a slow, steady one, as you’re trying to do two things at the same time. However, it usually offers sustainable results.

The key to body recomposition is finding the right balance between diet and exercise where one complements the other.

How To Lose Fat?

Excess body fat can impact your health negatively in more ways than one. To lose this excess body fat, one needs to create a calorie deficit which can be created by burning more calories than you consume. Oftentimes, people approach weight loss by consuming a very low-calorie diet or engaging in an extremely high amount of cardiovascular exercise (cardio). While they lose weight on the scale, this approach does not necessarily preserve muscle mass, nor does it help you sustain your results for the long term.

To lose fat effectively, and keep it off for long, it is important to moderately decrease your calorie intake while doing exercises that build muscle mass. 

An important component of fat loss is the quality of diet you consume. It has been seen that consuming a diet rich in protein helps in reducing fat while preserving lean body mass. Hence, increasing your protein intake is a way to improve your body composition.

Other important things to consider to reduce body fat stores are:

  • Reducing the intake of processed foods such as fast food, packaged food, candies, etc. as they are high on calories that make you also want to binge more.
  • Reducing your consumption of simple sugary carbohydrates with foods that are higher in fiber, protein, and healthy fat. This increases fullness and lowers the levels of insulin.
  • Consuming a higher amount of fiber-rich foods such as beans and vegetables.
  • Doing interval training which combines intense, short bursts of energy followed by small periods of recovery. This kind of training is very effective in decreasing body fat.
  • Developing lean muscle mass with the help of strength/hypertrophy training.

Losing fat safely and sustainably means not depriving your body of the nutrients it needs and having realistic body looks. 


How To Gain Muscle?

Along with losing fat, maintaining or gaining muscle is the key to changing your body composition. Focusing only on your diet and not inculcating adequate exercise habits may result in loss of muscle mass.

Consuming the right diet is critical to building muscle. It is crucial to combine a healthy and lean muscle tissue promoting diet with an exercise and fitness routine that supports muscle maintenance and growth.

While a healthy diet rich in whole foods, protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats is good for everyone regardless of their fitness goals, if you’re focusing on body recomposition, it is a good idea to up your protein intake. Without adequate quantities of protein, your body will struggle to repair the muscles and tissues that get broken down during training.

Another important aspect of gaining muscle is doing the right workouts. Along with a whole food high protein diet, it is crucial to incorporate strength/hypertrophy training exercises in your routine. These exercises involve using resistance exercises to build muscle mass and strength in the body. It is an essential part of changing your body composition as your muscles will not grow if you do not challenge them. A good example of strength training exercise is lifting weights/weight training.

The perfect combination of workouts for building muscle and reducing fat is to combine strength training exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, over head press, pushups, and other muscle-building exercises for a few days per week with interval training for a few days per week.

If your major goal is to build muscle, you can do so by being in a calorie surplus. You must eat more calories than you burn to promote adequate muscle growth. 

Basic Calorie Cycling For Body Recomposition

Tracking your calories can help you achieve your goals. Let us look at how to maintain your body’s caloric requirements to achieve your goal of simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss. This requires three steps:

  • First, figure out your maintenance calories.
  • Next, figure out your calories for a training day, i.e. days when you perform weight training or strength training. 
  • Finally, determine your calories for a rest day, i.e. days when you do not perform weight training or strength training.

Now, all you need to do is eat a nourishing diet in your calorific quantity of the day in accordance with your fitness goals and pair it with the right workouts. 



While body recomposition is a very effective approach to fitness, it may come across as confusing. However, the good news is that you do not have to do this alone. Check out my
MSF Transformation Plans and I will coach you to help you with your body recomposition goals by providing a completely customized meal plan and workout plan along with full guidance, support & motivation; all of this to suit your individual dietary & workout preferences, fitness level, unique lifestyle, budget, dislikes/preferences and your fitness goals. Get in touch today!

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