Body recomposition is the process of altering your physique by burning fat and adding muscle at the same time. This is a different approach to health and fitness and is more than a typical weight loss program. Many people might think that is practically impossible to attain because you must eat lesser carbs than you burn. On the other side, to build muscles you need more carbs. However, your body is smarter than you might think. If you keep a close watch on your diet and your exercise, it is not difficult to achieve.
What is body composition?
Body composition is the ratio of fat mass to lean mass in your body. You can also use body composition interchangeably with body fat percentage. However, the body fat percentage is just one part of your overall body composition. Lean mass includes bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, and other tissues. In other words, it is everything that does not include fat.
What is body recomposition
It refers to the process of changing the ratio of fat mass to lean mass, which means, losing body fat and gaining muscle mass. The goal of this process is to lose fat and gain muscles simultaneously. It does not follow the traditional method of “bulking and cutting”, in which you put on a lot of weight and then go through an intense calorie deficit.
Forget about weight loss
Body recomposition does not focus on weight loss. It focuses on gaining muscle mass and losing body fat at the same time. Because of the density of the muscle mass, you tend to weigh more. What changes is your physique and that should be of importance to you. As your body goes through the process of body recomposition, you will have a firmer body and your clothes will fit on you differently.
How does body recomposition work
First, it is a long and steady process. To successfully change the composition in your body, there are some basic guidelines you must follow:
- Cardiovascular exercise for fat loss
- Resistance (weight training) to build muscles
- An overall decrease in calorie consumption to lose fat
- Increased consumption of protein for muscle formation
How to lose fat
Ultimately, your fat loss will come down to your calorie maintenance. To lose fat, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. Combine your cardiovascular exercises with resistance training, along with keeping your diet in check. This is the best way to lose fat and there is no other science around it.
How to build muscles
There are two important factors of muscle building – weight training and protein consumption. To change your body composition, strength training is crucial. If you don’t challenge your muscles, it will not grow. Also, you cannot build muscles if there is a calorie deficit. Calories are important for promoting muscle growth. While all macronutrients are important, protein is essential. Studies show that a high protein diet can help in losing fat and gaining muscles at the same time.
Understanding Calorie cycling
It can be quite confusing as to how to eat fewer calories than you burn to lose fat and eat more calories to build muscles. All you must do is understand calorie cycling i.e. modify your calorie and macronutrient intake to match your daily goal. The first thing you need to do is figure out your maintenance calorie and how many calories you burn on days when you don’t work out. Maintenance calorie is the amount of energy your body requires to perform the daily activities. You can get in touch with your trainer or dietician for this; they will help you with the mapping.
For example, on days when you must do cardio, you can consume enough calories. Consuming enough calories on cardio days ensures that are in a slight deficit to promote fat loss. If the deficit is too much, then your body will start using your muscles for fuel. And you don’t want that!
On days when you must do strength and resistance training, eat more calories with a focus on the protein. Depending on how many calories you want, you can add 5-15% of your maintenance calories. For example:
Monday – Strength training: calorie surplus and extra protein
Tuesday – Cardio: maintenance calories
Wednesday – Interval training and resistance exercise: maintenance calories and extra protein
Thursday – Rest: calorie deficit
Friday – Strength training: calorie surplus
Saturday – Cardio: maintenance calories
Sunday – Rest: calorie deficit.
Your body has three choices – burn calories immediately for fuel, use them for repair, build muscle tissue and store them as fat. So, if you are looking for body transformation, you must not store calories as fat. You must let your body use the new calories to repair the muscles break after your strenuous weightlifting workouts. Successfully achieve body recomposition using this method.