Losing weight and building muscle can be approached in three ways:
1. Losing weight and then building muscle.
2. Building muscle, and then losing weight.
3. Losing weight and build muscle at the same time [Body recomposition].
What is body recomposition?
Body recomposition is an approach to losing weight and building muscle at the same time. You might be wondering why it is called body recomposition(1).
In the health and fitness industry, the term body composition(2) is used to measure fat, water, and muscle in the human body.
Individuals of the same gender, height, and age can look different because of their body composition(3).
Doctors use your body composition to determine if you are at your healthy weight, recomposition [the action of composing or forming something again or differently] can be used to help you achieve your healthy weight.
How body recomposition works?
When losing weight you are required to eat in a caloric deficit.
This is done to help the body use the stored fat for energy, and it is accompanied by exercises like High-intensity interval training and steady-state cardio.
This type of diet and exercise can lead to muscle loss(4).
While building muscle on the other hand requires you to eat in a caloric surplus and lift weights(5).
With body recomposition, you need to find a diet and exercise regimen that helps you burn fat and build muscle at the same time.
How to achieve body recomposition?
There are three main factors to consider when trying to achieve body recomposition:
● Sleep
● Diet
● Exercise
Sleep
Research has shown that sleep is vital in your health and fitness process.
Getting enough sleep does not only affect your mental activities, but also your hormone production, and as you may know, hormones have a huge impact on your diet.
In an article published by the National sleep foundation(6), the recommended hours of sleep are between 7 to 10 hours per night.
In this case, sleep affects the production of two hormones, Leptin and Ghrelin.
Leptin is sometimes referred to as the ‘satisfy hormone’. It helps inhibit hunger and regulate the body's energy balance, so it does not trigger hunger responses when the body does not need energy(7).
Ghrelin on the other hand is referred to as the ‘hunger hormone’ because it stimulates appetite, food intake and promotes fat storage(8).
For example, a small study with over 1000 volunteers showed that Participants with short sleep had reduced leptin and elevated ghrelin. These differences in leptin and ghrelin are likely to increase appetite and lead to weight gain(9).
Diet
Diet will dictate how fast or how slow your body will transform.
When trying to achieve body recomposition, you are required to eat in a caloric deficit to start losing fat, while having a high protein diet for muscle growth.
Diet can be broken down into 2 main parts, calories and macros.
● Calories
Calories are units of energy, hence why you have to take in the right amount of calories so that there are no excess calories to be stored as fat(10).
You need to first calculate your maintenance calories, using a calorie calculator makes it easier.
Then you need to eat in a deficient of 5% to 20%(which is 100 to 500 calories) below your maintenance calories(11).
● Macros
The macros we are focusing on are carbohydrates, fats, and protein(12).
Protein is the most important macro when it comes to recomposition because it is responsible for building and repairing muscles(13).
Using a scale of 1.2g/lb to 1.6g/lb. The leaner you are the closer you should be to 1.6g/lb and the less lean you are the closer you should be to 1.2g/lb.
For example:
My weight = 176lb (80 kg)
My Protien = 1.4g/lb
My daily protein intake = 176 lb x 1.4g/lb
= 246 g
A study published in 2019 showed, Increased protein intake contributes to greater strength and muscle mass gains when coupled with resistance exercise, allowing for greater muscle mass preservation(14).
when consumed during periods of negative energy balance, limits age-related muscle loss, and, to a lesser extent, provides a greater muscle protein synthetic response when evenly distributed across meals.
Then you can set your fat intake to a minimum of 20% 0f your calories(15), and fill in the rest with carbohydrates.
You will also need to time your meals and supplements around your workouts for an optimum effect.
Exercise
For someone trying to achieve body recomposition, you need to combine strength training and cardio exercise.
Lift 12 to 28 sets per body part per week, ensuring that you are doing the exercises correctly, then slowly start to add more weight as your tolerance progresses. (17)
A study on resistance training showed that individuals seeking to maximize muscle growth should be hypertrophy-oriented RT consisting of multiple sets (3−6) of six to 12 repetitions with short rest intervals (60 s) and moderate-intensity of effort (60−80% 1RM) with subsequent increases in training volume (12–28 sets/muscle/week)(18).
Cardio exercises can include walking, running, jump rope and the list goes on(19), and you can modify them as you advance to challenge yourself.
The Bottom Line
To most people, this can seem impossible, but with the points made above you should be able to achieve your goal and have your dream body. It is also important to remember that patience and consistency are kings.
Take this as a journey and educate yourself on everything that comes your way, just as you have taken the first step by reading this article.
What is the goal you are going to set for yourself after reading this article?
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