When you’re doing research and scouring the interwebs for more information on how to lose weight and gain muscle, you've probably stumbled upon something called, body recomposition.

What Is Body Recomposition

Body recomposition, or body recomp, is defined as recomposing your body’s body fat and lean body mass percentage through diet and exercise. The definition of composition is a whole mixture or makeup of different constituents. Recompose simply means to re-arrange or compose again differently. With body recomposition, rather than simply setting goals on body weight, body fat and lean body mass percentage are the constituents that are being recomposed and the main focus.

Traditionally fat loss is the main goal of any dieting program. However, with body recomposition, the scale has little to no meaning when measuring success or benchmarks in your body transformation, or body composition goals. Body recomposition emphasizes the importance of not only losing body fat but gaining muscle mass at the same time.

How Does Body Recomposition Work

The first thing to consider when considering a body recomposition program, is mindset. Success is not measured with the scale. Success is measured with different variables, such as how you feel, overall health, your strength, your body composition, lean body mass, and body fat percentage. It’s easy to lose sight of what your goals are when you’re training to recompose your body type, especially when the scale is not moving.

Scales do not measure between fat loss and muscle gain, which is a critical factor in quantifying success with a body recomp program.

Body recomposition programs will generally take longer, than simple weight loss programs to lose any weight, due to the simultaneous gain of muscle mass and body fat loss. A pound of muscle mass and a pound of body fat, weigh the same, the difference between the two is density.

A pound of fat is bulky, fluffy, and roughly the size of a grapefruit. A pound of muscle is hard, dense, and about the size of a tangerine.

4-6 weeks into a body recomposition program, you may go down 3-4 pant sizes and lose a significant amount of size and inches around your waist without the scale ever changing at all. That’s because fat has so much more volume than muscle.

With that in mind, body recomp and traditional diet programs, are very different. Having a healthy ratio of lean body mass to fat can increase your overall health and wellness, while also reducing your risk for chronic disease, and contrary to popular belief, your BMI is not the best indicator of overall health, your ratio of fat is the best indicator of overall health.

Body recomp is not necessarily a diet, but a lifestyle and way of living. Instead of dieting, or entering a 30 day weight loss challenge, body recomposition takes time, effort, and consistency for the best results. And with that commitment changes in lifestyle factors will follow and become habit.

How To Start Body Recomposition

The easiest and most efficient way to start a body recomposition program, is to seek out a certified nutrition coach or program that will help you create a customized nutrition plan. With a nutrition plan and lifestyle coach, you’ll learn what foods to eat, why you’re eating them, and how to create nutritional eating habits that will provide long-term results. Losing body fat while also building muscle mass is far more challenging than simply losing weight alone. With the right coach and the right program, you’ll take the guess-work out of diet and training program, to get the results you want. Check out The Swole Kitchen to get started with your personalized and custom nutrition and training program.

RELATED ARTICLE What Is a Nutrition Coach And How Can They Help You

Body recomposition really comes down three key components, diet, exercise, and supplementation. I’m going to give you some solid bullet points to help get you started.

Consistent resistance training 5-6 days per week is required if you want to see a considerable change in your body composition.
I would suggest starting with our 12-Week Total Body Recomp Program
In addition to resistance training, it is recommended to add a cardio component 30-45 minutes 2-3 times per week. This can be in the form of running, high-intensity training classes, cycling, swimming, or static steady state cardio on the stair climber, or elliptical.
Periodization and progressive overload, are going to help you overcome training plateaus, increase your strength over-time, and continue developing the physique and body composition you want.
Nutrition is crucial in a body recomp program. Eating for your goals, will be challenging yet necessary to build more muscle mass and burn body fat. And when I say eating, I mean you nee to eat. Your body requires more nutrients when you are training. Remember body recomp is not the same thing as a conventional diet. That means you need to eat carbohydrates, high quality proteins, and healthy fats. Nutrition does not have to be complicated, but often it can become quite cumbersome. My suggestion, is to start with the basics, then add other foods over time.
Start with protein such as chicken, beef, fish, or turkey. For every meal aim for at least 4-6 oz. A 4oz serving is roughly the size of your fist. Add some complex carbohydrates, like vegetables. Any vegetable will do, so long as it is not fried and breaded. Keep it clean. You can also eat raw veggies alongside your protein with fruit. Do not be concerned with how many veggies you’re eating, just make sure they are part of your plate.
If you get hungry, add in some healthy snacks high with protein and low in carbohydrates, and fats. You’ll get the carbs you need from your meals in your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You will however need more protein in your diet to build more muscle. So protein bars, protein snacks, and protein shakes, will come in handy between meals

RELATED ARTICLE How To Create A Basic Nutrition Plan

This is where supplements come into the picture. You will need a high-quality protein supplement to meet your protein goals and improve your body composition. Additionally, you will want to consider a GREENS & REDS powder to help with micronutrient delivery from real whole foods, to help with overall health and wellness. Lastly, I would suggest and recommend a pre-workout with a post workout shake. I’ve added those below to help you get started.
WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE or PLANT PROTEN
GREENS+REDS
PRE WORKOUT
POST WORKOUT

Body Recomposition: Takeaway

Body recomposition takes time, consistency, and is far more challenging than simply losing weight. By the end-result is far more rewarding. My advice, is get a nutrition coach, learn how to get the results you want to make a significant lifestyle change without waisting any time or effort. Download a body recomp training program, get in the gym, and get after it. Your transformation will soon follow.

Need Help With Optimizing Your Diet And Nutrition Plan To Finally Get The Results You've Been Waiting For?

The Swole Kitchen is an exclusive membership opportunity for those who are looking to pursue a performance-driven lifestyle. By combining wellness consulting, nutritional lifestyle improvement, and 1:1 customized nutrition plans to our members, our programs aim to optimize human potential. In each of our programs, you’ll receive guidance to reclaim your health, fuel your lifestyle, and pursue performance ambitions, all while learning how to make nutritional decisions from a place of self-trust and intuition. All of our coaches are committed to providing the highest level of results-driven wellness to our members.

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Tags: Fitness, Nutrition, Training, Wellness