- Losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously, known as body recomposition, can be tricky.
- Eating a protein-rich diet with a small calorie deficit, strength training, and getting enough sleep are key.
- Body recomposition is easier to achieve if you’re new to resistance training, experts told Insider.
Personal trainers have broken down what it takes to lose fat and build muscle at the same time, to achieve what’s known as body recomposition.
As a general rule of thumb, to lose fat a person needs to eat fewer calories than they burn, known as being on a diet. calorie deficitwhile building muscle requires a surplus.
However, there are certain contexts that make body recomposition easier to achieve, according to Nick Shaw, personal trainer and founder of RP strengthThe official nutrition coaching platform of the CrossFit Games:
- If you are new to strength training
- If you return to strength training after some time off
- If you have changed your diet to achieve the correct calories and protein for the first time
Body recomposition “isn’t the norm,” as it’s difficult to achieve, Shaw told Insider.
It may be more difficult for some people due to potential barriers such as their genetics, socioeconomic status, or mental health, Dr. Mike Molloy, founder of M2 Performance Nutritionhe told Insider. But it’s theoretically possible for anyone to lose fat and gain muscle.
Here’s what the personal trainers said you should achieve to give yourself the best chance of achieving body recomposition.
Eat a high protein diet
consuming a high protein diet while a slight calorie deficit will give you the best chance of maintaining, or even building, muscle while losing fat, research suggests. However, don’t go too low on calories.or you’ll be more likely to lose muscle, Emily Servante, certified personal trainer at Peak Performance Personal Trainingpreviously told Insider.
A small study from 2016 found that men who ate more protein while doing resistance training and high-intensity interval training lost more fat and built more lean body mass, which is everything except fat.
another little 2018 to study of the women found that those who ate a high protein diet while resistance training lost more fat and built more muscle than those who consumed less protein.
Protein it helps muscles recover from workouts and is satiating, so it keeps you full. also has a greater thermal effect of food than carbohydrates and fats, which means the body uses more energy to digest it.
Eating at least 0.7 grams per pound of body weight per day is enough to maximize strength gainsaccording to a meta-analysis published September 4 in Open Sports Medicineinside information Gabby Landsverk previously reported.
strength training
Resistance training is key to body recomposition.
“Most people focus entirely on the weight loss aspect when trying to recover,” Molloy said. “However, I would say that most people need to spend as much time, if not more, putting energy into building muscle mass also.”
Weather cardio has many benefits for overall health, and any type of movement burns calories, is not essential for fat loss, Molloy said.
A 2015 meta-analysis found that overweight people who did strength training lost more fat than those who did cardio.
Other study published in 2021 found that people who mostly did strength training were less likely to be overweight than people who mostly did cardio.
This is because strength training causes the body to burn more calories outside of training, Molloy said.
Shaw recommends training “like a bodybuilder.”
“Make sure you’re training with higher volumes in the gym,” he said, referring to enough reps, sets and weight. Shaw suggests sets of 8-12 repetitions of each exercise with weights heavy enough to be challenging.
Continue to challenge yourself and stimulate muscle growth by applying progressive overloadwhich means gradually increasing reps or weights, he said.
Getting enough sleep and managing stress
In addition to eating right and doing strength exercises, Recovery it’s also key, Molloy said.
Molloy recommended getting eight hours of sleep a night and keeping stress levels low.
A 2004 study suggested that two nights of less than six hours of sleep could lead to a 25% increase in hunger and a 33% increase in cravings for calorie-dense foods. This is because ghrelin (known as the “hunger hormone”) increases when a person does not sleep well, the researchers found.
Be patient
Body recomposition is not a quick process, so patience is required, the experts said.
“Unlike weight loss which can be very rapid (demonstrated with the prevalence of crash dieting), building muscle is a notoriously slow process and therefore recovery is no different,” Carpenter said.
Seasoned gym goers may get better long-term results if they have dedicated phases of fat loss or muscle gainShaw said.
“Trying to do both can backfire, since the best way to lose fat is to eat less and the best way to gain muscle is to eat more,” he said.
It is also not possible choose which parts of the body you lose fat fromas this largely comes down to genetics.
“People tend to have stubborn areas that, even with weight training, will still be the last place you’ll lose fat,” Shaw said. “The best idea is to lose weight little by little, and over time, that stubborn fat will come off.”
