Body Recomposition. Let's Talk About it.

Let's talk about body recomposition. So what exactly is body recomposition?

Body recomposition involves changing your body's composition by reducing fat mass while simultaneously increasing lean muscle mass.

Body recomposition offers an alternative approach to physical fitness. Establishing body recomposition goals can guide you toward improved overall health and physical condition. Body recomposition focuses not only on losing weight, but also on altering the body's fat-to-muscle ratio. This process is difficult for several reasons. Losing fat requires a calorie deficit, whereas building muscle is most effective with a calorie surplus. Successfully managing this involves a highly detailed strategy in both diet and exercise to ensure fat reduction while simultaneously building and maintaining lean muscle. The good news is that with a proper training and nutrition plan, this can be accomplished.

When you are gaining lean muscle mass, this will result in a stronger and healthier body. Muscle mass is essential for reaching your aesthetic fitness goals while maintaining your health during the process. Training your muscles not only enhances strength, but also boosts your total daily caloric expenditure because muscle tissue requires more energy to sustain. Preserving muscle mass as you age is very important. Once you reach 30 years old, you can lose 3% to 8% of your muscle mass each decade if you are not strength training. Research also indicates that having greater muscle mass protects you from certain diseases such as cancer and is associated with a longer lifespan.

When you have less fat tissue, you are at a lesser risk for disease. Having too much body fat can trigger inflammatory responses that result in various metabolic and chronic illnesses such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, excess fat can alter your body's structure and be associated with conditions like sleep apnea and gastrointestinal reflux disease. 

Your diet plays a major role when it comes to body recomposition. You need to be eating the right balance of nutrients. To gain and maintain muscle mass, just having a caloric deficit isn't enough. Consuming too few calories daily can lead to muscle loss along with the fat, and it definitely won't support muscle building when there aren't enough calories available.

Muscle growth (hypertrophy) happens when resistance training is combined with the correct protein intake. During resistance-based exercises like weightlifting, repeated contractions cause the fibers in your muscles to break down. With proper protein in your diet, your body can repair these microtears by adding more muscle fibers, resulting in growth. Now, fat loss is also crucial in the body recomposition process. Simultaneously losing body fat and building muscle requires a healthy blend of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training.

Focusing on body recomposition instead of overall weight loss is a more effective approach to maintaining both mental and physical health. Achieving a total body recomposition also isn't a guessing game of what to do, it's about using a science-based strategy to achieve it.

If you need any help reaching your fitness and nutrition goals, you can schedule a free consultation right from my home page. I offer local and remote fitness and nutrition coaching.