Am I doing body recomp correctly?

[alex1234567890]

Hi there! I’m a female, 5’3 and 149lbs. I started around 155lbs in February when I started going to the gym again (got lazy and stopped for 4+ months). I have a pear body shape with a lot of fat in my thighs, hips, and some hip dips, so this is where most of my weight comes in.

I lift 4-5x a week with a legs/push/pull/legs split and try to do low impact cardio 2x a week for 20 mins. I also aim for 8k-10k steps a day. I do work an office job.

My TDEE is around 2k-2.2k calories and do the CICO method, aiming for 1.6k calories per day. I like to think I eat pretty clean, and try to go for 80g of protein minimum per day.

Since starting in February, I’ve lost 6ish pounds and I definitely see muscle gain in shoulders and shaping of my legs. Overall I notice I look different. My midsection however, specifically lower tummy, isn’t changing much. I have lost tummy fat because there’s less pouch when I sit but I still have a little pudge on my sides. The changes have started to slow down a little and I know recomp can take a long time, but I was just hoping to get any advice or knowledge on anything I could be improving, as well as how long recomp can usually take.

P = 80>, 100 is goal
C = 180g
F =53g

Again, I use CICO so I mostly focus on protein intake. It is hard to achieve 100g due to finances & cost of living. TIA for any advice!

 

[austinrnewton]

@alex1234567890 I would estimate your TDEE to be closer to 1900-2000, although this is just an estimate and precision > accuracy.

Most people would recommend at least 1.6g /kg for protein, so that’s 109g. I understand finances can be a barrier, but depending on where you live, whey protein costs about (check Amazon) a dollar per 20g. I’d also look into TVP from nuts.com. It’s about 32g per dollar not including shipping. Lower fat dairy products may also cost the same but have more protein.

It makes sense that the changes would slow down because significant body recomp (losing fat and gaining muscle) is usually only achieved with satisfactory results by new trainees, trainees, returning to lifting that have lost muscle and put on weight, trainees on drugs, trainees with high levels of obesity, and also people that just have great genetics for it. Seeing as you’ve been working out for months now, you’re probably not in any of those categories, and that would explain perfectly why it’s slowing down.

Personally, I would simply aim to cut weight with a 500 calorie deficit (so eat 1500) until you are happy with your health and tummy, then maintain that weight for about a month before deciding if you want to maintain or bulk afterwards.

I also think people categorizing their diets as clean or dirty can be possibly detrimental because they might avoid certain foods unnecessarily or even include things cuz they deemed it “clean,” that they probably can include, but maybe they have too much of it. For example, a lot of people think honey is a health food, but it’s pretty much the same as sugar. I think it’s better to be specific such as “eating more than 5 servings of fruit and vegetable” “keeping saturated fat intake below 10% of calories” and things like that cuz then you know more objectively what you are doing.

Good luck and good health! Let me know if you have any questions

 

[alex1234567890]

@austinrnewton Also, is there a specific brand of powder you recommend or does it matter?

 

[austinrnewton]

@alex1234567890 Yeah so I'm guessing you just re-earned your newbie gains, so to speak, and now it's done, so recomp will be difficult. I don't think it matters other than that I prefer ones with less ingredients and that are 3rd party certified either by NSF or Informed Sport. You can visit both of their websites to see a list of certified products. It just kinda gives a little more assurance that the products are safer and free from contaminants. Ethnic grocery stores also tend to have cheaper products (like tofu from asian store compared to non asian store for example).

 

[austinrnewton]

@alex1234567890 I think your ability to gain muscle while simultaneously losing fat is insufficient to produce the results you are looking for. You may try to continue eating near maintenance in an attempt to recomp, but it might not work out as well as you'd like, although, perhaps increasing the protein intake to 110g will make a big difference because protein intake matters more in a recomp or cut compared to bulking, so I guess you could continue trying to recomp as long as you can get your protein up to 110g a day. If after a month, you do not see adequate results, then I would cut while eating 110g protein a day still until you reached a weight/body that you're happy with, and then from there, maintain for about a month, and then choose to either just maintain or bulk (100 calorie surplus should be enough for this). Hope that explained it well!

 

[alex1234567890]

@austinrnewton It did!! Thank you so much! I appreciate your advice.

 

[alex1234567890]

@austinrnewton Thank you so much I appreciate you!! That makes so much more sense. I didn’t explain it well in the post but from Sept 2022 to May/June of 2023 I went to the gym every day, then from June 2023 to Feb 24 was when I stopped being active, gained fat and lost muscle, so that could explain the sudden progress.

 

[dmhanson511]

@alex1234567890 I’m 5’3” 158 and I was told to eat 115g of protein a day. I think you might be able to increase protein! I definitely have the same body type (I carry my fat on my lower body for sure) so I know the struggle. I’ve been trying to lose as well for a really long time but I go from working out 3x a week to 0 (I have an office job and very sedentary). 1500-1600 works when I’m active!

 

[alex1234567890]

@dmhanson511 Thank you! Another page suggested I move down to 1.5k too, I’ll have to try it and increase protein

 

[dawn16]

@alex1234567890 You look great to me! Just do you!