Best strategy, recomp?

[rlma3355]

I’m a 30yr old Male. I just got my dexa scan, and I’m at 32% bf: 198.8lbs total = 63.5lbs fat + 128.5 lean + 6.8lbs bone.

My 2024 goal is to hit 22% bf. Doing the math, I think that means my total target weight should be around 185-190lbs.

To hit 22%bf, I’d need to lose / gain,
- 20.6 lbs fat / 16.7 lbs muscle @ 195 lbs total
- 21.7 lbs fat / 12.8 lbs muscle @ 190 lbs total
- 22.8 lbs fat / 8.9 lbs muscle @ 185 lbs total

I think somewhere between 9-12lbs of muscle gain over the year is possible since I’ve never strength trained.

My RMR is 1,623 cal/day. I’ve been in about a 500 cal/day deficit the last month by watching what I eat and biking daily.

How should I approach my goal? Start lifting and eating more? Keep the deficit to lose more fat first?

 

[ttowngirl]

@rlma3355 Read www.thefitness.wiki for most of your answers but honestly you really need to cut weight. There is no point in attempting a recomp at 32% bf. I understand that it is enticing to try to do the calculations and figure out exact fat-free mass verse fat mass but the reality of things is that you really just need to focus on losing the fat and take steps toward a healthier lifestyle.

If you’re currently untrained, it’s possible to gain muscle, while losing fat in a deficit of calories. If I were in your position, I would be reducing calories to try to lose around ~1% of bodyweight per week.

As for training, I would recommend picking up a strength program from the fitness wiki and following it to a T to make sure that you are either gaining or maintaining muscle mass during this deficit.

In addition, I would recommend cardio three times a week for around 30 minutes or whatever’s tolerable. Two of the sessions would be super chill like a light jog, while one of the sessions would be more of a working on getting your heart rate up type session.

After reviewing the fitness wiki, feel free to ask any specific questions and I’ll do my best to answer them! Good luck!

 

[cqmethodist]

@rlma3355 I'm almost in the exact same boat as you are. What I've been doing is tracking EVERYTHING I eat and maintaining a 500 calorie deficit. I went from 198 in September to now 173. I went from 28 percent body fat to 17.5 percent via dexa. My diet is mainly protein focused getting 200 grams earlier and now 180 grams of protein each day. Ive actually gained muscle by weight training and lost fat. I'm at 1700 rmr. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[amn]

@rlma3355 One quick thing -- your RMR is not your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). TDEE is more likely what you care about. It should be much higher than 1623. But this number is only as accurate and relevant as you are in tracking your food -- if you're even planning to do that.

Whether you do a slow cut (recomp), or a fast cut (traditional fat-loss), is completely up to you. Either approach might grow substantial muscle if you train well. Neither will make any difference in your long-term prospects for future muscle growth. The slow cut will likely be a little easier early on, but you'll need to run it for longer to hit your bf goal, so this could become frustrating if you're expecting to see results sooner.

No matter what you pick, I would start training. Train as much as you can handle (i.e. recover from), don't skip cardio (150-300 minutes per week is the goal).

Barbell Medicine's Beginner Prescription is good framework for meeting the activity guidelines, gaining strength, muscle, and fosters a foundation of basic knowledge and skills that will serve you very well in your training career.

When it comes to diet, I would urge you to take the long view. In all likelihood you will need to make some broad changes to the kinds of foods you eat. Maybe nothing too major, and you may enjoy the changes. Basically everyone who is carrying excess body fat has some work to do when it comes to food preferences, food environment, eating environment, eating patterns, etc.

 

[amn]

... If I were to guess, I think you'll be closer to 180 when you hit your body fat goal, if you train hard, and your diet is consistent the whole way through.

Waist measurement, scale weight, and pictures are far better for assessing progress. I would not do another dexa, unless it were free, and then also remember there is a substantial amount of error, especially if you don't have the dexa performed under exactly the same conditions each time.

 

[questioner1]

@rlma3355 I personally just used diet and exercise to drop my weight right to where I wanted. For me it was a 500 calorie deficit a day for about 2 years to lose the 80 pounds I wanted. Overall I tried to hold a 500 calorie deficit but it ended up averaging more like 400 so it took longer. It really depends on where you want to get to and where you start. I was in pretty shitty shape when I started so just losing 10-20 pounds without really doing anything else made me feel far better than I was. I found that overdoing the exercise at first made it difficult to maintain the deficit. I was more worried about my body fat percentage then overall muscle mass loss especially at 400 calories a day deficit. I actually didn't even lift a heavy weight for the two years I was in a deficit. Just hard cardio, stretching, and body weight exercises. Went from 220 and 30% body fat 4.5 years ago to 155 and 10-15% today. Results here if you are interested.

https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/comments/14b2g4f/results\_post\_47m\_4\_years\_doing\_168\_2\_years\_at/

 

[swordland]

@rlma3355 Definitely start lifting. Potentially increase calories if you feel like you need to, but a 500 calorie deficit isn’t too crazy to maintain.

 

[tongdtbds3]

@rlma3355 At 32% you should definitely keep the deficit going. I wouldn't exit the deficit until you're 20% or lower. I was in your shoes last year and went from 32% to 17%. You can gain muscle the whole time while losing because of your bodily energy surplus.

 

[zekt]

@rlma3355 Lift hard, do some form of cardio that you enjoy and stay in a caloric deficit. Re-test and reevaluate when you get to 180 pounds. At 32% BF, don't worry about anything except losing fat and getting healthy. If you're new to lifting, it wouldn't surprise me if you can hang on to most of your lean mass while you lose weight if you hit it hard.