Body recomposition: lose fat and build muscle at the same time

many people believe you cannot lose fat and build muscle at the same time (body recomposition), and others think that you can do it, only if you are a complete beginner or a steroid user.

It is indeed possible to build muscle and lose body fat simultaneously, but you need to know how!!

Your body composition is the ratio of fat mass to lean mass in your body. Lean mass includes muscle, bones, ligaments, tendons, organs, other tissues, and water. In other words, everything that’s not body fat.

Then, what is body recomposition?

Body recomposition refers to the process of changing your ratio of fat mass to lean mass. That is, losing body fat and gaining muscle mass.

The goal of body recomposition is to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously, unlike the traditional approach of “bulking and cutting” in which you intentionally put on a lot of weight first (muscle and fat) and then go through an intense calorie deficit to lose the fat and reveal the muscle underneath.

But, is it possible?

You’ve probably heard someone argue that achieving muscle growth and fat loss in the same day is physically impossible because of the following:

To build muscle, you must store energy. To lose fat, you must burn energy.
When you are in a caloric surplus (Bulking), your body stores energy. When you are in a caloric deficit, your body loses energy (cutting).
Therefore, you must bulk to gain muscle and cut to lose fat. Right?

WRONG!!

Yes in order to lose fat, you must be in a caloric deficit to force your body to use the stored energy (body fat) as fuel, but the needed energy to build muscle can be driven from the stored fat when you are in a caloric deficit.

Here is what you need to build muscle:

MECHANICAL STIMULUS. This one you should be already doing by performing resistance training while cutting.
PROTEIN. You can eat enough protein on a cut, so no problems there.
WATER. Again, you can drink plenty of water during a cut, so no problems here either.
ENERGY (ATP). This basically just comes from energy sources such as glucose and fat that can be driven from your diet or stored fat in your body during a cutting phase as well.

Now, how can you apply this to your diet and training?

Here is a step by step guide on how to burn fat and build muscle at the same time:

1-Eat in a slight caloric deficit

As I mentioned before, you must be in a caloric deficit to lose fat. There is no way around it, but the larger the deficit the harder it will be to build muscle as all the driven calories from body fat will be directed toward maintaining the body function not building more muscle.

That’s why you need to keep your caloric intake just below your maintains level by few hundreds calories.

A deficit between 200-500 calories below maintains is a good range to keep losing fat and build muscle at the same time.

This slight caloric deficit can be created by eating less or just by training more and keeping the food intake around maintains, which I personally recommend.

If you don’t know what is your caloric maintains level, use this calculator which will give you an approximate estimation of your daily needed calories.

2-Eat enough protein

The second and the most important part of the body recomposition process is eating enough protein. Eating more protein not only important in building muscle as we already know, but also it has proven to help in losing fat as it has a higher thermic effect of food than fats and carbs (it burns more calories in the digestive process).

Aim for at least .8-1 gram per pound of body weight every day and fill the rest of the calories from carbs and fats as you prefer.

3-Optimize your training

There is no building muscle without resistance training. Your muscles must be stressed in order to grow bigger and stronger.

That’s why a light resistance training session is not enough to cause mechanical stress on the muscle to grow especially when you are in a caloric deficit.

You need to gradually increase the volume and intensity of your workout, which is known as progressive overload.

If you are not already following a well-structured program that tells you exactly how to workout based on your body type and goals, feel free to pick one of my transformations plans which offer everything you need to get you on track (CLICK HERE)

4-Drink plenty of water

Drinking enough water not only is a must to maintain body function, it also has a role in losing fat and building muscle.

In fact, most of your muscle mass size comes from water and if you are well hydrated, your muscles will look much fuller and you will be able to lift more weights when you workout.

So, how much fluid does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined that an adequate daily fluid intake is:

About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day for men
About 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women

These recommendations cover fluids from water, other beverages, and food. About 20% of daily fluid intake usually comes from food and the rest from drinks.

In the end, if you are not already convinced that you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time, I will leave some links down below to multiple studies done on beginners and advanced athletes which will make you believe that you can do it for sure!!