5 Important Things You Need To Know Before You Start Your Body Recomposition Journey
Are you tired of chasing after influencers diets and exercise plans that promise results but leave you feeling frustrated? If so, it’s time to learn about the science of body recomposition. In this article, we cover what body recomposition is, what it isn’t, the 5 areas you need to explore to have a successful journey.
Body recomposition is not your typical weight loss or muscle gain journey. It's a unique approach that focuses on simultaneously shedding fat while gaining lean muscle mass. By understanding the science behind this method and pairing it with the right mental framework, you can maximize your efforts in the gym and achieve a body you’re proud of post-sports.
You can absolutely achieve healthy fat loss without destroying your mental and physical health in the process. You just need to make sure you’re ready and armed with the right knowledge and motivation before you start.
Ready to lose fat and gain muscle? Let’s dive in!
what is body recomposition?
Forget the scale!
Body recomposition isn’t about the weight you lose, but the way your weight is distributed across your body.
Body recomposition is the process of changing your body’s percentage of fat to muscle mass through exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness. It’s not a fad approach or extreme diet; instead, it’s a scientific approach towards reaching your fitness goals. To me as a fitness coach, I view it as a more accurate measure of overall health and fitness than simply relying on weight loss alone.
Through a careful balance of exercise, nutrition, and rest, body recomposition allows you to build a lean, strong physique without sacrificing your health or sanity. You'll learn how to optimize your workouts, fuel your body with the right nutrients, and tap into your body's natural potential.
Common Myths About Body Recomposition
Now that you know what it is, it’s just as important to learn what it’s not. Understanding what isn’t body recomposition will help you learn what to avoid when we start exploring the five main areas of body recomposition consideration.
To further ensure you’re on the right track with your body recomposition journey, you can hire a NASM certified personal trainer (like me!) and/or remember to totally ignore these three common misconceptions:
Myth #1: You can spot-reduce fat.
You cannot target fat loss from specific areas of your body! Nothing annoys me more than fitness influencers claiming you can spot reduce fat on your tummy, arms, or thighs. It’s time to de-influence you: That’s just not how our bodies work. Fat loss happens throughout our bodies as a whole, and a number of factors will change the way that we look. Doing a million crunches isn’t going to get rid of your stubborn stomach fat. It might actually be doing more harm than good 🤔
Myth #2: Women get builky from strength training.
Ok - this one is up there on my list, too. It’s just one of those things that makes me immediately roll my eyes. Like what is this? 1999? First of all, we don’t have as much testosterone as men. So we’re not just going to look manly because we start lifting heavy weight. Secondly, and more importantly, being STRONG is SEXY. Feeling strong, to me, is worth more than any vanity-based goal out there. If you lift heavy weights in a body recomposition program that also focuses on the right nutrition and mindset you will feel strong while looked toned and defined. I pinky promise!
Myth #3: Cardio is the key to fat loss.
I’m not saying there is no place for cardio, but it isn’t the end all be all when it comes to body recomposition. You really can’t build muscle without lifting weights (see myth #2).
Also, I’m not a total cardio hater. In fact, cardio is something I always write into my client’s workouts. Why? It’s super beneficial! Lower intensity cardio is a great tool for building your aerobic fitness and increasing your endurance. Not only will this help you with weight training, but it will make your heart happier and healthier. So even if you hate it, go ahead and get on that elliptical or treadmill for 20-30 minutes and get moving!
5 Things YOu Need to consider
I’m hope by this point you’re understanding a bit more about what body recomposition is and what it isn’t.
When body recomposition is your goal, you have to be in the right mindset. This is the first difficult part of your journey, but it’s super rewarding!
Get ready to do some thinking and even some journaling here. We’re about to have some possibly uncomfortable conversations with ourselves, but that’s OK. Change isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.
Through my years of coaching, I’ve learned that only one thing separates the women who reach their fitness goals and the women who do not and that is: You have to be willing to put in the work. If any of these five areas need work, you need to address them BEFORE working towards body recomposition.
Your Current Relationship With Food
The first thing you need to have a strong understanding of in order to reach any body recomposition goals is your relationship with food.
For a lot of former athletes, this isn’t an easy topic. Did you know that up to 45% of female athletes struggle with an eating disorder? I know, because I was one of them. And I’ll tell you a difficult truth that took me years to learn: Retirement from athletics does not result in recovery from disordered eating behaviors.
Even if you don’t have an eating disorder or haven’t been diagnosed with one, this is still an extremely important area to focus on. Take a moment to answer the following questions:➡️ Do you understand how much you need to eat (protein, carbs, and fat) to maintain your current weight?
➡️ Are you eating even enough or consistently?
➡️ Do you binge and/or restrict?
If you can’t answer these questions confidently, you will want to considering focusing on healing your relationship with food first.Your Past Failures
The next thing you have to ask yourself is what have you tried before that didn’t work? Maybe it was a yoga program or The 75 Hard. Maybe you just tried eating keto or signed up for the gym. No matter what fitness program or eating style you were following, did it work? Here’s what you need to think about:
➡️ Did you achieve the desired results?
➡️ How long were you able to maintain the results if you saw them?
➡️ Why do you think the results weren’t sustainable?
These are things you will want to consider possibly avoiding as you enter your next fat loss phase!Realistic Timelines
Next up on the list is your timeline. We have to get realistic here. Do you have a date in mind that you’d like to reach your goal by
Maybe you want to look “snatched” for a wedding, the summer, or a vacation. Every day, my feed is FULL of “fitness coaches” convincing former athletes like you that you can lose an incredible amount of weight in a short amount of time.
Sustainable fat loss is on average 1-2 pounds per week. So anyone telling you you can lose 20 lbs in one month, is lying!!!
Now if you wanted to lose 5-10 pounds in a month, that is doable with the right approach, commitment, and effort. A healthy deficit to lose 1lb a week is about 500 calories per day less than your maintenance calories.
You can’t forget about protein, either! You need to aim for at least 1g of protein per pound opf ideal body weight. For example, if your goal weight is 135 lbs, you need to eat 135 grams of protein per day.
Your Stress Levels (and how you manage them!)
Does all this talk about food, failures, and timelines have you feeling a bit stressed? Calm down for a minute. We’re just learning and brainstorming here - there’s nothing to be stressed about. But I want you to think about what your stress level is like normally in an average day.
Why does stress matter when it comes to body recomposition? Putting your body into a planned caloric deficit for fat loss is putting it into a minor, controlled state of stress. If you’re typically cool as a cucumber, then no worries. This level of stress most likely won’t put you over the edge. However, if your body is already in a period of consistently high stress, you should consider your current stress management techniques or else you could start producing too much of the stress hormone, cortisol.
Until you get a handle on your stress levels, you will not be able to see effective, sustainable results when it comes to body recomposition. Not only that, but you will probably hurt yourself in the process.
➡️ Where is your stress coming from?
➡️ Are there triggers in your life you can eliminate?
➡️ What stress relieving activities can you try?As a fitness coach, I never want to see any former athletes harm their bodies or minds in an attempt to look a certain way.
Your Level of Self-Awareness
Ready to get real with yourself? Girl, if you made it this far, I hope you are.
Are you self-aware of your current habits and which ones you might need to change to ensure you can reach your goals?
Being serious about fat loss goals requires self-accountability. You cannot be accoutnable unless you are first aware of what habits you need to change.This part is often the most uncomfortable, but please make sure you were honest with yourself. Go back over the last four areas and check yourself. What areas do you truly feel confident in? Which might actually be a problem?
Body Recomposition Results
I know this all sounds like a lot. It can be intimidating. But I’m here to tell you that it is possible! I’ve worked with dozens of former athletes who have put in the work, committed to themselves, and reached their body recomposition goals in a sustainable manner.
This client’s goal was to feel stronger and appear more toned. I knew right away that we should focus on body recomposition. In just 2.5 months, the number on the scale didn’t move, but DAMN!
Does she look good or what?!
Here’s what we focused on together to get her there:
Following a custom program for her goals
Prioritizing regular meal times
Focusing meals and snacks around proteins
Finding health ways to minimize and manage stress
Staying consistent and patient
Get your free Body Composition guide
People say they want to lose fat and build muscle, but they aren’t willing to do what it takes to change their habits in order to do so. The first time I set out on my fat loss journey, I didn’t consider any of these things. It led to me:
Destroying my relationship with food
Trying unsustainable things
Creating unhealthy levels of stress on my body that led to health complications like losing my cycle, chronic anxiety and depression, and loss of bone density
It wasn’t until I really educated myself on the body and how fat loss really works that I felt comfortable enough to try again. Maybe you’ve experienced something similar in the past and yet you still want to lose some fat and get toned. There’s NOTHING wrong with wanting to improve your physical appearance and get strong… and you shouldn’t feel like you are broken (like I did).
You can try again.
And you can succeed.
Tap the button below to get started with the free guide that will serve as a framework for your body recomposition goals.
