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Many of my clients come to me with very clear goals. Lose x pounds of fat AND add muscle in x weeks/months. And we call this ✨recomp✨
While I LOVE to see direction, intention, and goals, I often have conversations with clients on managing expectations and what long-term success looks like.
Social media pushes recomp (adding more muscle while simultaneously shedding body fat) down our throats, and while it is true that this is what most people are looking to achieve and would benefit from, the methodology and expectations of this process are very skewed.
And it’s unfortunate because recomp is SUCH A COOL process, but lots of people unknowingly go about achieving it in the wrong way, get discouraged when it doesn’t work for them and then give up.
You are not the problem.
Your Body is not the problem.
Your plan, habits & expectations are the problem - all of which you can control.
What People Think Body Recomposition Looks Like
A simultaneous add muscle AND lose fat diet HACK. While it's true this is possible, only a small percentage of the population is favorable for this simultaneous add muscle, lose fat process. There are limited instances in which recomposition can occur, and recomping is not something that special diet tricks or manipulations can initiate and that it is not something to expect. Understanding this helps us understand impressive social media transformations better.
So, who can achieve recomp? Data and research to date shows the populations best suited for recomp are novice/untrained individuals (NEWBIE gains), novice/new dieters, Overweight individuals, Deconditioned athletes, and performance enhanced athletes.
Even with the above conditions, results will vary depending on the individual. Some clients who have not done scientific diet or training previously may have recomposition and impressive transformations, others may not. Recomping is rarely as efficient as individual fat-loss and muscle-gain phases run independently—even when it is at its most impressive.
What Changing Body Comp Actually Looks Like For Most People
Changing the compositional make up/mass of ones body occurs through phasic dieting. This means that you need to oscillate between intentional nutrition phases (like bulking and cutting), and going through various phases of slowly adding muscle, then reducing body fat, over the years through intentional training and dieting.
How To Achieve Recomp
Phasic or Periodized dieting: Depending on how far off you are from your goal, you will likely have to go through MULTIPLE cycles of slowly adding muscle, then reducing body fat.
What to Expect
This can take years of intentional training and dieting. It's not a fast process. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, planning and patience. It is not about quick fixes or shortcuts. It's about developing a lifestyle of consistent diet phases and exercise.
You can see for me it's taken 2 whole years to make noticeable progress. From 2021-2022 I made okay progress if we're being honest. I didn't have much of a plan, i just worked out a lot and ate relatively healthy. And I was like decently happy with my health and life... But I knew I was kind of living in half of my potential.
So from 2022-2023 I dedicated to take myself more seriously and see what I could accomplish in one year if I really pushed myself, invested in myself, and cultivated the opportunity to become closer to the person that I wanted to be.
It was a lot of work. It was really hard. There was literal blood, sweat and tears. And it made me a happier person. It gave me purpose. It gave me strength. It gave me pride. It gave me confidence in myself, to know that I can do hard things. And I'm so grateful I gave myself that opportunity.
If you’re struggling in your journey, are wanting to achieve lasting results, and are ready to think about REAL physique changes, apply for our 1:1 coaching using the link below!