Recomp questions.

[Nevetharine]

So I've been working out twice a day. And I don't even know how that happened. I'm even afraid of making the statement here, because I'm afraid it will stop happening.

So let's not refer to me, let's pretend I'm seeking information for someone else...

So person X (who is not me) wants to do a body recomp. Or at least, they want to build muscle and lose fat because they are skinny fat (especially in the belly) yet at a healthy bmi... (for what its worth, pfft)

Person X used to skip breakfast. But now somehow that has turned around into skipping dinner. She has breakfast and lunch and tea for dinner.

One workout is cardio, before breakfast. The other is full body strength oriented (bodyweight) and occurs 3 hours or so after lunch.

She plans to keep up this routine 3 days a week, with yoga days in between.

Now for the questions.

Person X is 5'2, weighs 127lbs, and has a bodyfat % of approximately 31-32% according to online calculators and measurements. (Yes, BMI is really BS.)

How many calories (roughly) should she eat to gain muscle and lose fat?

And when should she eat carbs in the day? Before or after strength training? Does that even matter?

She eats predominantly vegetarian, so much of her protein sources are already ~50% carbs.

Person X thanks you - may your road lead you to warm sands.

 

[BrigidForged]

HI @Nevetharine ,

I was digging through the guides to see if I found something helpful for you and found these - I assume you already know them?

How to lose weight & gain muscle

DAREBEE, darebee, fitness, workouts, visual workouts, fitness challenges, fitness motivation, exercise tips, fitness guides, fitness community

darebee.com

Protein: Sources and Amounts for Muscle Building

Here's how much protein you need to optimally ingest each day to build quality muscle.

darebee.com

How To Build Quality Muscle

DAREBEE, darebee, fitness, workouts, visual workouts, fitness challenges, fitness motivation, exercise tips, fitness guides, fitness community

darebee.com

I don't know if darebee has a calorie calculator but here is a TDEE calculator with good reviews: https://tdeecalculator.net/

 

[Nevetharine]

Thanks the first article was very helpful

 

[Nevetharine]

So, to clarify, I should eat mostly protein and maybe some veg after the morning's cardio,

and then again protein and carbs and veg after the strength training in the afternoon?

And since my protein is predominantly chickpeas and lentils, which are already half carbs (starch) - that's not a problem, right?

 

[Nevetharine]

Okay wait, so I thought about something I've read somewhere about cycling calories on a recomp.

So my maintenance calories it turns out (if I sit on my butt all day) are around 1463. It's low, yes. But that's if I really do nothing. Which is unlikely since I pace around mindlessly a lot. But I just find it easier to add that on top of the baseline.

Some sources say that I can eat say, 100 calories above maintenance on training days and then, ~200-500 below maintenance on non-training days to recomp.

I'd rather not worry about carbs on non-training days. I already have to watch protein. Also, my non-training days tend to fall on weekends, which is usually treat-time. So I'm wondering if the above might be a better approach to recomping?

Tbh, I don't care for counting calories either but, I've been doing it now for 2 weeks again. And well, I guess it takes away some of my anxiety around food, knowing the road and seeing the map.

Do you all think the calorie cycling could work?

Would a recomp in general work with bodyweight strength training (as I said I'm doing cardio in the morning and strength in the afternoon 3 days a week), or do I need to do a program like Ironborn?

@Damer

Sorry for the tag little lost amongst all the information out there...

 

[Damer]

@Nevetharine no worries and you're going about it the right way. Just don't go crazy on the sweet treat days!