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

What body recomposition is

It's changing your body composition, less fat and more muscle, without your weight necessarily moving much. That's why the scale is misleading: you can be improving a lot and weigh the same.

Who can achieve it

• Beginners: the body responds very quickly to its first strength training.
• People returning after a break: muscle memory speeds up the comeback.
• People with more body fat: they have more stored energy to build muscle.
• Advanced lifters: it's possible too, but much slower; they usually alternate bulking and cutting phases.

Diet essentials

• A small calorie deficit, 10–20% below maintenance, or eating at maintenance if you're already lean.
• High protein: 1.6–2.2 g per kilo of body weight per day, spread over 3–5 meals.
• Favor minimally processed foods and enough fruit and vegetables to stay full.
• Sleep 7–9 hours: rest affects recovery and appetite as much as diet does.

Training essentials

• Strength train 3–5 days a week, hitting each muscle group about twice.
• Progressive overload: gradually increase the weight or the reps.
• 10–20 weekly sets per muscle group, close to failure but not always to it.
• Cardio helps the deficit and your health, but shouldn't eat into your recovery.

How to measure progress

Since your weight barely changes, you need other signals: your lifts going up, your waist going down and what you see in photos improving. Measure your body fat every few weeks and always take photos with the same lighting, pose and time of day.

Gymia's analysis compares your photos and tells you how your fat, definition and each muscle group are changing, so you know whether your recomposition is working even if the scale doesn't move.

This guide is general information. If you have a medical condition, talk to a professional before changing your diet or training.