WHAT IS BODY RECOMPOSITION?

So you’re doing everything right, but you’re not losing weight?!

Though you may not realize it, you may be victim of a physically amazing phenomenon.

Unlike what you may have heard in the past, you cannot “turn fat into muscle.” Fat and muscle cells are two completely different tissues. They have separate functions and also take up a distinct amount of space. So if you cannot turn fat into muscle, what can you do? What you can do is shrink your fat cells and “lose fat” while also increasing muscle mass all at once. This is BODY RECOMPOSITION.

Recomposition is a route you can take if you’re currently new to lifting weights, have taken a long break from weight-lifting or have never truly worked out properly and consistently enough.

If you fit into these categories, you can lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time, and achieve a smaller and more “toned” appearance, even if you don’t “lose weight.”

To achieve recomposition you will have to eat “maintenance calories,” or a set amount of calories that will allow you to recomposition, while consistently weightlifting and practicing progressive overload (the increase of weights and tension while exercising over time).

The most crucial part of this process is to remember that changes occur physically but the scale tends to remain the same. You will find that your weight won’t decrease in drastic measures, but you will lose inches all over.

This is a crucial reason to take progress photos and measurements, as weighing yourself is not the only way to determine actual progress.

So next time you find yourself feeling discouraged because your weight isn’t budging — remember you’re likely re-compositioning!

Continue to take progress photos and increasing the weights to your workouts weekly. Progress isn’t linear and weight doesn’t determine it for a lot of us!

I hope this provided you with some relief and in-depth insight as to why you may not be seeing the scale budge the way you’d like or expect it to! 

-Darihana