The Truth About Body Recomposition

Most people think fitness comes down to two choices: cut or bulk. You’re either in a calorie deficit, watching the scale drop while doing your best to attenuate muscle and strength loss, or you’re eating in a surplus to build muscle while accepting that you’ll also gain some fat.

But there’s another path that doesn’t get nearly enough credit: body recomposition — the process of losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. It’s slower, more subtle, and far more sustainable for most people than bouncing between extreme phases of cutting and bulking.

What Body Recomposition Actually Means

Body recomposition (or “recomp”) means improving your body composition — trading fat for muscle — without major changes in body weight.

Two people can weigh the same, but the one carrying more muscle and less fat will look, feel, and perform completely differently. Research consistently shows that increasing lean mass while reducing fat mass improves not only appearance but also metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, and long-term weight maintenance (Strohacker & McFarlin, 2010; Heymsfield et al., 2015).

How It’s Achieved

Recomping isn’t magic — it’s the product of consistent nutrition, training, and recovery. The general formula looks like this:

• Eat around maintenance calories, or a small surplus or deficit depending on goals.

• Prioritize protein, aiming for about 1.6–2.2 g per kilogram of lean mass or goal body weight — roughly 0.7–1 g per pound. Higher protein intake helps preserve or build muscle even when calories are slightly restricted (Morton et al., 2018).

• Train hard and progressively overload. Resistance training is the key driver of muscle growth and fat-loss synergy (Schoenfeld et al., 2021).

• Recover properly — sleep, stress management, and consistency all matter more than perfection.

My Process

For me, recomping wasn’t how I dropped from ~215 to 165 pounds — that was a straightforward cut achieved through a sustained calorie deficit.

The real body recomposition phase came afterward, when I held steady around 160–165 pounds for roughly a year while training seriously and eating at maintenance — about 2,900 calories per day with 200 + grams of protein.

During that time, my body fat gradually decreased from 14–15 % to around 11–12 %, while muscle mass and strength noticeably increased. The scale didn’t move, but my physique — and performance — changed dramatically.

When and for Whom Recomp Works Best

Body recomposition works especially well for:

• New lifters, whose bodies respond rapidly to resistance training.

• People returning after time off, thanks to muscle-memory effects (Staron et al., 1991).

• Those near their goal weight, who are happy with the number on the scale but want to look leaner and stronger.

If you’ve already completed a weight-loss phase, recomping is the logical next step — the fine-tuning that turns “lean” into “athletic.”

Why It Might Be a Better Strategy Than Cutting or Bulking

I don’t love how cutting and bulking have crept into mainstream fitness from bodybuilding culture. For most people, those cycles are unnecessary and often counterproductive.

Constantly switching between restriction and overfeeding can be exhausting, disruptive to performance, and damaging to one’s relationship with food. For anyone who’s worked hard to establish balance, those extremes can feel like starting over.

Recomping, on the other hand, lets you:

• Eat consistently and sustainably year-round.

• Train for strength and performance, not just aesthetics.

• Stay lean and muscular without burnout.

• Enjoy your life while continuing to progress.

Physiologically, research shows that simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain are achievable when resistance training is paired with adequate protein and energy balance — especially in non-obese or previously untrained individuals (Longland et al., 2016; Areta et al., 2014).

The Limitations and Drawbacks

Recomping takes time. You won’t see big changes on the scale, and sometimes visual progress takes months to appear.

But over time, the results are undeniable: more muscle, less fat, and better performance — all achieved sustainably.

The trade-off is simple: slow progress, lasting results.

The Bottom Line

Body recomposition is the middle path — and for most people, it’s the smarter one. You can lose fat, build muscle, and keep your sanity — all without obsessing over calorie cycling or extreme diets.

Forget the extremes. Train hard, eat smart, and give your body time to evolve.

References

Areta, J. L., Burke, L. M., Ross, M. L., Camera, D. M., West, D. W. D., Broad, E. M., … & Coffey, V. G. (2014). Timing and distribution of protein ingestion during prolonged recovery from resistance exercise alters myofibrillar protein synthesis. The Journal of Physiology, 592(23), 5559–5572. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2014.279281

Heymsfield, S. B., Gonzalez, M. C., Lu, J., Jia, G., & Zheng, J. (2015). Skeletal muscle mass and quality: Evolution of modern measurement concepts in the context of sarcopenia. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 74(4), 355–366. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665115000129

Longland, T. M., Oikawa, S. Y., Mitchell, C. J., Devries, M. C., & Phillips, S. M. (2016). Higher compared with lower dietary protein during an energy deficit combined with intense exercise promotes greater lean mass gain and fat mass loss: A randomized trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 103(3), 738–746. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.119339

Morton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., … & Phillips, S. M. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training–induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(6), 376–384. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-017-097608

Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Krieger, J. W., & Contreras, B. (2021). Evidence-based guidelines for resistance training volume to maximize muscle hypertrophy. Sports Medicine, 51(11), 2189–2205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01573-0

Staron, R. S., Leonardi, M. J., Karapondo, D. L., Malicky, E. S., Falkel, J. E., Hagerman, F. C., & Hikida, R. S. (1991). Strength and skeletal muscle adaptations in heavy-resistance-trained women after detraining and retraining. Journal of Applied Physiology, 70(2), 631–640. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1991.70.2.631

Strohacker, K., & McFarlin, B. K. (2010). Influence of obesity, physical inactivity, and weight cycling on chronic inflammation. Frontiers in Bioscience, 2, 98–104. https://doi.org/10.2741/e126