Slow Progress on Body Recomp

Hello there

After a couple of years o incosistent training and eating. I found myself back motivated to change my body again.

For myself
turning 30 this year
I’m 174cm tall, weighing 85kg

My macros are super low (maitnence)
200p
150c
70f
2000kcal.

I started 8 weeks ago with my lifting again, trying to do a proper Body recomp.

On the above macros, my weight statys the same, between 84-86 kg.
But the results in mirror are improving, wich is pretty normal i guess.

I think i’m more of a intermediate lifter, but because of inconsitency i treat myself as a beginner.

Currently doing, and love doing a 5/3/1 (classic variation with some jokers), and my accessory work is doing one extra move for that day + other muscles (back, arms, etc.) in myo reps Style.
Doin’ pretty well, strength is goin up, mass is goin up as well (i think cause of mirror changes) and fat should be also decresing.

I train 3-4 days a week for around 45-60min, and also doing light cardio 4-5 times a week (30min sessions on stationary bike).

Eating wise, i hit my macros for week for about 80%. sometimes on non training days i eat less carbs, and on weekends, when i’m eating out, it’s also very difficult to calculate.

My main goal right now is to keep or raise my strength levels but lose fat.
I got a big chunk of lovehandels that need to go away. I don’t know how much bodyfat % i have, but i think its more then i think.

I had this belly fat for around ten years now, and no it needs to go.

I feel that my progression is a bit to slow, maybe i should be more patient.

I’m not sure what my next step should be.
I know i can be a bit more optimal with mealtiming, and trying to be more consistent with the macros.

What would someone consider adding/removing for my plan, i’m annoyd to eat less calories cause they are already very low, i could also add more cardio or more HIIT cardio.

Can somebody recommend something, or has someone dealt with the same stuff?

thx for advice

I’d get consistent with macros before you change any other variables, if you think that’s a factor.
What are you looking to do with meal timing? For myself, I don’t find messing with meal timing changes my results in any way directly, but it can greatly improve my ability to be consistent and have good workouts; so indirectly it can be a huge deal.

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Eating my carbs before/around my workouts (not immediatly before, like 1-2h before) and eating less carbs before bed (i train like 4-5h before bed). I need to experiment with that

I am very, very skeptical of the claim that an active, 185-190#, 30 y.o. male needs only 2000 cals a day to maintain his BW. I recommend an honest accounting of your caloric intake.

My job is 60% sitting on desk, 40% standing.
I used to eat a lot more (like 2800 or so) when i had a ONLY standing job. I don‘t know why my metabolism slowed down like that.

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Even with a sedentary job, your BMR should be well above 2000. (Heck, even if you did nothing but lie in bed all day you should be ~2300 or so.) Anyway…You say your weight is stable, but you’re seeing improvements in composition. That means 1) you’re making progress, and 2) your caloric intake–whatever it may be–is about right. Absent steroid use, recomping is a very slow process. As you acknowledged in the OP, you probably just need to be more patient.

#noroids
You prob right, i should just stick to my gameplan and optimising stuff. Maybe i would have to wait a bit longer to post this thread.

Move on to a full body/high volume template -Krypteia or this below…

One very hard sprints /HIIT session a good idea also

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Update more details:
Stuck??

I started at 87kg skinny fat with 2200kcal for 4 months. Slimmed down to 83kg, seeing increase in musclemass and reduction in fat (typical recomp stuff). Stuck at 83kg. lowered my cals to 2000. Slimmed down another 4kg. Kept my cals at 2000 for the last 3 months. I consistently seeing improvments in the mirror (more muscle, less fat). The last month the scale didnt move at all. This week i lowered my cals again to 1800, but the scale didnt move either. Is it still possible that i’m makin gains at this low calories? I mean i’m gettin stronger, but the mirror has almost stopped changing the last month. How long should i keep this 1800 cals.
I’m consistanly getting stronger, but my body seems not to change anymore (the last month).

My stats:
30year
79ish kg
174cm tall

Training 3-4 times a week for 45-60min
5/3/1 Triumvirate an BBB
Liss cardio twice a week
HIIT cardio twice a week.
70% is clean eating. But counting every damn gram of food.
Biggest meal is diner (if this matters).

Supplementing with whey, casein, multivits, fishoil, joint complex, creatine (pre workout) started training in fasted state and supplement with 20mg yohimbine, 3g HMB, 50mg synephrine and caffein (throughout the day with coffee).

my plan was to slim down to 75kg regardless how i look (to reduce as much stubborn fat as possible) till end of the year, and then start to lean bulk again. My training for next year will not change much, just switching up some factors in volume and intensity based on different templates in 5/3/1 (leader anchor stuff)

How should i progress, i don’t want to lower my cals again, food is just to good (lol).
My metabolism (still) sucks hard imo.

thx for some advice

Stop it with lowering the calories… your doing less of a recomp and more of a cut doing that.

What do you expect to see in the spance of a month?
I’ll let you on a little secret. The futhur you progress and improvement over time from your starting point it naturually starts slowing down.

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8 Weeks isn’t much time, especially if indeed you’re not 100% with your diet, but still can admit to seeing changes in the mirror :confused:

S

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Macros are fine, but the food choice isn’t always super clean ( i eat pizza, burgers n stuff) but i stay in my macros.

current macros:
180p
160c
50f

I know a month or 8 weeks isn’t much. So i guess i keep it like that for the rest of the year and see what happens.

The main goal was to get rid of all the stubborn fat FIRST and then focusing more on building mass. Just for curious sake, how would you approach that?

i cannot say how much lean mass i have or how low my bodyfat levels are. I assume they r not low cause i can grab like 1,5 handfull of fat.

I would suggest not to eat pizza and burgers if you are fighting with stubborn fat and skinny fat look.
I guess it is not regular part of you diet, but still it has its effect on inflammation which directly contributes to what you are fightin against.

As example, i have like 1-2 meals per week that is not super clean but trackable, and like one meal (restraunt, take away etc) where i can’t track super accurate.

I found my metabolism increased when eating more, specifically more healthier foods that didn’t have so many calories. I guess my metabolism was getting a workout in and got better at doing it’s job. I found eating crappier foods equaled less actual food for the same amount of calories and my metabolism slowed down, what I can only assume was from not working as much. This is what I noticed for myself, obviously YMMV. This is also just me guessing at what happened, the real explanation could be any number of things. I was also eating more times per day, roughly 5 times a day :man_shrugging: