The Results of My100 Day Recomp, What I’ve learned, and How I’m Moving Forward

To be clear- I acknowledge I look better! My disappointment has nothing to do with aesthetics, but simply, I thought I could add muscle in a calorie deficit, yet I did not.

The older I get, the more I cross over from fitness and nutrition for physique goals, into true strength and longevity goals. I know how vital it is to keep muscle for disease prevention and to age well, and that’s the bottom line!

On April 25th, I set out to simultaneously lose fat while gaining muscle.

I believed my plan would work based on two things:

1. I have evidence that I HAVE gained muscle and lost fat in a deficit back in 2020 when I first started lifting and eating more protein.
2. and second, there are actual scientific studies that SAY it’s possible to build muscle in a deficit!

So, equipped with all the optimism and faith I could muster, I stuck to my plan for an entire100 days. I knew I was losing weight, because the scale was going down. Slowly, but I was OK with that. I actually convinced myself it was BETTER that the scale was going slow, because maybe that meant I was preserving some lean muscle in the process. I was feeling leaner. My clothes were fitting better. And, I never felt like I was too restricted in my food (I ate plenty of untracked veggies, and was pretty flexible with my meals.

So, with all the excitement I could imagine, at the end of 100 days, I went to do a second Dexa scan. The results:

• I Dropped 6.1 lbs. total
• 5.4 lbs. of it was fat
• But, lost 0.8lbs muscle. (and for the record, I had similar food and water the 24 hours leading up to both tests so that the Carb/Glycogen content in my muscles would have a similar effect.
• Body fat went from 16.6% to 12.6%.

For 100 days of consistent, hard work, that seems like such a subtle change! And the lost pound of muscle has gotten me frustrated.

But, if there is one thing I’m good at, it’s picking myself up over and over (and over and over). Sometimes, I write a personal biography in my head titled (Her life was a marathon. It took her years, and years, and years to reach her goals. But, she never gave up.) LOL

Here are some takeaways that I think are going to help me moving forward from this experience.

• Maintenance requires more discipline that I want to believe. I plateaued for at least 6 weeks, doing “everything right”. No wonder I gain weight when I’m not weighing and measuring food. Because in order to just maintain, I have to weigh and measure food, not just to lose weight. It definitely explains why maintenance has felt impossible the last 5 years. I think I want it to feel effortless, but the truth is, It will always be work for me. Our food environment is too conducive to an abundance of easy to access calories that are both not satiating, AND leads to stronger cravings.
• Getting started is the hard part, but momentum is everything.
• Procrastinating my goals is my favorite excuse to postponing the work. (check out my recent post on this revelation of procrastinating getting started here)
• Getting more sleep is vital to me making better food choices during the day. When I’m tired, I always believe food will wake me up. But, when I get 8hours of sleep, I rarely get fatigued and turn to food.
• I can store 5+ lbs of EXCESS water when I overdo it on the sodium and not hit my water targets.

I also learned how easy it is to gaslight myself into thinking I’m doing everything right, but I’m not. I have to wonder, how honest am I being with myself? Here’s how I lie to myself:

• I say I’m in a calorie deficit, but I’m not weighing food, so I probably am not.
• I say I’m in a calorie deficit, yet I don’t count the condiments on my food, So, I’m probably not in a deficit.
• I say I’m in a calorie deficit, yet I don’t count veggies, so I’m probably not in a deficit.
• I say I’m in a deficit, and I’m not counting drinks, I’m probably not.
• I say I’m in a deficit, and I’m not counting “zero calorie” sweeteners, I’m probably not.
• I say I’m in a deficit, and I’m not counting supplements, gummy vitamins, calcium caramels, etc. I’m probably not.
• Extra exercise doesn’t put me in a bigger deficit. I just eat more.
• When I don’t measure my chicken, I always eat 8 ounces, thinking it’s 4! haha

What’s Next:

The last 5 weeks I’ve been staying on my diet (between 1300-1500 calories) in order to do one more bikini show. I’ve lost about 4 more lbs, but then I’m attempting to move into maintenance for a few months, while still trying to grow muscle of course!

Then, if I can maintain my weight for a few months, I am going to try to eat in a surplus to gain that muscle.