Women interested in body recomposition are ready to build muscle and lose fat so their body looks the way they want. Focusing in on body recomposition goals means taking your fitness into your own hands. This is especially important for women. Historically, women haven’t felt supported so that they can pursue their fitness goals. The hold of toxic diet culture from previous decades definitely had something to do with this. 

Body recomposition is all about making long-lasting changes instead of following fad diets or exercise. Building a fitness plan and routine with your goals in mind will help you lose fat, gain muscle, and find yourself with the body that you dreamed of. 

Understanding Body Composition 

What is your body composition? How do you change it? It’s important to understand the answers to these questions before you get started with your body recomposition journey. 

The first thing to understand is what body composition isn’t. Traditionally, people have used measures like Body Mass Index (BMI) and weight to determine overall health. These measures just aren’t that accurate because they don’t take muscle mass into account. This causes discrepancies in their model. 

Instead of looking at numbers without the full context of a person and their unique body, body composition measures the percentage of fat, muscle, and bone you have in your body. This allows for a more accurate representation of full body health. It also allows individuals to better set goals for their health and track progress — because instead of tracking weight, in body recomposition you track percentage body fat and body measurements. 

Body Recomposition for Women 

When pursuing body recomposition, the goal is to lose fat while gaining muscle. This is the best way to change the look of your body, and it usually doesn’t necessarily mean losing weight. 

Success in body recomposition means reaching your goals, but also comes with a ton of other benefits, like a faster metabolism, increased bone density, improved mental health, and more confidence. These benefits mean big changes in every facet of life and promote not only improved well-being in the present, but healthy aging. 

When choosing to work toward losing fat while gaining muscle, it’s important to set a goal. If fat loss is your priority, then we recommend setting a body fat percentage goal to work toward. This gives you something to strive for and also will motivate you to keep going. If you want to get stronger and improve muscle, set a body measurement goal for different body parts where you want to see the most change. 

What to Eat for Body Recomposition 

What you eat is incredibly important to your body recomposition goals. That’s because a lot of body change actually happens in the kitchen, not the gym. This is especially true for fat loss. A lot of fat loss comes from being in a calorie deficit, so you eat fewer calories than you burn in a day.

It’s not just calories, though. Choosing lean proteins, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables will help you change how your body looks. One way to promote better eating is tracking macros. Macros, or macronutrients, are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Your body needs a specific percentage of each of these for optimal functioning. Learning more about macros can help you make great strides to improving your foals. 

We also recommend prioritizing nutritious foods. This means leaving processed foods and foods with high sugar behind. Not only do these foods often contribute to increased body fat, your body also burns through the energy from these foods quickly, so you will need to eat more to be full. Eating foods high in protein and fiber will keep you satiated longer. 

Just remember — you don’t have to stick to traditional “diet” foods. Let the freedom of macros and a whole foods diet liberate you to eat what you want as you work toward your goals. 

Exercise for Body Recomposition

Exercise is incredibly important to body recomposition. When you gain muscle, you tone your body. Even if you don’t lose weight, you might look thinner or sculpted in your body. 

First, you will want to set up a fitness routine that works for you. Even just 30 minutes a day can make a huge difference. For body recomposition, strength and resistance training will be your best friend. We recommend starting with bodyweight exercises and then moving on to exercises with weights or exercise machines at the gym.

If you’re a complete beginner, start small. Many women who pursue fat loss goals often try to do too much too soon and then feel discouraged when they don’t see results fast enough — or burn out. Body recomposition is a slow process, but you will see progress!

If you want to change it up, HIIT workouts, CrossFit, and sprint (or speed) running is a great way to build muscle and get your heart rate up. 

For a more targeted approach, hiring a coach or personal trainer may help you achieve your goals. 

Tracking Body Recomposition 

Like with any goal you may have, tracking it to see your success is one of the most important parts. You need to be able to see your progress to ensure you are hitting your benchmarks and seeing the results you want. 

Using a tool like the ZOZOFIT app makes tracking body recomposition really easy. WIth ZOZOFIT’s 3D body scanning technology, you can get your measurement within minutes. ZOZOFIT’s app also has a goal setting feature, so there’s no reason not to track your progress. 

One of the things many users like about ZOZOFIT is that it displays a 3D mesh rendition of the body, making it easier for you to objectively see the changes. You can also view two scans side-by-side or use the ColorMetric feature to see how your body composition changes between scans. 

Make a pact with yourself. Body recomposition can be difficult, but it is possible and you can find the success you want and deserve in decreasing body fat percentage and increasing muscle mass.