Posted in the “beginner” section as I’m highly de-trained (2 years of not training)
20lbs lighter and fatter, I want to try recomposition (slower results are good enough to me as I just want to look good this summer).
As a routine I will follow a basic U / L: Lyle’s GBR.
As a diet I don’t know how it works. Maintenance calories or a slight deficit?
This is probably the best resource I could provide by the great @Christian_Thibaudeau
Recomping is a myth, kinda. You will likely put on a lot of muscle in your beginning months and could also lose fat while doing so, but this will be short lived.
Standard protocol is to cut first and bulk later, reason being that it makes no sense to start bulking (and putting on extra fat you didn’t have before) if you aren’t able to hold yourself accountable and cut properly. That being said, you will still likely build muscle for the first month or two even while cutting because beginner gains are absurd.
I can’t help but notice the timing of this post… Don’t wind up being one of those new years resolution quitters, you owe it to yourself to do more than that.
Try the old 5-2.
Start with “Maintenance” calories five days per week. And then the day of your Toughest workout and the following day eat a slight surplus for recovery.
So that’s five days of "lower"calories and 2 days of “higher” calories.
Try that for 6 weeks and see what kind of results you are getting.