Hi,
Over the last year and a bit, I’ve definitely fit the profile of someone spinning their wheels. I firstly bulked too hard, took in way too many calories and gained too much fat, and was doing way too much volume to the point progress stalled. I then decided to reset and go on a cut to get rid of the fat, which took me to the other end of the extreme of very low calories.
I’d gained some decent strength and maybe a bit of muscle when all was said and done, but comparing my pictures and considering the huge amount of effort I’d put in doing the wrong things, it was a massive disappointment. This was the timeline in pictures:
The general consensus was that I should forget about the concepts of bulking and cutting, sit around maintenance while consuming high quality, protein-dense meals, and train like hell for progress – so a recomposition strategy.
Unfortunately, shortly after that point, I had to have some surgery on my jaw. Nothing major, but I had some plates in there that basically prevented me from training for months while the bone healed.
In that time, my body essentially defaulted to what I presume is my natural body fat setpoint. I was just eating normally at this point, which I was around 2200 to 2500 calories, and after a month of being back at training, I now look like this at 162, so 9lbs or so of fat and water added:
So my main thoughts now are to give recomposition a shot following the template that I outlined above, but I’m a little cautious about it.
Having been going around in circles for over a year now, the prospect of spending a good one or two years at maintenance does concern me a a bit. From what I can tell, it’s very difficult to actually see yourself making visible progress on a recomp, so I’d just worry this would end up marking the winning trifecta of failed bulk, failed cut, and then failed body recomposition 
.
I’m also struggling to understand the logistics surrounding how long and for who a recomp is actually effective for. It’s obviously most effective in rank beginners, and while I surely haven’t exhausted my noob gains despite training for years (because I’ve been doing the wrong stuff) it’s difficult to get an accurate representation of my ‘level’. I know it’s low, but the question is how low, and is it low enough to really be able to shake things up with a recomp. Bit concerned I’m in the worst category of not a total noob where a recomp is super effective, but obviously not out of the beginner stage where I’d have enough of a base to which the direction I should go in would be super obvious.
I do wish I was at that leaner weight of 153; I was reading Jeff Nippards book, and his take on recomp was basically to have a ‘main’ goal of either losing fat or building muscle, and then you’re actually in a very small surplus or very small deficit. Which when you think about it, has to essentially be what’s happening when you try to recomp anyway – you’re aiming for around maintenance and each day but you’re going to be very slightly in a surplus or deficit which adds up over time.
Looking at where I’m at now, do you think I’m in an ideal position to really give this recomp a shot? Is it a better shot than ripping that bit of fat off to get back to 153 and then continue on a very slow surplus? I’m presuming so. Tagging @jskrabac and @TrainForPain as I know you’re both very knowledgeable in this area. Thanks!