Can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time?

Yes. People new to lifting and people with fat to lose can gain muscle while they lose fat, and people who already train can too, more slowly. Lift with steady progress, eat about 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day or a little more, and eat at maintenance or a little under it. Expect the scale to move slowly while your waist, your lifts and your photos change.

Who can recomp?

Recomposition is often described as something only beginners and people carrying more fat can do. A 2020 review in the Strength and Conditioning Journal found a substantial body of studies showing it in people who already lift, and named two levers that drive it: progressive resistance training and sound nutrition. How long you have trained still matters. Gains come fastest while lifting is new to you, and more slowly after years of it.

What do the studies show?

The clearest trial put young men on a hard cut, about 40% under their needs, for four weeks, lifting and doing intervals six days a week. With 20 men in each group:

Protein a day	Lean mass	Fat mass
2.4 g per kg	+1.2 kg	−4.8 kg
1.2 g per kg	+0.1 kg	−3.5 kg

Both groups lost fat. Only the higher-protein group gained muscle at the same time, on the same cut and the same training. That makes protein and training the two things to get right. The size of the cut can be gentler.

For how fast to lose while keeping muscle, see the pace that keeps muscle.

How much should I eat?

At maintenance, or a moderate cut under it. The 40% cut above worked for four weeks in young men training six days a week, and it is hard to live with for months. The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) notes that slower weight loss keeps more lean mass in leaner people. Work out your maintenance with the calorie calculator, and see the energy check for what a sensible level looks like.

In Nume: two goals run a recomposition. Maintain plans your day at maintenance, 5% either side. Lose body fat plans a cut of 15% under maintenance, starting at 10% for the first two weeks. If you’ve trained steadily for three months or more, you start at the full cut. With either goal, train twice a week or more and your protein is set for training.

How much protein?

About 1.6 g per kg a day. A review of 49 trials of protein supplements alongside lifting found that muscle gains levelled off at about that intake. In a cut, more can help: the trial above used 2.4 g per kg, and the ISSN says lean, trained people in a deficit may need 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg of lean mass to keep their muscle. See how to get enough protein from food you already eat, or work out your range with the protein calculator.

In Nume: with two or more sessions a week, your protein is set at 1.6 g per kg (range 1.4 to 1.8), built up about 12 g a week from what you eat now, so it stays reachable. While it builds, the day shows where you are, as in “This week: about 75 g · building to 130 g”. If you’ve trained steadily for three months or more, you get the full amount from the start. Every meal shows its protein.

How should I train?

Strength work for all the major muscle groups on two or more days a week, as the WHO recommends, with each muscle worked at least twice a week where you can. A review of ten studies found twice a week grew muscle more than once, at the same weekly volume. Then make it harder over time. The American College of Sports Medicine’s rule is plain: once you can do one or two reps more than the target, add a little weight. If you are starting out, see where to start at the gym.

In Nume: workouts are written for the days you can train, at home or at a gym, 15 to 60 minutes, with sets, reps and rest you follow step by step. After a full session that felt easy, the next similar one steps up a little, with a bit more load or one or two more reps. After a hard one, it stays the same.

How do I know it’s working?

The scale is the weakest sign here, because muscle gained can hide fat lost. Use four things together:

Your waist. Measure it midway between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips, just above the belly button, after breathing out naturally, as the UK’s NICE guidance describes. Same time of day, every week or two.
Your lifts. Weights and reps going up across weeks.
Photos. Same light, same pose, every two to four weeks.
Your weight, read over weeks. Two or three weeks of trend, never a single morning. See why the scale may not be moving.

A waist going down at a steady weight, with lifts going up, is a recomposition.

In Nume: Progress shows your strength beside your weight: your best set for each lift, and your sets a week by movement group (push, pull, squat, hinge, lunge, core and carry). Add up to four private photos to a weigh-in. Only you see them, and they are never read by AI. Your weight is compared with a weigh-in at least 14 days earlier, so one heavy day doesn’t read as a setback.

When should I stop recomping?

When your weight has been flat and your lifts have stalled for several weeks, pick a direction. Cut if you want to be leaner. Eat a little over maintenance if you want to be bigger and stronger, as in how to build muscle. Choosing a goal walks through the choice.

In Nume: change your goal in Profile > Goal or tell Talk in one sentence. Your energy and protein update, and Profile shows the reason for each.

Recomposition with Nume

Nume runs the parts of a recomposition that take months to keep up. Your energy sits at maintenance or a moderate cut, with the reason shown. Your protein is set for training and builds up week by week from what you eat now. Workouts are written for your days and step up when a session felt easy. Meals come from dishes you already eat, at your own eating times, and the rest of the day adjusts when one runs heavier or lighter. Progress puts your strength, your sets and your photos beside the scale, so you see the change the scale misses. See how Nume works across a day.

Common questions

Is recomposition slower than cutting and then bulking?

For new lifters, often not, since they can gain while losing. For lean people who have trained for years, the gains are slower, and many choose separate phases of building and cutting.

Can I recomp without a gym?

Yes. Bodyweight and band work build muscle when they get harder over time: more reps, slower lowering, harder versions. Nume writes home workouts as well as gym ones.

Does recomposition work for women?

The same levers apply: progressive lifting, enough protein and an intake at or a little under maintenance. Most of the trials here studied men, and the ISSN notes that research on women is thinner.

I’m “skinny fat”. What should I do?

Start at maintenance, lift with steady progress and keep protein near 1.6 g per kg. New lifters are the group recomposition suits best. See choosing a goal.

Checked on 12 November 2026 · The Nume team