I’m sure you are in the same boat as I am - wondering why your body is gaining fat as you get older. I mean, you eat “well” and exercise “enough”, right? 

What gives?

As you near the fourth decade of life and beyond, you start to notice subtle changes in your body. Perhaps it is a bit of weight gain but what I normally see with my clients is that stubborn fat around the mid-section seems to become more, let’s say “mature”. And in case you didn’t know, that’s not the area where you want more fat to be stored as it can have a tremendous negative impact on health.

So, what can you do? Glad you asked because we are going to learn about body recomposition. This is where you reduce your body fat while either increase muscle mass or at the very least, maintaining it. 

I’m sure you don’t need any buy in for having the goal of body recomposition so let’s get right to it. How to do it and more importantly, how hormones factor into reducing that stubborn body fat.

The first step is the obvious - NUTRITION. In an effort to sound too much like a broken record (if you have read any of my previous articles), I am simply going to recommend following the Metabolic Efficiency Training concept. It will cover all of the things you need to do. HERE is more info on that topic and if you want to listen to a few podcast episodes about it, click HERE.

The second step is fairly obvious also - EXERCISE! But wait, not just any type of exercise. You absolutely MUST include strength training to a good cardio training routine. And, don’t forget to add a periodized, progressive overload approach so you see constant improvement.

Finally, we make our way to HORMONES. While it is not necessarily a step, it is usually the most overlooked piece of the body recomposition puzzle. As you may remember from my articles about brain fog, chronic fatigue and sugar cravings related to hormones, hormones are messengers that signal different things to happen in the body.

Specific to this article about body recomposition, the following hormones are ones we really need to pay attention to:

• Insulin: being more insulin sensitive allows nutrients to be stored in muscle rather than fat.
• Cortisol: chronic stress and high cortisol can break down muscle and promote fat storage.
• Testosterone: helps to support muscle protein synthesis, recovery and fat utilization.
• Growth hormone and IGF-1: both stimulate muscle growth and fat burning, especially during sleep and recovery.
• Thyroid hormones: responsible in regulating metabolic rate.
• Estrogen and progesterone: both can influence fat distribution, water balance and energy metabolism.

Now here’s where it gets good. If you eat too few calories or too little fat on a daily basis, this can increase sex and thyroid hormone misfiring. To add to that, consuming too little protein and having blood sugar spikes can cause chaos for insulin and cortisol balance in your body. Both of these can lead to increased body fat. 

Also keep in mind that consuming enough micronutrients, such as zinc, magnesium and vitamin D are also crucial for optimal hormone production.

Correcting hormone firing patterns can be quite complex unless you have your hormones measured and a nutrition professional uses your test results to create a customized meal plan and exercise program. It’s actually much easier than you think to improve your body composition but the thing that holds most people back from being successful is that they follow the same exact nutrition and exercise plans that they used to years ago when their hormones were likely not misfiring.

If you want more information about hormone misfiring, why it is important and how to fix it to improv your health, fitness, longevity and yes, your body composition, be sure to watch my free webinar,“It’s not you, it’s your hormones.”

Hopefully you understand now that body recomposition is not simply about counting calories and exercise more. Without first knowing which hormones are misfiring, you will only be throwing spaghetti against a wall, hoping and praying that some of it sticks. The combination of customized nutrition plans, exercise programs and proper recovery and lifestyle modifications can help you with your body recomposition goals, as long as you understand what is happening with your hormonal misfiring patterns first.

Want more help with this? Reach to the team of Performance Dietitians at eNRG Performance.

PS - If you are experiencing weight gain, increased body fat, brain fog, chronic stress, sugar cravings and/or poor sleep, it is very likely that you have some type of hormonal misfiring. In fact, optimizing hormones is the center of all health and nutrition transformations.

Our newly updated Virtual FatBurn Blueprint Program will help you optimize your hormones through nutrition, exercise and lifestyle customization plans to help you FEEL, LOOK and PERFORM better in life. If you are serious about your health, longevity and fitness, check out the Virtual FatBurn Blueprint Program HERE.