It's officially one year since I gave birth to Sage 🤯
Now that it's officially been one year, I thought it was time to give you a bit of an update on body composition, how things have changed and what my goals are now.
Scroll down for the deets!
Body Composition and Goals Update
My goal throughout my journey was never to hit a specific weight.
Instead, I wanted to improve my body composition: lower body fat while increasing muscle.
This combination allows for more sustainable and health promoting weight loss progress while minimizing weight regain.
I held off on setting my goals until I took my first InBody to find out my baseline. This gave me an idea of what my starting point was and what direction I should go.
I kept track of my progress using the InBody which measures body fat, muscle mass and a lot more. I used the InBody machine at my dad's "fancy" gym until I found out that my local gym had one that I could use as well, which was very convenient!
Below is the first InBody I took after having Sage (9/23/23):
My baseline results taken on 9/23/23 were:
This was taken nearly two months after having Sage, so I was already a little bit on my way with my postpartum body recomposition journey. But this was the earliest test I could take.
Body fat mass (the total amount of fat in pounds) - 43.5 pounds
Skeletal muscle mass (the total amount of muscle in pounds) - 54 pounds
Percent body fat - 30.7%
From here, my goals were:
Bring body fat down to the "athletic or fitness range" of 19-22%
Increase muscle mass by 2-5 pounds
Lose 15-20 pounds body fat
Unfortunately, the printer ran out of ink when I was taking my test, so it's a bit difficult to read.
My latest InBody results taken on 6/26/24 were:
Body fat mass - 24.8 pounds
Skeletal muscle mass - 55.6 pounds
Percent body fat - 19.7%
This means my end changes were:
Total body fat lost - 18.7 pounds
Total muscle mass gained - 1.6 pounds
Total percent body fat lost - 11%
Up until this point, I was able to achieve my fat mass and body fat percentage goals. As a result, I'm leaner than I was last year but I'm still in a good range that supports my health goals, too.
I got close to achieving my muscle mass goal, but still shy by about .4 pounds. This was a huge win for me regardless because I have a tough time putting on muscle. Plus, most people lose up to 25% muscle during a typical weight loss journey. So I'm still very excited about these results!
My goals now
I'm not looking to lose any more body fat. I'm at a good range for my body and my lifestyle. The number will probably fluctuate within the range of 19-21% depending on the day, and that is perfectly fine.
I would like to increase muscle by just a little bit more (around .5-1 pounds).
Eventually Trevor and I might end up having more kids and I want to make sure my body is in the strongest state it can be. Having more muscle will help me stay strong throughout my pregnancy, prevent back issues in the third trimester and make my next postpartum weight loss and fitness journey even easier.
With all that in mind, my new goal is to maintain body fat while slightly increasing muscle and strength.
The importance of body recomposition
One very interesting thing to note: I weigh more now than I did pre-pregnancy, yet I'm at a healthier and more fit body composition now than I was before.
Pre-pregnancy, I would weigh between 118-122 pounds with a body fat of about 20-22%. My muscle mass also hovered around 53 pounds.
I now weigh about 7-8 pounds more than I did pre-pregnancy, yet my body fat percentage is better, I'm more toned, I'm stronger and I feel better.
This is a testament to the importance of body recomposition and ignoring the scale.
The scale is a terrible means of measuring progress. You could weigh less but have a much higher body fat percent if you purely focus on what the scale is telling you.
Regardless of if your "weight loss goal" is motivated by how you look or for health, the goal should always be body recomposition.
Let me break it down for you.
If your weight loss goal is motivated by the mirror
Body recomposition results in more fat loss. This means it
makes you look leaner.
makes you look more toned.
makes your clothes fit better.
improves your metabolism and prevents weight loss plateaus.
gives you more flexibility with what you're able to eat while maintaing progress.
shuts off hunger.
reduces cravings.
makes achieving your goals easier and more sustainable.
If your weight loss goal is motivated by health
Body recomposition focuses on holding onto muscle mass. This means it:
improves metabolic health.
improves fat to muscle ratio, which is an indicator of heart health.(1)
improves bone health and helps prevent sarcopenia or osteoporosis.(2)
helps improve insulin sensitivity and helps prevent Type 2 Diabetes.(3)
helps stabilize blood sugar levels.
helps improve brain health and possibly reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimers.(4)
improves energy levels.
helps reduce depression.(5)
So regardless of your "weight loss goal", it's important to understand how body recomposition works and how to tools differ from standard weight loss protocols to reap the benefits.
You can get the nutritional step-by-step body recomposition details plus over delish 50 recipes with my brand new 6 Week Summer Meal Plan.
This is the exact program that I followed throughout my postpartum journey!
Grab it HERE.
❤️,
Autumn
Autumn Elle Nutrition
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