What Does “Diet Locked In” Really Mean for Body Recomposition?

[bayardtrustin]

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

 

[woundcarping]

How many calories are you aiming for each day?

Generally speaking, carbs, fat, and protein are all beneficial. Back in 2018 I went low carb, lost 80lb, then put about 60lb back on.

On reta, I've found that if I'm feeling grumpy, carbs tend to turn things around.

If your intake is balanced and you're meeting your needs, it sounds like you've got things sorted. Are you thinking about keeping ketosis going indefinitely?

 

[bayardtrustin]

woundcarping said:

How many calories are you aiming for each day?

Generally speaking, carbs, fat, and protein are all beneficial. Back in 2018 I went low carb, lost 80lb, then put about 60lb back on.

On reta, I've found that if I'm feeling grumpy, carbs tend to turn things around.

If your intake is balanced and you're meeting your needs, it sounds like you've got things sorted. Are you thinking about keeping ketosis going indefinitely?

I’m keeping calories near 1700 — that puts me 500 under my TDEE — and I’ll stay there until I hit my goal weight. Staying in ketosis is fine by me; it’s the best I’ve ever felt. I should have added earlier that for most of the year I was also doing OMAD. What I eat each day now looks like this: a morning protein shake with 50g (plus fiber, collagen, Metamucil), an afternoon protein shake with 50mg, then dinner with 6-8 oz of protein (steak, fish, etc.), 4-5 oz of green beans (nearly every day), 1 avocado (daily), and either a small Coke Zero or water.

 

[5byfive]

If serious lifting is something you have never done, then during that first year or more, recomp can likely still work in your favor. A lean bulk might deliver a somewhat better outcome, yet the difference is probably small. Once you drop well under 12%, that likely stops being true. All the recomp gains I could ever get have now been reached in my case, though for a while I was able to ride that train. After that point, it gets harder.

Should a bit more weight loss still be your goal, hold the deficit near 500 calories. Yes, tracking is required if 'locking in' is what you want, and a solid understanding of maintenance plus what a small deficit looks like is something you really need. Past that, 1g of protien per gram of bodyweight (at least 75% of that from comllete protien sourcrs) is considered safe, with carbs and fat splitting the remainder evenly. Roughly evenly spaced across the day should be the balk of that. Those are the basics.

Everything above rests on the assumption that muscle gain is your aim, since a trainer is who you are working with. If that is not the case, then disregard everything above.

 

[bayardtrustin]

5byfive said:

If serious lifting is something you have never done, then during that first year or more, recomp can likely still work in your favor. A lean bulk might deliver a somewhat better outcome, yet the difference is probably small. Once you drop well under 12%, that likely stops being true. All the recomp gains I could ever get have now been reached in my case, though for a while I was able to ride that train. After that point, it gets harder.

Should a bit more weight loss still be your goal, hold the deficit near 500 calories. Yes, tracking is required if 'locking in' is what you want, and a solid understanding of maintenance plus what a small deficit looks like is something you really need. Past that, 1g of protien per gram of bodyweight (at least 75% of that from comllete protien sourcrs) is considered safe, with carbs and fat splitting the remainder evenly. Roughly evenly spaced across the day should be the balk of that. Those are the basics.

Everything above rests on the assumption that muscle gain is your aim, since a trainer is who you are working with. If that is not the case, then disregard everything above.

Right — this is the first time I’ve trained with real intent. So from what you’re saying, roughly a year of body recomp is what I should anticipate. Beyond that, I’d like to know what the reasoning or evidence is for your view that further recomp gains are no longer available to you?

 

[5byfive]

I've trained hard for roughly 3 years now, and since I'm quite lean, adding more muscle isn't happening unless my weight goes up. That's why I go with a long, gradual bulk and then a short cut.

How long someone can keep recomping isn't set in stone. If a person has plenty of weight to shed, they can stretch it out further. Still, the gains from that first year of lifting are unmatched. Building muscle will never come as easily as it does for you at this moment.

 

[bayardtrustin]

5byfive said:

I've trained hard for roughly 3 years now, and since I'm quite lean, adding more muscle isn't happening unless my weight goes up. That's why I go with a long, gradual bulk and then a short cut.

How long someone can keep recomping isn't set in stone. If a person has plenty of weight to shed, they can stretch it out further. Still, the gains from that first year of lifting are unmatched. Building muscle will never come as easily as it does for you at this moment.

Understood, that’s completely logical. On days when you lift, do you take in those extra calories you’ve burned?

 

[5byfive]

Every day I stick to roughly the same intake. I keep it fairly strict. If things swing around too much, reaching your targets gets tough, I think—though as long as you stay sensible, your average calories likely matter far more than nailing an exact number daily.

 

[Grogu]

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

 

[jungletech]

For me, staying mostly organic — plenty of veg and meat from the farmers market — is a whole different tier where health is concerned.

 

[bayardtrustin]

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

On the carb question, I get where you’re coming from. That said, my current state is the best I’ve ever felt. For my body, keeping carbs extremely low seems to do the trick - energy is absurdly high, focus is razor sharp, and sleep is the best I’ve ever had.

 

[Grogu]

bayardtrustin said:

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

On the carb question, I get where you’re coming from. That said, my current state is the best I’ve ever felt. For my body, keeping carbs extremely low seems to do the trick - energy is absurdly high, focus is razor sharp, and sleep is the best I’ve ever had.

I get where you're coming from — I've had (and still have) those exact same thoughts. That said, I'd bet the 110 pounds you dropped, the training you're doing, and keeping your food clean are what's actually behind feeling better than ever — not the absence of carbs.

To be clear, I'm not advocating for junk carbs or loading up on huge amounts of them. Honestly, I still find it hard to eat carbs in any amount, but I don't go out of my way to dodge them either. It took a ton of pushing from the nutritionist I was seeing just to get me to entertain the idea of putting carbs back in. All that said, I'm with you 100% — you should do what works for you. My only point is that your success probably didn't come from skipping carbs; it came from everything else.

 

[bayardtrustin]

Grogu said:

bayardtrustin said:

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

On the carb question, I get where you’re coming from. That said, my current state is the best I’ve ever felt. For my body, keeping carbs extremely low seems to do the trick - energy is absurdly high, focus is razor sharp, and sleep is the best I’ve ever had.

I get where you're coming from — I've had (and still have) those exact same thoughts. That said, I'd bet the 110 pounds you dropped, the training you're doing, and keeping your food clean are what's actually behind feeling better than ever — not the absence of carbs.

To be clear, I'm not advocating for junk carbs or loading up on huge amounts of them. Honestly, I still find it hard to eat carbs in any amount, but I don't go out of my way to dodge them either. It took a ton of pushing from the nutritionist I was seeing just to get me to entertain the idea of putting carbs back in. All that said, I'm with you 100% — you should do what works for you. My only point is that your success probably didn't come from skipping carbs; it came from everything else.

I appreciate the tips and direction. I only wish I’d come across this forum earlier!

 

[Grogu]

bayardtrustin said:

Grogu said:

bayardtrustin said:

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

Grogu said:

From what I can tell, your diet sounds “locked in.”

• You’re aware of what you’re consuming
  
• You stick with it (otherwise you wouldn’t have dropped so much weight)
  
• Your calories and macros are in check

Working with a nutritionist took a lot of effort , but I’ve learned to enjoy carbs in a measured way, and I agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t believe you need to cut them out entirely or stay in ketosis to get good health outcomes and/or body recomposition. As of today, I’ve lost about 113lbs. Early on, I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a lot of them, but I do eat them.

On the carb question, I get where you’re coming from. That said, my current state is the best I’ve ever felt. For my body, keeping carbs extremely low seems to do the trick - energy is absurdly high, focus is razor sharp, and sleep is the best I’ve ever had.

I get where you're coming from — I've had (and still have) those exact same thoughts. That said, I'd bet the 110 pounds you dropped, the training you're doing, and keeping your food clean are what's actually behind feeling better than ever — not the absence of carbs.

To be clear, I'm not advocating for junk carbs or loading up on huge amounts of them. Honestly, I still find it hard to eat carbs in any amount, but I don't go out of my way to dodge them either. It took a ton of pushing from the nutritionist I was seeing just to get me to entertain the idea of putting carbs back in. All that said, I'm with you 100% — you should do what works for you. My only point is that your success probably didn't come from skipping carbs; it came from everything else.

I appreciate the tips and direction. I only wish I’d come across this forum earlier!

I'd say a lot of folks in this community feel the same way—wishing they'd discovered us earlier. Still, we've made it, and that counts for something. This is a solid spot to be. Nice work on everything you've achieved.

 

[tubby]

bayardtrustin said:

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

Since you've spelled out your parameters and appear to be asking sincerely, I'll do my best to give you an answer that's actually helpful:

When it comes to dieting, finding some plan that pushes your BMI below 30 is pretty easy. Actually sticking with that plan is clearly not easy (that's the whole reason we're all gathered here), but the nearer you get to a specific target weight, the more the outcomes start to diverge depending on which dietary route you take.

"Calories" is one possible lever, but if you're already at 1700/day, that shows you've already cut your food intake back considerably, and unless self-inflicted suffering is your thing, pulling that lever even harder looks like a fairly foolish move. Sure, it would get results. It just isn't the smart play.

At this stage, my view is that the only reliable path forward is trial and error, because each body reacts differently to each tweak. If I were standing where you are, the first experiment I'd run would be reducing protein. Were no GLP in the picture, I'd drop it to roughly 50 grams/day as a test to watch how the scale responds (raising fat intake to compensate, naturally, given that you're doing keto), let a few weeks pass, then compare the before and after and adjust from there. With a GLP in the mix (and it probably messes with our hormonal response in ways we don't fully anticipate), I can't say how that would alter the advice, since I haven't had to deal with that situation myself yet.

Another option is to switch up where your fat comes from, or maybe where your protein comes from, and let short self-experiments reveal what happens. The usual mental model is "macros," yet the truth is that proteins are really bundles of varying amino acid distributions (plus other hormonal effects that might tag along inside the foods themselves). Muscle meat is a go-to protein in keto circles, but for me it led to weight gain (unlike other protein forms). For some people it produces weight loss. In the same way, fats typically arrive as triglycerides, and the fatty acid makeup varies enormously from one source to the next. Sorry if I'm cracking open Pandora's box on you here, but you did ask.

 

[wildweasel]

bayardtrustin said:

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

Happy to field questions. I noticed your separate thread about T levels and left a response there.

When someone says their diet is locked in, that covers several things simultaneously:

1) you know the macros for every food you consume

2) you know the calorie level that counts as your "maintence"

3) you log everything in a near-scientific way, so your choices come from data rather than from instinct

track pretty much all of it. I wrapped up a recomp today, as it happens, and I'll post my numbers.

Nailing down your maintenance calorie intake matters a lot. Mine runs high since I'm active with running and the gym roughly 13 hours per week.. my maintenance sits around ~2700 cals.. so for a recomp you'd want roughly a ~300 calorie deficit, which for me meant aiming near 2400

I went from 14% body fat down to 11%. I logged essentially everything in a spreadsheet https://cryptpad.fr/sheet/#/2/sheet/view/aA5MbY4EnTQWN2vWcNVV5BdBscny7QxZrHhtY-+tQBU/

At this point I'm chasing clean, lean muscle while keeping body fat low.. close to your situation, except my recomp is finished and now I just want clean gains.

That goal flips the recomp approach: instead it's a 300 calorie surplus (2700+300=3000 as my daily target), and here's how the daily tracking looks

bayardtrustin said:

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

Great! check out the spreadsheet I linked above, I just completed a body recomp myself! 14% down to 11%, with modest muscle gain... now I'm after full muscle gain, but here's the TLDR for you:

your job is to establish your daily maintenance calorie levels, then eat 300 calories below maintenance. If you hit that target, your recomp will succeed.

1. Buy a biometric scale that measures all the fancy stuff. Step on it daily and log your numbers in a spreadsheet
   
2. Don't rely on daily scale readings because smart scales are pretty dumb. average across a 5 day sliding window and go by those figures instead
   
3. Download an app for logging food and use it for everything you eat. This only works if you prepare most of your own meals. get a food scale as well.
   
4. Log macros for every food you consume.
   
5. Determine your "maintence" calorie level by picking an estimate, watching it for a week, and tweaking.
   
6. To recomp successfully and add modest muscle while losing fat, stay 200-500 cals under your personal maintenance intake

 

[bayardtrustin]

tubby said:

bayardtrustin said:

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

Since you've spelled out your parameters and appear to be asking sincerely, I'll do my best to give you an answer that's actually helpful:

When it comes to dieting, finding some plan that pushes your BMI below 30 is pretty easy. Actually sticking with that plan is clearly not easy (that's the whole reason we're all gathered here), but the nearer you get to a specific target weight, the more the outcomes start to diverge depending on which dietary route you take.

"Calories" is one possible lever, but if you're already at 1700/day, that shows you've already cut your food intake back considerably, and unless self-inflicted suffering is your thing, pulling that lever even harder looks like a fairly foolish move. Sure, it would get results. It just isn't the smart play.

At this stage, my view is that the only reliable path forward is trial and error, because each body reacts differently to each tweak. If I were standing where you are, the first experiment I'd run would be reducing protein. Were no GLP in the picture, I'd drop it to roughly 50 grams/day as a test to watch how the scale responds (raising fat intake to compensate, naturally, given that you're doing keto), let a few weeks pass, then compare the before and after and adjust from there. With a GLP in the mix (and it probably messes with our hormonal response in ways we don't fully anticipate), I can't say how that would alter the advice, since I haven't had to deal with that situation myself yet.

Another option is to switch up where your fat comes from, or maybe where your protein comes from, and let short self-experiments reveal what happens. The usual mental model is "macros," yet the truth is that proteins are really bundles of varying amino acid distributions (plus other hormonal effects that might tag along inside the foods themselves). Muscle meat is a go-to protein in keto circles, but for me it led to weight gain (unlike other protein forms). For some people it produces weight loss. In the same way, fats typically arrive as triglycerides, and the fatty acid makeup varies enormously from one source to the next. Sorry if I'm cracking open Pandora's box on you here, but you did ask.

Wow! I appreciate you laying out your reasoning. There’s definitely a lot there for me to think about. The part about protein intake stands out as especially useful. Your post helps a lot!

wildweasel said:

bayardtrustin said:

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

Happy to field questions. I noticed your separate thread about T levels and left a response there.

When someone says their diet is locked in, that covers several things simultaneously:

1) you know the macros for every food you consume

2) you know the calorie level that counts as your "maintence"

3) you log everything in a near-scientific way, so your choices come from data rather than from instinct

track pretty much all of it. I wrapped up a recomp today, as it happens, and I'll post my numbers.

Nailing down your maintenance calorie intake matters a lot. Mine runs high since I'm active with running and the gym roughly 13 hours per week.. my maintenance sits around ~2700 cals.. so for a recomp you'd want roughly a ~300 calorie deficit, which for me meant aiming near 2400





View attachment 10708

I went from 14% body fat down to 11%. I logged essentially everything in a spreadsheet https://cryptpad.fr/sheet/#/2/sheet/view/aA5MbY4EnTQWN2vWcNVV5BdBscny7QxZrHhtY-+tQBU/

At this point I'm chasing clean, lean muscle while keeping body fat low.. close to your situation, except my recomp is finished and now I just want clean gains.

That goal flips the recomp approach: instead it's a 300 calorie surplus (2700+300=3000 as my daily target), and here's how the daily tracking looks

View attachment 10709

bayardtrustin said:

I know this is a long post, so I appreciate anyone who reads through it. I’m hoping to get advice from people who’ve been at this longer than I have, especially about the phrase “locked in” when it comes to diet and what that actually looks like in practice.

These are the numbers I’m working with right now:

• Protein: at least 124g, calculated from my lean mass
  
• Fiber: roughly 35g
  
• Carbs: under 25g
  
• Fat: however much is needed

Almost everything I eat is unprocessed or minimally processed whole food. The one thing that doesn’t fit that pattern is a protein shake I have every day.

To give some background, the last year has brought a huge change for me. I dropped around 110 lbs using Tirz and Reta, and for the past couple of months I’ve been doing full-body resistance training with a personal trainer. My bloodwork looks very good. Between a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, my body fat went from 48% to 21%. My goal weight is still about 15 lbs away, and I’m aiming for roughly 15% body fat.

Since early 2025 I’ve been following keto, and I’d say I stick to it about 95% of the time. These days my main goal is body recomposition. Bulking isn’t what I’m after. I want to keep the leanness I’ve achieved while adding muscle and definition.

So I’m asking: at this point, what does a diet that’s genuinely “locked in” actually look like? Is my current approach on the right track, or is there something I should change?

Thanks for any input. This forum has helped me a lot, and I only regret not finding it earlier.

Great! check out the spreadsheet I linked above, I just completed a body recomp myself! 14% down to 11%, with modest muscle gain... now I'm after full muscle gain, but here's the TLDR for you:

your job is to establish your daily maintenance calorie levels, then eat 300 calories below maintenance. If you hit that target, your recomp will succeed.

1. Buy a biometric scale that measures all the fancy stuff. Step on it daily and log your numbers in a spreadsheet
   
2. Don't rely on daily scale readings because smart scales are pretty dumb. average across a 5 day sliding window and go by those figures instead
   
3. Download an app for logging food and use it for everything you eat. This only works if you prepare most of your own meals. get a food scale as well.
   
4. Log macros for every food you consume.
   
5. Determine your "maintence" calorie level by picking an estimate, watching it for a week, and tweaking.
   
6. To recomp successfully and add modest muscle while losing fat, stay 200-500 cals under your personal maintenance intake

Do you eat back the calories you burn during training? Say you burn 500cal from lifting — do you then tack those 500cal onto what you’re aiming to eat that day?