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

[bayardtrustin]

Please excuse the longer post, but I’m looking for some guidance from those with more experience. Specifically around what it really means to have your diet “locked in.”

Right now, I’m targeting:

At least 124g of protein (based on my lean mass)

Around 35g of fiber

Less than 25g of carbs

Fats as needed

My diet is mostly clean, whole foods with very little processing. The only real exception is a daily protein shake.

For context, over the past year I’ve made a major transformation. I used Tirz and Reta to lose about 110 lbs and have been working with a personal trainer for the last couple of months, focusing on full-body resistance training. My bloodwork is in a great place. I had a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, going from 48% body fat down to 21%. I’m about 15 lbs from my goal weight, with a target body fat of around 15%.

I’ve followed a keto approach since early 2025, probably about 95% of the time. At this point, I’m really focused on body recomposition. I’m not looking to bulk. I want to stay lean, but build muscle and definition.

So my question is: what does having your diet truly “locked in” look like at this stage? Am I thinking about this the right way, or are there adjustments I should consider?

Appreciate any feedback. This forum has been incredibly helpful. I just wish I had found it sooner.

 

[woundcarping]

What's your daily calorie target?

Carbs are your friend, in general, so is fat, and protein. I did low carb back in 2018, dropping 80lb, gained ~60lb of it back.

With reta I notice if I'm grumpy, carbs usually help.

Assuming you're balanced out and getting what you need, you seem dialed in now. Do you plan on staying in ketosis forever?

 

[bayardtrustin]

What's your daily calorie target?

Carbs are your friend, in general, so is fat, and protein. I did low carb back in 2018, dropping 80lb, gained ~60lb of it back.

With reta I notice if I'm grumpy, carbs usually help.

Assuming you're balanced out and getting what you need, you seem dialed in now. Do you plan on staying in ketosis forever?

My calorie target is around 1700 (500 below my TDEE) until I reach my goal weight. I would not mind staying in ketosis. Best I’ve ever felt. Forgot to mention, That I also was on OMAD most of the year. My current daily meals are morning protein shake 50g (w/ fiber, collagen, Metamucil), afternoon protein shake 50mg, evening dinner 6-8 oz of protein (steak, fish, etc.), green beans 4-5 oz (just about every day), 1 avocado (every day), and a small coke zero or water.

 

[5byfive]

If you have never lifted seriously before, you can probably get away with recomp for the first year plus. Maybe not get quite as good a result as if you were lean bulking, but probably close. If you get much below 12%, that probably won't be the case anymore. I'm at the point where I have got all the recomp gains I'll ever get, but i was able to ride that train for while. It gets harder after that.

If you still want to lose a little weight, keep the deficit to around 500 calories. Yes you have to track if you want to 'lock in' and you have to really get a good idea what maintenance is and what a small deficit looks like. Beyond that, 1g of protien per gram of bodyweight (at least 75% of that from comllete protien sourcrs) is considered safe and the rest evenly divided between carbs and fat. The balk of that roughly evenly spaced throughout the day. Those are the basics.

This is all based on the assumption, because you are working with a trainer, that you are looking to gain muscle. If not, then disregard everything above.

 

[bayardtrustin]

If you have never lifted seriously before, you can probably get away with recomp for the first year plus. Maybe not get quite as good a result as if you were lean bulking, but probably close. If you get much below 12%, that probably won't be the case anymore. I'm at the point where I have got all the recomp gains I'll ever get, but i was able to ride that train for while. It gets harder after that.

If you still want to lose a little weight, keep the deficit to around 500 calories. Yes you have to track if you want to 'lock in' and you have to really get a good idea what maintenance is and what a small deficit looks like. Beyond that, 1g of protien per gram of bodyweight (at least 75% of that from comllete protien sourcrs) is considered safe and the rest evenly divided between carbs and fat. The balk of that roughly evenly spaced throughout the day. Those are the basics.

This is all based on the assumption, because you are working with a trainer, that you are looking to gain muscle. If not, then disregard everything above.

Yes, this is my first serious attempt lifting. So if I understand correctly, I should expect to be in body recomp for about a year. Additionally, what’s the science/thinking behind you feeling that you’ve got all the recomp gains you’re going to get?

 

[5byfive]

I've been lifting pretty seriously for about three years and I'm very lean so at this point I'm not going to put on any more muscle unless I'm gaining weight. So I try and a long slow bulk followed by a mini cut.

There is no hard rule for how long you are going to be able to recomp, people with a lot of weight to lose can get away with it for longer, but first year lifting gains are always the best. You will never put on muscle as easy as you can right now.

 

[bayardtrustin]

I've been lifting pretty seriously for about three years and I'm very lean so at this point I'm not going to put on any more muscle unless I'm gaining weight. So I try and a long slow bulk followed by a mini cut.

There is no hard rule for how long you are going to be able to recomp, people with a lot of weight to lose can get away with it for longer, but first year lifting gains are always the best. You will never put on muscle as easy as you can right now.

Got it. Makes total sense. Do you eat the additional calories you burn on lifting days?

 

[5byfive]

I pretty much do the same amount every day. I'm pretty strick about it. I think its pretty hard to hit your goals if your really all over the place, but, within reason, the average calories probably mean a lot more than hitting the exact amount every day.

 

[Grogu]

Sound like to me that your “diet is locked in”.

You know what you’re eating

You’re consistent about it (or wouldn’t have lost so much weight)

Your calories and macros are under control

It took a lot of work with a nutritionist , but I’ve come to appreciate carbs in a controlled manner and agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t think you have to completely eliminate them or be in ketosis for positive health results and/or body recomposition. I’ve lost about 113lbs as of today. In the beginning I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a ton of them, but I do eat them.

 

[jungletech]

I find mostly organic, with lots of produce and meat from the farmers market, is truly the next level of health and wellness.

 

[bayardtrustin]

Sound like to me that your “diet is locked in”.

You know what you’re eating

You’re consistent about it (or wouldn’t have lost so much weight)

Your calories and macros are under control

It took a lot of work with a nutritionist , but I’ve come to appreciate carbs in a controlled manner and agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t think you have to completely eliminate them or be in ketosis for positive health results and/or body recomposition. I’ve lost about 113lbs as of today. In the beginning I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a ton of them, but uh I

Sound like to me that your “diet is locked in”.

You know what you’re eating

You’re consistent about it (or wouldn’t have lost so much weight)

Your calories and macros are under control

It took a lot of work with a nutritionist , but I’ve come to appreciate carbs in a controlled manner and agree with @woundcarping that carbs are your friend. I don’t think you have to completely eliminate them or be in ketosis for positive health results and/or body recomposition. I’ve lost about 113lbs as of today. In the beginning I was definitely low carb, but the last 50 have been more balanced. I still don’t eat a ton of them, but I do eat them.

I hear you about carbs. I’ve just never felt better than I do now. I believe very low carbs works for me - ridiculous energy, laser focused, and best sleep I’ve ever had.

 

[Grogu]

I hear you about carbs. I’ve just never felt better than I do now. I believe very low carbs works for me - ridiculous energy, laser focused, and best sleep I’ve ever had.

I totally understand. I had(have) the same thoughts. But I'm sure that losing 110 pounds, working out, and eating a clean diet has more to do with feeling better than you ever have, than not eating carbs.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting simple carbs or carbs in mass quantities. I still struggle to eat carbs in any quantity, but I don't intentionally avoid them. And it took a lot of coaxing from the nutritionist I was working with to get me to even consider adding carbs. But agree with you 100% that you should do you. I would just say that it probably wasn't the avoidance of carbs that led to your success, it was all the other stuff.

 

[bayardtrustin]

I totally understand. I had(have) the same thoughts. But I'm sure that losing 110 pounds, working out, and eating a clean diet has more to do with feeling better than you ever have, than not eating carbs.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting simple carbs or carbs in mass quantities. I still struggle to eat carbs in any quantity, but I don't intentionally avoid them. And it took a lot of coaxing from the nutritionist I was working with to get me to even consider adding carbs. But agree with you 100% that you should do you. I would just say that it probably wasn't the avoidance of carbs that led to your success, it was all the other stuff.

Thank you for the advice and guidance. Wish I would have found this forum sooner!

 

[Grogu]

Thank you for the advice and guidance. Wish I would have found this forum sooner!

I think most people on the forum wish they had found our way here sooner! But we're here now and it's a great place. Congratulations on all your success.

 

[tubby]

Please excuse the longer post, but I’m looking for some guidance from those with more experience. Specifically around what it really means to have your diet “locked in.”

Right now, I’m targeting:

At least 124g of protein (based on my lean mass)

Around 35g of fiber

Less than 25g of carbs

Fats as needed

My diet is mostly clean, whole foods with very little processing. The only real exception is a daily protein shake.

For context, over the past year I’ve made a major transformation. I used Tirz and Reta to lose about 110 lbs and have been working with a personal trainer for the last couple of months, focusing on full-body resistance training. My bloodwork is in a great place. I had a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, going from 48% body fat down to 21%. I’m about 15 lbs from my goal weight, with a target body fat of around 15%.

I’ve followed a keto approach since early 2025, probably about 95% of the time. At this point, I’m really focused on body recomposition. I’m not looking to bulk. I want to stay lean, but build muscle and definition.

So my question is: what does having your diet truly “locked in” look like at this stage? Am I thinking about this the right way, or are there adjustments I should consider?

Appreciate any feedback. This forum has been incredibly helpful. I just wish I had found it sooner.

I'll try to give you a more useful answer since you laid out your parameters and seem to be asking in good faith:

In the diet world it's fairly trivial to find a diet that will get your BMI under 30. Following such a diet is obviously non-trivial (which is why we're all here), but as you get closer and closer to a particular goal weight, that's where different dietary approaches will yield different results.

One approach would be "calories," but if you're already down to 1700/day that demonstrates you've already restricted the amount of food you're eating quite a bit and unless you enjoy torturing yourself, that seems like a pretty silly lever to pull even harder. I mean, it would work. It's just not ideal.

At this point I'd argue that trial and error is really the only winning strategy, since different bodies will respond to different adjustments in different ways. The first thing I would try if I were in your shoes would be cutting back on protein. If there wasn't a GLP involved, I'd try to cut that back to ~50 grams/day as an experiment to see how the scale moves (obviously increasing fat intake to offset, since you're running a keto approach), give it a few weeks, and see what the before and after looks like, adjusting as appropriate. Since a GLP is involved (which likely impacts our hormonal response in surprising and unexpected ways), I'm not sure how that changes such a recommendation since I haven't personally had to cross that bridge yet.

You could also try varying the fat sources involved too or perhaps the protein sources and see what shakes out by running your own short-duration self experiments. Most people think in terms of "macros," but in reality proteins are a collection of different amino acid distributions (not to mention other hormonal influences that may come along for the ride within the foods themselves). Although muscle meat is a popular source of protein in the keto world, I found that I gained weight on it (VS other forms of protein). Others find they lose weight. Likewise, fats generally come in the form of triglycerides with different sources being made up of vastly different fatty acid compositions. I apologize if I'm opening Pandora's box for you a bit here, but you asked.

 

[wildweasel]

Please excuse the longer post, but I’m looking for some guidance from those with more experience. Specifically around what it really means to have your diet “locked in.”

Right now, I’m targeting:

At least 124g of protein (based on my lean mass)

Around 35g of fiber

Less than 25g of carbs

Fats as needed

My diet is mostly clean, whole foods with very little processing. The only real exception is a daily protein shake.

For context, over the past year I’ve made a major transformation. I used Tirz and Reta to lose about 110 lbs and have been working with a personal trainer for the last couple of months, focusing on full-body resistance training. My bloodwork is in a great place. I had a DEXA scan in February 2025 and another in March 2026, going from 48% body fat down to 21%. I’m about 15 lbs from my goal weight, with a target body fat of around 15%.

I’ve followed a keto approach since early 2025, probably about 95% of the time. At this point, I’m really focused on body recomposition. I’m not looking to bulk. I want to stay lean, but build muscle and definition.

So my question is: what does having your diet truly “locked in” look like at this stage? Am I thinking about this the right way, or are there adjustments I should consider?

Appreciate any feedback. This forum has been incredibly helpful. I just wish I had found it sooner.

I would love to answer questions. I saw your other thread on T levels and replied there.

Having a locked in diet really means a few things all at once:

1) knowing the macros of everything you eat

2) knowing what your "maintence" level is for calories

3) recording it all almost scientifically so you can make educated decisions instead of gut decision

track just about everything. I just finished a recomp literally today and will share my results.

Figuring out your maintenance cal intake is big, mines large because I am active running/gym about 13 hours a week.. my maintenance intake is about ~2700 cals.. so to recomp, you want a deficit of ~300 calores, in my case, around 2400 is what i aimed for

[Imported image pending local asset: attachments-nd2gwhkl-webp.20978]

I dropped myself from 14% body fat down to 11%. I monitored basically everything in a spreadsheet https://cryptpad.fr/sheet/#/2/sheet/view/aA5MbY4EnTQWN2vWcNVV5BdBscny7QxZrHhtY-+tQBU/

Now, im trying to gain clean, lean muscle, and keep body fat low.. similar to you, but im done with my recomp, i just want clean gains now.

For that goal, its the opposite of a recomp: a 300 calorie surplus (2700+300=3000 daily target for me), and this is what daily tracking looks like

[Imported image pending local asset: attachments-screenshot-2026-04-23-at-6-28-26-pm-webp.20979]

At this point, I’m really focused on body recomposition. I’m not looking to bulk. I want to stay lean, but build muscle and definition.

So my question is: what does having your diet truly “locked in” look like at this stage? Am I thinking about this the right way, or are there adjustments I should consider?

Excellent! look at the spreadsheet I shared above, I just went through a body recomp myself! 14% down to 11%, with modest muscle gain... now im going for full muscle gain, but heres the TLDR for you:

your goal is to determine your daily maintenance calorie levels, and intake 300 calories less than maintenance. You will have a successful recomp if you meet that goal.

Get a biometric scale that measures all the fancy stuff. use it daily and record your numbers in a spreadsheet

Dont trust daily scale numbers because smart scales are pretty dumb. average over a 5 day sliding window and use those numbers instead

Get an app that records food and use it for everything you eat. You will have to eat most of your own prepared meals for this to work. buy a food scale too.

Record macros for everything you eat.

Figure out what your "maintence" level is for calories by setting an estimate, monitoring for a week, and adjusting.

For a successful recomp and gain modest muscle but drop fat, maintain 200-500 cals below your personal maintenance intake

 

[bayardtrustin]

I'll try to give you a more useful answer since you laid out your parameters and seem to be asking in good faith:

In the diet world it's fairly trivial to find a diet that will get your BMI under 30. Following such a diet is obviously non-trivial (which is why we're all here), but as you get closer and closer to a particular goal weight, that's where different dietary approaches will yield different results.

One approach would be "calories," but if you're already down to 1700/day that demonstrates you've already restricted the amount of food you're eating quite a bit and unless you enjoy torturing yourself, that seems like a pretty silly lever to pull even harder. I mean, it would work. It's just not ideal.

At this point I'd argue that trial and error is really the only winning strategy, since different bodies will respond to different adjustments in different ways. The first thing I would try if I were in your shoes would be cutting back on protein. If there wasn't a GLP involved, I'd try to cut that back to ~50 grams/day as an experiment to see how the scale moves (obviously increasing fat intake to offset, since you're running a keto approach), give it a few weeks, and see what the before and after looks like, adjusting as appropriate. Since a GLP is involved (which likely impacts our hormonal response in surprising and unexpected ways), I'm not sure how that changes such a recommendation since I haven't personally had to cross that bridge yet.

You could also try varying the fat sources involved too or perhaps the protein sources and see what shakes out by running your own short-duration self experiments. Most people think in terms of "macros," but in reality proteins are a collection of different amino acid distributions (not to mention other hormonal influences that may come along for the ride within the foods themselves). Although muscle meat is a popular source of protein in the keto world, I found that I gained weight on it (VS other forms of protein). Others find they lose weight. Likewise, fats generally come in the form of triglycerides with different sources being made up of vastly different fatty acid compositions. I apologize if I'm opening Pandora's box for you a bit here, but you asked.

Wow! Thanks for sharing your line of thinking. It certainly gives me something to chew on. I particularly appreciate your advice about protein intake. Your post is very helpful!

I would love to answer questions. I saw your other thread on T levels and replied there.

Having a locked in diet really means a few things all at once:

1) knowing the macros of everything you eat

2) knowing what your "maintence" level is for calories

3) recording it all almost scientifically so you can make educated decisions instead of gut decision

track just about everything. I just finished a recomp literally today and will share my results.

Figuring out your maintenance cal intake is big, mines large because I am active running/gym about 13 hours a week.. my maintenance intake is about ~2700 cals.. so to recomp, you want a deficit of ~300 calores, in my case, around 2400 is what i aimed for

View attachment 20978

I dropped myself from 14% body fat down to 11%. I monitored basically everything in a spreadsheet https://cryptpad.fr/sheet/#/2/sheet/view/aA5MbY4EnTQWN2vWcNVV5BdBscny7QxZrHhtY-+tQBU/

Now, im trying to gain clean, lean muscle, and keep body fat low.. similar to you, but im done with my recomp, i just want clean gains now.

For that goal, its the opposite of a recomp: a 300 calorie surplus (2700+300=3000 daily target for me), and this is what daily tracking looks like

View attachment 20979

Excellent! look at the spreadsheet I shared above, I just went through a body recomp myself! 14% down to 11%, with modest muscle gain... now im going for full muscle gain, but heres the TLDR for you:

your goal is to determine your daily maintenance calorie levels, and intake 300 calories less than maintenance. You will have a successful recomp if you meet that goal.

Get a biometric scale that measures all the fancy stuff. use it daily and record your numbers in a spreadsheet

Dont trust daily scale numbers because smart scales are pretty dumb. average over a 5 day sliding window and use those numbers instead

Get an app that records food and use it for everything you eat. You will have to eat most of your own prepared meals for this to work. buy a food scale too.

Record macros for everything you eat.

Figure out what your "maintence" level is for calories by setting an estimate, monitoring for a week, and adjusting.

For a successful recomp and gain modest muscle but drop fat, maintain 200-500 cals below your personal maintenance intake

Do you consume your workout calories? For instance, if you burn 500cal lifting, do you then add that 500cal to your food goals for the day?