A new year is around the corner which means many are eager to kickstart their fitness journey and improve their health, especially after an indulgent holiday season. While it is tempting to fall for a “quick fix” diet or intense fitness challenge in January, it’s important to approach your goals with a well-rounded strategy that focuses on adopting healthy habits to last all year long. Whether your aim is to increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, or maintain an already healthy body composition, making a plan ahead of the January 1st fireworks can help prepare you for success in 2025.
Why Focus on Body Composition instead of Weight Loss?
Before diving into a new routine next month, it’s essential to understand the nuances of “weight loss” goals. Many of us create goals for the new year with weight loss in mind (e.g. “I want to lose 15 pounds before the summer.”). Taking it one step further, consider a more significant indicator of health: body composition. Unlike simply measuring weight on a scale, body composition focuses on the proportion of fat and lean muscle mass in your body. For instance, someone who weighs 180 pounds with 20% body fat has a different physique compared to someone who weighs the same but has 30% body fat. Body composition also gives a clearer picture of overall health and fitness compared to weight alone. A body fat percentage of less than 30% for women and less than %25 for men typically means a healthier metabolism and a lowered risk of developing chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. Setting goals around body composition changes can be more meaningful health-wise than pursuing a single number on a scale.
Setting Intentional Goals
Of course, understanding how to set a body composition goal is the first step towards meaningful change. Instead of a goal that focuses on one number on a scale, a goal framed around body composition could look like reducing a certain percent body fat over a specific amount of time, while maintaining or increasing lean muscle mass. This uses the “SMART” framework of goal-setting, which defines clear, achievable objectives and increases the likelihood of success.
SMART goals begin with specificity (S), or defining exactly what you want to achieve, for example, reducing body fat by 5% and gaining 10 pounds of muscle. They are also measurable (M), meaning you can progress with specific metrics like body fat percentage and/or lean muscle mass. SMART goals should be achievable (A) based on your current schedule or fitness level, relevant (R), so they align with your overall health and lifestyle priorities, and time-oriented (T), to create a sense of sustainable urgency.
An example of a well-constructed goal around body composition could look like:
“I will reduce my body fat from 25% to 20% over the next 4 months by strength training 3 times a week and following a nutrition plan according to my resting metabolic rate data.”
Preparing for the Work
After establishing a SMART goal, prepare to put in the work with a well-constructed plan of attack. In the case of a body composition goal, factors like weight training, nutrition, and other healthy lifestyle habits should be woven into a comprehensive plan.
Fitness
To make any substantial change in body composition, strength training is essential. Building muscle not only shapes the body’s physique but also boosts metabolism, as muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even at rest. Creating an exercise plan with body composition goals in mind, aim for 3-4 strength training sessions per week, focusing on compound movements like squats, deadlifts, lunges, bench presses, and rows. These exercises engage multiple muscle groups and maximize efficiency. Gradually increase weight, reps, or sets to challenge your muscles and promote growth, and allow 48 hours between working the same muscle group to avoid overtraining and support recovery. To track progress, keep a workout log to monitor the weights, reps, and sets you complete. This helps you stay accountable and ensures you’re progressing over time.
Cardiovascular activity can also help support body composition goals if used wisely. Cardio can help create a calorie deficit for fat loss, but it should complement, not replace, strength training. Specifically, high intensity interval training (HIIT) helps preserve muscle mass while promoting fat loss, making it ideal for improving body composition. Low intensity activities are also supportive in overall health, like walking, swimming, or moderate biking. Including these types of workouts within a weekly plan can keep workouts both interesting and in alignment with body composition goals.
Nutrition
Nutrition plays a crucial role in any desired body composition change. To build lean muscle mass and reduce fat mass, focus on a balanced diet rich in high-quality protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. Protein is essential for muscle synthesis and growth. Aim to consume around 1- 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily from sources like chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, tofu, beans, and lentils. Carbohydrates help provide energy for workouts and support recovery. Choose complex carbs like vegetables, fruits, and grains including brown rice, quinoa, or oats. Healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, nuts, seeds and fatty fish can help support hormone production and satiety. Finally, try to avoid processed foods, foods high in sugar, and use alcohol in moderation (if at all).
Understanding your resting metabolic rate is also important to determine how many calories to consume each day to remain in a sustainable deficit to pave the way for steady fat loss. Eating too little can result in too dramatic of a deficit which can lead to muscle and fat loss. To help navigate a nutrition plan that’s right for you, working with a Nutrition Coach can be extremely beneficial. A nutrition coach can recommend a diet plan that is tailored to your goals, while working with your preferences and lifestyle, and adapting your plan as you begin to see results.
Other Healthy Lifestyle Changes
Pursuing any weight-related health goal should include objectives around more than just diet and exercise. Factors like recovery, sleep, and stress are equally important in creating an environment for the body to function optimally. Even when diet and exercise are dialed in appropriately, lack of sleep, overtraining, and overwhelm can thwart progress. Lack of sleep disrupts the hormones that regulate hunger and satiety, the body’s stress response, and muscle recovery. Try to get a least 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night and take naps during the day if you feel drained. Chronic stress increases cortisol, a hormone that can lead to fat storage, especially around the abdomen. While it’s impossible to eradicate stress from our lives, techniques like meditation, deep breathing, yoga, or even taking a daily walk can reduce stress levels. To avoid overtraining, listen to your body and include rest days to prevent burnout.
Tracking Progress
Perhaps one of the most important elements of progressing towards a body composition goal is tracking progress. While it may be tempting to use a scale to measure weight-related progress, weight can fluctuate daily reasons other than fat loss or gain, such as water weight or inflammation. Measuring actual changes in fat mass and lean muscle mass is a more reliable way to decipher how you are progressing towards a body composition goal. This can be accomplished through repeated DEXA scans, ideally every 4-6 weeks, to track changes in body fat percentage, lean muscle mass, and even determine any differences across body regions that can assess possible muscle imbalances. Other ways to measure progress include noticing improvements in energy, how your clothes fit, and overall changes in confidence.
Given the “time” element determined by your SMART goals, you can see trends in body composition over time using DEXA scan results and know if you are heading in the right direction, or if progress has stalled. From there, you can know whether or not to tweak your nutrition plan, increase workout intensity, or focus on more recovery. Repeated resting metabolic rate tests can also reveal how your metabolism has changed over time based on body composition changes. This can inform updates to your current nutrition plan that can help even further progress you towards your goals, or set new goals over time.
Make This Year Your Best Yet
Improving body composition and overall health does not happen with a crash diet or strenuous workout challenge. By setting clear goals, focusing on strength training, optimizing your nutrition, and managing sleep and stress, you can build sustainable habits that lead to lasting results. The key is to stay consistent and track progress with highly accurate and reliable tools, while being patient and trusting that your goals are achievable.
Are you ready to start planning your body composition goals for 2025? Get started now with help from our experts in DEXA, metabolism, and nutrition coaching!
