As a fitness professional and doctor of physical therapy, I’ve always been active. I spent most of my 20s chasing the “toned” look (which, for the record, isn’t even a real thing; it’s marketing jargon). I did all the classic workouts that promised to get me there—high reps, low weights, endless cardio—and prided myself on leaving every class drenched in sweat.
I ate as little as possible because I thought that would give me the body I wanted. Like so many women, I was lean from undereating and overexercising, but I never felt strong—and I definitely didn’t feel good. I had chronic pain, fatigue, and lived on a hamster wheel of more workouts and less food.
Everything changed when I started focusing on building muscle and body recomposition instead. It turns out, what most people mean by “getting toned” is actually body recomp, which, put simply, is losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. There’s just one problem.
How you get to body recomposition is entirely different from what we’ve been told, especially as women. It’s the ultimate anti–yo-yo goal—and it’s about consistency, not extremes. I learned how to train for hypertrophy, eat to support recovery, and actually rest—and I got the look (and feel!) I was searching for faster than I expected.
Within a year of changing my approach to fitness, I gained eight pounds of muscle and lost roughly five pounds of fat with fewer workouts, more food, no joint pain, and way less effort. If you’re about to start this journey, here’s how long you can expect it to take. I’ve successfully recomposed twice and plan to do it again soon, as I’ve just had my second baby.
The first time, I gained eight pounds of muscle and lost five pounds of fat over a year. The second time, postpartum, I gained 4.2 pounds of muscle and lost fat in just a few months. Muscle tends to come back faster the second time because when you’ve built it once, your muscle fibers retain extra myonuclei (essentially the “brains” of the muscle), which remain even if you lose muscle mass.
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