Brendan Jones
- YouTuber Brendan Jones lost 10 pounds of fat and gained two pounds of muscle at the same time.
- His 100-day "body recomposition" challenge saw him drop his body fat percentage from 18-20% to 12-14%.
- Jones achieved this by strength-training from home and eating in a slight calorie deficit.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is a process known as body recomposition – and it's not easy to achieve.
However, it's not impossible, as one YouTuber recently proved.
Brendan Jones – one half of vlogger brothers The Goal Guys – lost 10 pounds of fat and gained two pounds of muscle over the space of 100 days, lowering his body fat percentage from 18-20% to 12-14%, and he documented the whole process.
Jones dropped a waist size from 32 to 30, and by the end of the challenge said he was leaner than he's ever been.
Jones didn't have heavy weights, so trained high-rep
Body recomposition comes down to being in a slight calorie deficit, strength-training, and eating plenty of protein, as experts previously told Insider.
Jones worked out six days a week (foam rolling before each), breaking his workouts into chest and tricep sessions, back and biceps, and legs.
Without gym access and limited to adjustable dumbbells of up to 30lbs each, a pull-up bar and rings, Jones mainly did low weight, high-rep training, with short rest periods.
Brendan Jones
He also did calisthenics workouts and 30-40 minutes walking a day, but avoided running to help him hold on to muscle (although experts told Insider you don't necessarily need to skip cardio to build muscle).
As the challenge progressed, Jones noticed he was getting stronger - by week nine, he achieved his long-time goal of doing three ring muscle-ups (a muscle-up involves a pull-up, but going one step further by lifting your body up and extending your arms below you).
"This is the first time I've lost weight and felt like I got stronger through the process," Jones said in the video.
Jones ate in a slight calorie deficit with plenty of protein
Jones aimed to eat 2,100 calories a day, eating 1g protein for every pound of bodyweight (160g), getting 20-25% of his calories from high quality fats, and the rest from complex carbs and veg.
He allowed himself some flexibility though, eating out two to three times a week for the first few weeks, but later cutting down to once or twice, he told Insider.
Five weeks in, Jones had seen results (his body fat had dropped to 16.9% and he'd lost three pounds), but he decided to lower his calories to 2,000. He kept his protein up throughout, but made small tweaks to his carbs and fats.
Brendan Jones
After finishing the challenge, Jones ate whatever he wanted for a few days, enjoying take-out and restaurants with his wife.
"Now that those couple days are over, I'm working on some new fitness goals, and I am trying to stick with the foods that got me to this place," Jones told Insider. "My goal now is to maintain where I am at and try to improve other areas of my health, so I am hoping I can get a little more flexible with my diet, and just keep paying attention to see how my body responds."