JJ Virgin4x NYTimes Best Selling Author, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness Hall of Famer

Body Recomp to BURN FAT and BUILD MUSCLE

12 Jun 2026 · 0 min

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In this segment, JJ Virgin explains that losing weight while building muscle—known as body recomposition or "recomping"—is possible. He argues that the rise of GLP‑1 medications has highlighted a fundamental flaw in many weight‑loss approaches: excessive calorie restriction. Cutting calories too aggressively, without adequate protein intake and resistance training, leads to muscle loss and metabolic slowdown. Virgin emphasizes the importance of prioritizing protein and resistance exercise to preserve muscle mass and maintain a healthy metabolism while pursuing fat loss.

Can you lose weight and build muscle at the same time and sort of keep this going? Yes, you can. Okay. It's called recomping. We used to think you couldn't do it, and I'll tell you what's happened. The GLP-1s have really exposed the biggest problem in weight loss. They actually aren't the thing causing it. What's causing it is that we're cutting our calories too much, and if you do that without prioritizing protein and resistance training, you lose muscle and you devastate your metabolism.