RECOMP/OS
Personal protocol · 40 weeks · v1.0

95 → 84.
SHIP THE
LEAN BUILD.

A body recomposition operating system for a remote software engineer. Treats the body like production infrastructure: phased rollout, observable metrics, pre-written decision rules — no willpower required at runtime.

24% → 15%
Body fat
36" → 31"
Waist
0 → 10
Pull-ups
Projected descent · weight (kg) over 40 weeks hover / drag to scrub
TRAJECTORY BF% MILESTONE DIET BREAK + DELOAD
LEVER_01

Sleep 7.5h

Work hard-stops 10:30 PM. In bed by midnight. The whole system runs on this.

LEVER_02

170g protein

~40 g per meal + whey. Non-negotiable, especially Mon/Thu veg days.

LEVER_03

2,150 kcal

Measured oil, fixed meal skeleton, 85% adherence beats 100% burnout.

LEVER_04

8–10k steps

Walking-pad meetings + 5 lifting days with progressive overload.

LEVER_05

Track waist

Waist, photos, adherence %. The scale is a noisy secondary signal.

Deployment plan

Four-phase rollout

Each phase has its own calorie budget, training focus and exit criteria. Select a phase to inspect it.

Nutrition

Fuel system

Fixed skeleton: protein + roti/rice + sabzi + salad. Only the protein source rotates — zero decisions at meal time.

170 g
Protein
220 g
Carbs
60 g
Fat
35 g
Fiber

PHASE 2 TARGET · 2,150 KCAL · BUILT FOR A 10 AM – 11 PM WORKDAY, TRAINING AT 8:30 AM

TimeMealProtein
Weekly

Grocery list

  • Protein: chicken breast 1.5 kg · 30 eggs · low-fat paneer 400 g · soya chunks 200 g · Greek yogurt 1 kg · whey · roasted chana
  • Carbs: atta · rice · oats · poha · potatoes · bananas, apples, papaya
  • Dals: moong, masoor, toor · rajma · chole
  • Veg: onion, tomato, cucumber, capsicum, palak, lauki, bhindi, beans
  • Fats (measured): mustard oil · ghee 1 tsp/day max · 20 g almonds/walnuts · weighed peanut butter
Stack

Supplements + timing

  • Creatine 5 g — daily, with the post-workout shake. Best-evidenced supplement in existence.
  • Whey 1.5–2 scoops — post-workout + top-up on veg days.
  • D3 + fish oil — with a fat-containing meal. B12 — morning.
  • Caffeine ≤200 mg — pre-workout only, nothing after 2 PM.
  • Magnesium glycinate (optional) — 1 h before bed.
  • Skip: fat burners, BCAAs, test boosters. Wasted money.
Eating out

Restaurant survival

  • Order: tandoori chicken, tikka, dal tadka + roti, paneer tikka, egg dishes. Biryani: eat half, prioritize the meat.
  • Avoid by default: butter/makhani/korma gravies, fried starters, naan, sugary drinks.
  • Protein anchor first in every order; next meal is normal, never skipped.
  • Budget: 2 ordered meals/week max, planned in advance — guilt-free.
On the road

Travel mode

  • Switch goal from progress to hold: eat at maintenance, protein anchor every meal, 10k steps.
  • 3×/week 25-min bodyweight circuit: push-ups, rows/pull-ups, split squats, plank × 4 rounds.
  • Hand rule, no apps: 2 palms protein, 1 fist carbs, lots of vegetables.
  • Expect +1–2 kg on return — water, not fat. It drops in 4–6 days. Don’t crash-diet.
Training

The iron schedule

Upper-body biased — a 145 kg squat next to a 70 kg bench is the imbalance this program exists to fix. Double progression on everything: top of the rep range at target RPE → add 2.5 kg.

RPE 8 = 2 reps in the tank · RPE 9 = 1 left · Deload every 6–8 wks: half the sets, same weight
ExerciseSets × RepsRPENote

BOREDOM-PROOFING: SWAP ACCESSORIES EVERY 6 WEEKS. BIG LIFTS NEVER ROTATE — THEY ARE THE YARDSTICK.

Side quest

0 → 10 strict pull-ups

Two forces compound: targeted training + every kilogram lost makes you lighter. First strict rep expected week 10–14.

0
WK 1–3

Foundation

Dead hangs 3×30s · scap pulls 3×8 · heavy lat pulldown 4×8–10 — the engine.

−
WK 3–8

Negatives

5-second lowers 5×3 · band-assisted 4×5–6 · keep progressing pulldowns.

1
WK 8–14

First rep

Test weekly. Then cluster singles: 6–8 × 1 rep, 60–90 s rest.

10
MO 4–8

Grease the groove

Doorway bar: 1 easy set, 4–5× through the workday. Benchmark: pulldown 0.9× BW × 8.

Recovery & output

The engine room

Sleep is the highest-ROI intervention in this entire system — on 5–6 hours, up to half of weight lost comes from muscle. Fix this before chasing anything else.

Daily floor

Steps protocol

8–10k /day
  • 2–3 of your daily meetings on the walking pad at 3–4 km/h ≈ 5,000 free steps.
  • Hard floor on worst days: 6,000.
  • Stand + 2-min walk every 60 min of sitting.
Conditioning

Zone 2 + HIIT

2× 30–40 min/wk
  • Incline walk or cycle — conversational pace.
  • HIIT: max 1× 10–15 min/wk, only after week 6. At 8/10 stress it’s optional, not required.
  • When fat loss stalls: check sleep + oil + adherence before adding cardio.
10 min daily

Desk-body mobility

  • Couch / hip-flexor stretch — 60 s per side
  • 90/90 hip rotations — 60 s
  • Cat-cow ×10 · thoracic extensions ×10
  • Doorway pec stretch — 45 s per side
  • Wall slides ×10 · chin tucks ×10
  • Dead hang 30 s — doubles as pull-up work
5.5h → 7.5h, in 20-minute steps

Sleep migration

WK 1–2In bed by 12:45 AM · work hard-stop 10:30 PM begins~7.0 h
WK 3–4In bed by 12:15 AM · screens dim at 11 PM~7.5 h
WK 5+In bed by 11:45 PM · caffeine cutoff 2 PM holds~8.0 h
  • Wake time fixed at 8 AM. Phone charges across the room.
  • Sleep <6.5 h → that day auto-downgrades to lighter training. Pre-decided, no negotiation.
  • Snoring should fade with weight loss — if it persists at 7.5 h+, get screened for sleep apnea.
When work is on fire

Crunch-mode protocol

  • Minimum Viable Day: 6k steps + protein target + 20-min session (or none). Hitting MVD = 100% adherence. Kills the all-or-nothing spiral.
  • Never miss twice. One bad day is noise. The rule only governs day two.
  • Deadline weeks: calories up to maintenance, train 3× full-body, keep steps. You pause progress instead of losing it.
  • Morning training is strategic — done before stress accumulates, in the one slot meetings can’t invade.
  • 10-min post-work outdoor walk, no phone — the artificial commute that ends the workday.
Observability

Weekly check-in

Five numbers, once a week. Status evaluates against this week’s targets; the log keeps your history on this device.

—
—
—
—
—
Adherence = (days you hit protein + calorie range + step floor + planned training) ÷ planned days. It predicts your result better than any other metric.
WKDateWeightWaistStepsSleepAdherenceStatus
No entries yet. Log your first week above.
IF · weight + waist flat for 2 weeksTHEN drop 100 kcal or add 1,500 steps/day. Never both at once.
IF · strength dropping fast + sleep redTHEN deload week — not more discipline.
IF · every ~10 weeksTHEN 1-week diet break at maintenance + half training volume. Scheduled, not earned.
IF · waist creeps 1" above baseline (Phase 4)THEN 4-week mini-cut at 2,200 kcal. This is how it stays off for life.
Milestones
MonthWeightWaistMarkers
M193–94 kg35.5"Habits locked · first pull-up negatives
M291–92 kg34.5"Bench 75 × 5
M389–90 kg33.5"First strict pull-up
M488 kg33"~20% BF visual checkpoint
M685–86 kg32"4–5 pull-ups · Bench 80–85 × 5
M983–84 kg~31"8–10 pull-ups · abs visible
Known failure modes

Pre-mortem

The eight ways this exact profile usually fails — patched in advance.

Slashing to 1,600 kcal for speed

At 8/10 stress + sleep debt → muscle loss, rebound, quit by week 6. The #1 killer.

Treating sleep as optional

It’s the foundation, not a nice-to-have. Every other lever depends on it.

Scale obsession

Early recomp: scale stalls while the waist shrinks. Waist + photos are truth.

Weekend blowouts

5 clean days + 2 × 3,500 kcal days = zero net deficit. The restaurant rules exist for this.

Program hopping from boredom

The 6-week accessory rotation is the sanctioned outlet. Big lifts never rotate.

Under-eating protein on veg days

Mon/Thu are the risk days — soya + paneer + Greek yogurt + extra whey is deliberate.

Adding cardio when stalled

Check sleep, hidden oil and adherence first. More HIIT is almost never the answer.

Letting 10 PM work creep win

The 10:30 hard stop protects the chain: stop → sleep → 8:30 AM session → adherence.