7 ways to improve your body composition

You don’t need extreme diets or excessive exercise to change your body composition. Remember, meaningful change takes time, so focus on sustainable habits that encourage steady fat loss and muscle gain.

1 Incorporate strength training

Strength exercises using weights, resistance bands or body weight, are essential for keeping your muscles strong, balance steady and bones healthy. Include two to three sessions a week to target all the major muscle groups: chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs and core.

2 Get enough sleep

Sleep is crucial for managing your energy levels and hormones that control hunger and metabolism. Not getting enough sleep can lead to more visceral fat and less muscle mass. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night to support your body composition goals.

3 Focus on diet quality

A diet with plenty of whole, unprocessed foods, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains and healthy fats can greatly improve body composition. These nutritious foods help keep your blood sugar levels stable, control hunger and naturally lower your overall kilojoule intake. Keep energy-dense and highly processed foods high in refined carbs, sugar, salt and saturated fat to a minimum.

4 Manage stress levels

Chronic stress can raise cortisol levels, a hormone that promotes fat storage, particularly visceral fat around your midsection. To manage cortisol and support a healthier body composition, include regular exercise, social activities and relaxation practices, such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga, into your routine.

5 Prioritise protein

Protein is key for building and maintaining muscle and bone. Try to include high-quality protein sources in every meal. These can include lean meats, fish, eggs, dairy, tofu and legumes.

6 Consume calcium

Calcium plays a key role in maintaining strong and healthy bones throughout life, so aim for 2-3 serves a day of calcium-rich foods like milk, yoghurt, cheese, fatty fish and tofu. Women over 50 years and men over 70 need an extra serve to meet their higher requirements.

7 Move more

Cardio exercises like brisk walking, cycling, swimming or running help burn calories and reduce both visceral and subcutaneous fat. Aim to be active most days, with at least 150 minutes of moderate to high-intensity cardio each week.

Myth buster

• Claim: We should aim for the lowest body fat percentage possible
• Fact: While excess body fat is unhealthy, having too little can also be risky. Extremely low fat levels often appear alongside muscle loss, reduced strength, fragile bones, hormonal imbalances, fertility problems and a weaker immune system.
• Claim: Muscle weighs more than fat
• Fact: Muscle is denser than fat, so a kilo of muscle will look smaller than a kilo of fat. This means that someone with more lean muscle will appear slimmer and more toned compared with someone of the same weight with a higher fat percentage.