I tried to change my body composition for a year. Here are 3 things I did to reduce my body fat by 7% without hating my life.

• In 2025, I had 3 body composition analyzes at the Athletic Club Life Time.

• The scans helped me track my progress in losing fat and building muscle.

• I lost five pounds and over 7% of my body fat by making simple changes like walking more.

By early 2025, I knew I wanted to lose some body fat. I don’t want to be miserable doing this.

All the weight-loss tricks I’d grown up internalizing — painstakingly tracking calories and steps, feeling “naughty” after eating half a cupcake, pretending raw almonds were a treat — just didn’t challenge my spirit. I was also sure they wouldn’t work for me.

So, I got a body composition analysis: a free service offered through my membership at Life Time Fitness, an athletic club. On average, membership costs between $100 and more than $330 in the United States.

Using the InBody machine, the analysis took five minutes and involved hand holding electrodes while I stepped onto the scale. The machine, using bioelectrical impedance analysis, then scanned my skeletal muscle, body fat, and water content in proportion to my overall weight.

I get another analysis about halfway through the year to track my progress, and a final one in December to see how far along I am – if yes.

To my relief, the simple lifestyle changes I made were very effective. At the beginning of the year, my visceral fat score, a number that estimates the amount of dangerous fat around my organs, was 10—the very end of the healthy range. Midway through the year, it dropped to 8, more centered in the healthy range, and stayed there until December.

I also cut my body fat mass, or the total weight of fat on my body, by a little over 7%, and lost exactly 5.5 pounds.

While there’s still room for improvement, like gaining more muscle for better joint health and easier fat loss, I’m glad it took some easy, sustainable habits to see results.

I chose to run

For the past few years, I focused solely on running as my main form of cardio exercise. I jogged four times a week and took two strength training classes.

I haven’t started adding more training to my schedule. Then I realized: I can walk a little more on the days I don’t run. I started strength training and walking anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on rest days.

Not only did it help me knock off a few hundred calories here and there, but it also brought a calmer routine to my routine. Most importantly, it made me less sedentary, reducing my risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, inflammation, and osteoporosis.

I even started planning vacations around the movement. I took a few hiking trips, organized weekend hikes upstate with friends, and took a long walk across Manhattan in one day just for fun.

Food compatible with exercise

Every trainer who analyzed my body composition told me the same thing: I can’t deny my diet.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to do a complete overhaul. I have to be a little more careful.

On days that focus more on strength training, I add protein powder to my coffee and eat protein-rich foods, like salmon with farro and veggies.

On running days, I focus more on carbs, while adjusting my portion sizes. If I had only completed a light, three-mile run, half a whole-wheat bagel sandwich seemed like enough fuel. The same went for sugary treats and alcohol: cutting back on portion sizes and choosing more mocktails helped me enjoy myself without feeling like I was setting back progress.

In general, I started focusing more on fiber-dense foods like salads and whole grain bowls, which keep me feeling full longer and provide other essential nutrients, such as folate and vitamin C, in greens like kale and arugula.

Using metrics to my advantage

About halfway through the year, I also took a VO2 max assessment, in which I ran with an oxygen mask and heart rate monitor to determine my unique cardio zones, or heart rate ranges that correspond to exercise intensity levels. Zone 5 is the most challenging, corresponding to being close to your maximum heart rate.

I learned that hard numbers helped me challenge myself in every part of my workout routine. I started taking Orangetheory classes, which use heart rate monitors to give you real-time feedback.

I also bought a scale — something I’ve always been against on principle. It took time to weigh myself every day and not take the numbers to heart. Once I started looking at the data objectively, I found it helped provide quick (albeit imperfect) feedback on my performance.

I got better about writing down my weights so that I could gradually overload: gradually using heavier weights or increasing rep counts over time. Without that, I can’t really build muscle.

I won’t lose more fat until I gain muscle

There was one area in which I did not progress: building muscle mass. I learned from a trainer that this could make me lose fat, because muscle is a metabolically active tissue that helps the body burn more calories even when it’s at rest.

I lost about a pound of muscle, which also lowered my basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the number of calories I burn at rest. This fell slightly below that of the average woman.

The solution? Focus more on strength training, the coach said, especially making sure I consume enough protein to supplement my workouts. It doesn’t require major modifications: Taking one more class a week and eating more protein-packed meals can make a meaningful difference, he added.

Finally, this is another little habit that stacks up to others. No, I haven’t gone through a major body transformation this year. But what I gained – or technically lost, in terms of fat – was a lot more sustainable (and a lot more fun).

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