Think Fat Loss, Not Weight Loss
Weight loss is one of the hottest topics in history. Everyone seems to be trying to lose weight these days. Most diet programs are about weight loss, and body weight is often used as an indicator of physical progress. But, this is a wrong approach.
Your ultimate goal should always be to lose fat, and reducing excess body fat is what you should be concerned about. Weight loss and fat loss are NOT the same thing! Many people confuse the two terms, often believing they mean the same thing, when in fact weight loss and fat loss are very different from each other. This article will help you understand how weight loss is different from fat loss and how fat loss is far superior to weight loss in almost every way.
What is weight loss?
(Weight Loss = Muscle Loss + Fat Loss + Water Loss)
Weight loss is trying to reduce total body weight. It simply refers to a lower number on a scale.
Your body weight is made up of all the parts of your body, such as muscles, fat, bones, water, organs, tissues, blood, water, etc. When you lose weight, you lose a little… fat, muscle, and water.
You lose fat but very little and along with the fat you lose muscle and some water. The more you reduce your calorie intake, the faster you will lose weight and the more muscle mass you will lose.
Do you know that your muscle matters? Muscle loss affects your health and overall appearance.
When you lose weight too quickly, your body can’t maintain your muscle. Because muscle requires more calories to sustain itself, your body begins to metabolize it so it can reserve the incoming calories for survival. It protects your fat stores as a defense mechanism to ensure your survival in the event of a future famine, and instead uses lean tissue or muscle to provide you with the calories you need to keep your vital organs, like your brain, heart, kidneys and liver. If you get to a point where you have too little fat or muscle, your body will metabolize your organs to keep your brain functioning, leading to heart attack, stroke, and liver and kidney failure.
As the body loses more muscle mass, the body’s overall metabolic rate decreases. Metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns calories and is determined in part by how much muscle you have.
So the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be; the less muscle you have, the lower your metabolic rate and the fewer calories you will burn. This explains why it is crucial to protect your metabolic rate and not have muscle loss.
Muscle loss also leads to loss of tone under the skin, leaving it smooth and shapeless, without shape or contour. If you lose weight too quickly, your skin won’t have time to adjust either. Also muscle is what gives you strength and its loss means a weak body.
With weight loss, you shrink in size and become a smaller version of yourself with a fragile frame and loose skin.
Weight loss works in the short term to make you smaller, but it is temporary, almost everyone recovers and gains the weight back. This forces you to look for another diet. And then another, and another, because eventually they will all fail.
What is fat loss?
(Fat loss = Loss of stored body fat)
Fat loss is trying to reduce your total body fat, that is, the percentage of your total body weight that is made up of fat.
The correct approach to fat loss is to exercise smart and eat smart in a way that maintains muscle and focuses solely on fat loss.
The muscle you have is not there forever. If you don’t feed it and don’t use it, you lose it. A proper plan with the right mix of resistance and cardio training with proper progression and a proper nutrition plan to support it can help you achieve this. Exercise only increases the burning process, but it doesn’t just melt fat on its own; if you don’t create a deficit and feed the body too much, you won’t touch the stored fuel reserves. On the other hand, if you drastically cut your calories and don’t feed your muscle properly or don’t exercise and use your muscle, you will lose it. Fat loss is about finding the right balance.
With fat loss you maintain muscle and keep your metabolic rate high. It also builds stronger connective tissue, smoother skin, and stronger bones and joints. With fat loss you transform your body.
Fat loss is a lifestyle approach where you give your body what it needs without depriving it or shocking it with the threat of starvation. You have the opportunity to see a slow but permanent constant progress.
It may sound strange, but it is possible to lose weight without seeing a change in your weight. This happens when you lose body fat while gaining muscle. Your weight stays the same, even if you lose inches.
Let’s see how this happens.
Fat tissue is very loose and not dense. It takes up a lot of space in your body. While muscle is denser and takes up less space. When you lose fat, this space is freed up and you may notice a loss of inches. If you are following a consistent strength training program, the gain in lean muscle tissue will balance this fat loss and the weight will stay the same. Since muscle takes up less space than fat, you lose inches and begin to look more toned, lean, and shapely.
A program of consistent strength training and then lean muscle tissue gain will balance this fat loss and the weight will stay the same. Since muscle takes up less space than fat, you lose inches and begin to look more toned, lean, and shapely.
Myth: “Get fit” means “Lose weight.”
Truth: Getting fit means lowering your body fat percentage!
