Whenever people want to start a new quest in a healthy lifestyle, the fist word that comes out of their mouth is: I want to lose weight. It’s only normal when you’re told that being “overweight” could risk your health, the notion sparks that you must lose weight to become healthy. Sadly enough, not everyone knows that “weight loss” is the wrong way to go about becoming healthy. Why? Because weight loss and fat loss are two different things, and when you’re looking to become healthy, you should be looking at fat loss.
Weight loss vs. Fat loss
When you say you want to lose weight, it technically means that you want to lower your body weight in total which constitutes of; lean muscle mass (LMM), body fat, organs, water, and skin. Might as well remove your brains out which weigh an average of 2-4LBS. =P. Also losing LMM can really slow down your metabolism and that’s something you really want to avoid (now that’s for another post.)
On the other hand, fat loss is a whole different thing than weight loss. Fat loss refers to lowering the amount of fat in your body and that is usually what people aim for, but confuse with weight loss.
 |
| Body Fat % and what they indiciate for men & women |
A lot of people confuse these two concepts and go gaga when they step on the scale because they simply don’t understand that the bathroom scale is really just not accurate. It doesn’t identify how much kilograms of fat your body holds and how much muscle or the level of water either. Do remember that our body weight is mostly about 55% (female) - 60% (male) of water.
Another interesting aspect of “weight loss”, is when people first start to exercise they usually lose an average of 3lbs (1.5kgs) almost immediately and see a lot of weight loss. Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s usually water weight, not fat. When you lower your carbs intake you body loses water, when you increase it, it does the opposite – gain.
Sometimes when you start exercising, you realize instead of the scale going down it’s going up, yet your pants are fitting you well, if not loose – right? Yeah, I know your nodding your head right now, and here’s the good news. Yes, if this is your case, you HAVE lost fat, but you also have gained muscle, hence the “weight gain” or no progress in #'s, but it doesn’t mean you have gained fat. Again, the scale doesn't tell you that.
Although 5lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat weigh exactly the same, however, muscle takes less space than fat, hence people who have more lean muscle mass, well, look lean-er. In another words, it’s not the “weight” itself that matters, but “how” the weight is distributed in the body.
How to differentiate between fat loss vs. weight loss?
1) Don’t weigh yourself daily, you can gain up to 4lbs (2kgs) of water. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning after a nice trip to the rest room.
2) Take pictures bi-weekly & compare.
3) Take tap measurements; chest, arms, legs, waist…etc.
4) If you have access to a gym, they should have a device that measures your BMI, body fat, Lean muscle mass, water…etc. (do it every 6 weeks) to see accurate results.
1) Don’t weigh yourself daily, you can gain up to 4lbs (2kgs) of water. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning after a nice trip to the rest room.
2) Take pictures bi-weekly & compare.
3) Take tap measurements; chest, arms, legs, waist…etc.
4) If you have access to a gym, they should have a device that measures your BMI, body fat, Lean muscle mass, water…etc. (do it every 6 weeks) to see accurate results.
To conclude, you are probably looking to lose body fat and not weight, am I correct or am I even more correct? Personally, I have been trying for one year to “GAIN weight” in the sense of gain more muscles as increasing muscle mass really helps off in burning the fat. Saying I want to gain weight doesn’t mean I want to put on fat.
Hope the message came across. So now, tell me, what do YOU want to lose or gain?
Yours truly,
GymFreak at 999-Fitness.
GymFreak at 999-Fitness.
2 comments:
well yeah I need to lose a lot of 'FAT' - and its true for 3 days i controlled my diet and went jogging maybe only 2 times and there was a drop of 3 kilos .. WAS HAPPY, but thanks for bursting my bubble.
guess there's no easy way.
Do you have a post on foods recommended for weight loss, specially here in Dubai, where everything is so fast and FAT thanks to the corporate work culture.
@Luda, Thanks for commenting firstly! Sorry to have burst your bubble, but knowing and understand how your body works can go a long way when wanting to lose fat. There is no easy to lose fat, however, you can make the experience easy for you if you wanted to. I actually planned (and still do) to write a post on foods you can eat when you go out here in Dubai and approx. amount of calories. Even within those Junk Food chains, there are choices which are not necessairly healthy, but have less amount of calories, sodium, fat...etc.
So expect a post sooner than later =).
I do like to add though, I understand working from 9-6 and living around junk food makes it super hard to maintain your weight or stay healthy, however, it is very much possible to stick to a healthy diet, in spite of the food choices available. I have previously done & still do it.
Post a Comment