Weight Loss vs Fat Loss
Egger29
Posts: 14,741 Member
Hey Friends!
Below is another recent post from Coach Calorie, who runs a Health and Fitness Blog. Although I don't agree 100% with his suggestions 100% of the time, I would say that 95% of the time he's right on the money with helpful and well laid out ideas.
Far too often, I see people who are obsessed with the numbers on the scale, rather than their overall body composition. The following should help differentiate between "Weight loss" and "Fat Loss"!
Cheers! :-)
Do You Want to Lose Weight? - If you answered yes, you are wrong. Well, not wrong actually, but what you’re really wanting to do is lose fat. Anybody can lose weight. You just don’t eat. You will lose weight, unfortunately, the weight you lose will be both muscle and fat.
The goal to Successful weight loss is to preserve as much muscle as possible, or possibly even gain some, while at the same time lose as much body fat as possible. Your body fat % is a key indicator of your success, not the scale. In fact, stay off the scale.
Muscle is vital to your success for losing fat. Muscles have these little fat burning powerhouses called mitochondria. Mitochondria are cellular power plants that are responsible for the production of energy. It’s in the mitochondria that fat is metabolized. There is a positive correlation between the amount of muscle you have and the number of mitochondria. And it stands to reason that the more mitochondria you have, the more the potential to burn fat.
Get More Mitochondria - How do you get more of these little cell powerhouses? You need to be giving your body a reason to create more of them. You do this by performing high intensity exercise. HIIT training is just one of these methods, Weight training is another. By creating a large demand for energy up and above what your body can already produce, your body is forced to create new mitochondria in order to be prepared for the next time your muscles call on that needed extra energy.
The great thing about muscle and mitochondria is that they are active tissue. Unlike fat, they need constant energy to maintain themselves – energy like fatty acids. What does this mean? It means that your body will be burning fat at all times of the day – even while you’re sleeping. Yes, it is possible to burn fat in your sleep, and that is how.
Don’t Worry About Your Weight
Telling people to ignore their weight is a very common theme, and for good reason. Too many times successful dieting is sabotaged because of a meaningless number on a scale.
A scale does nothing other than measure the force of gravity on your body. Why should this matter at all? It can’t tell you if your clothes fit better, it can’t tell you if your body fat percentage has changed, and it definitely won’t tell you that you’re looking any better.
When you start dieting, it is imperative that you track your progress using methods other than the scale. You need progress measuring tools that are going to track fat loss – not weight loss. Body fat calipers, tape measures, pictures, clothes sizes, and people’s comments are all going to be more useful for you. Don’t worry about your weight – even if it goes up. If you’re looking better, you’re weight doesn’t matter. The only time it matters is when you tell your weight to someone who doesn’t understand the difference between weight loss and fat loss.
Preserve Muscle While Losing Fat
Alright then, if our goal is fat loss, we are going to need to focus on preserving muscle while we lose fat. People tend to sabotage their diets by eating too little food and too few nutrients resulting in muscle loss. Once you start losing muscle, you are fighting an uphill battle to lose fat. This is one of the main reasons why diets fail.
To prevent muscle loss, make sure you are following these basic guidelines:
1) Get in enough calories for your body size and activity level. See how many calories should I eat.
2) Make sure those calories are nutrient dense by having them come from fruits, vegetables, meats, legumes, tubers, healthy fats, and whole grains.
3) Aim for calories in the 10-12 times your body weight range. (Eg. 100lbs BW = 1000-1200 Calories)
4) Try to get in 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, and divide that evenly among 5-6 meals.
5) Eat enough carbohydrates to support your activity level. You can start at 150 grams and adjust from there.
6) Fill the rest of your calories with fat – healthy fats and EFAs (essential fatty acids).
7) Make sure you exercise and give your muscles a reason to maintain themselves. If you don’t exercise, your body is going to shed that unneeded muscle. Force your body to preserve it and even grow it by giving it consistent stimulation.
Follow these guidelines and you will reach your true goal of not just losing weight, but losing that unsightly fat, and keeping your beautiful muscle.
Below is another recent post from Coach Calorie, who runs a Health and Fitness Blog. Although I don't agree 100% with his suggestions 100% of the time, I would say that 95% of the time he's right on the money with helpful and well laid out ideas.
Far too often, I see people who are obsessed with the numbers on the scale, rather than their overall body composition. The following should help differentiate between "Weight loss" and "Fat Loss"!
Cheers! :-)
Do You Want to Lose Weight? - If you answered yes, you are wrong. Well, not wrong actually, but what you’re really wanting to do is lose fat. Anybody can lose weight. You just don’t eat. You will lose weight, unfortunately, the weight you lose will be both muscle and fat.
The goal to Successful weight loss is to preserve as much muscle as possible, or possibly even gain some, while at the same time lose as much body fat as possible. Your body fat % is a key indicator of your success, not the scale. In fact, stay off the scale.
Muscle is vital to your success for losing fat. Muscles have these little fat burning powerhouses called mitochondria. Mitochondria are cellular power plants that are responsible for the production of energy. It’s in the mitochondria that fat is metabolized. There is a positive correlation between the amount of muscle you have and the number of mitochondria. And it stands to reason that the more mitochondria you have, the more the potential to burn fat.
Get More Mitochondria - How do you get more of these little cell powerhouses? You need to be giving your body a reason to create more of them. You do this by performing high intensity exercise. HIIT training is just one of these methods, Weight training is another. By creating a large demand for energy up and above what your body can already produce, your body is forced to create new mitochondria in order to be prepared for the next time your muscles call on that needed extra energy.
The great thing about muscle and mitochondria is that they are active tissue. Unlike fat, they need constant energy to maintain themselves – energy like fatty acids. What does this mean? It means that your body will be burning fat at all times of the day – even while you’re sleeping. Yes, it is possible to burn fat in your sleep, and that is how.
Don’t Worry About Your Weight
Telling people to ignore their weight is a very common theme, and for good reason. Too many times successful dieting is sabotaged because of a meaningless number on a scale.
A scale does nothing other than measure the force of gravity on your body. Why should this matter at all? It can’t tell you if your clothes fit better, it can’t tell you if your body fat percentage has changed, and it definitely won’t tell you that you’re looking any better.
When you start dieting, it is imperative that you track your progress using methods other than the scale. You need progress measuring tools that are going to track fat loss – not weight loss. Body fat calipers, tape measures, pictures, clothes sizes, and people’s comments are all going to be more useful for you. Don’t worry about your weight – even if it goes up. If you’re looking better, you’re weight doesn’t matter. The only time it matters is when you tell your weight to someone who doesn’t understand the difference between weight loss and fat loss.
Preserve Muscle While Losing Fat
Alright then, if our goal is fat loss, we are going to need to focus on preserving muscle while we lose fat. People tend to sabotage their diets by eating too little food and too few nutrients resulting in muscle loss. Once you start losing muscle, you are fighting an uphill battle to lose fat. This is one of the main reasons why diets fail.
To prevent muscle loss, make sure you are following these basic guidelines:
1) Get in enough calories for your body size and activity level. See how many calories should I eat.
2) Make sure those calories are nutrient dense by having them come from fruits, vegetables, meats, legumes, tubers, healthy fats, and whole grains.
3) Aim for calories in the 10-12 times your body weight range. (Eg. 100lbs BW = 1000-1200 Calories)
4) Try to get in 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, and divide that evenly among 5-6 meals.
5) Eat enough carbohydrates to support your activity level. You can start at 150 grams and adjust from there.
6) Fill the rest of your calories with fat – healthy fats and EFAs (essential fatty acids).
7) Make sure you exercise and give your muscles a reason to maintain themselves. If you don’t exercise, your body is going to shed that unneeded muscle. Force your body to preserve it and even grow it by giving it consistent stimulation.
Follow these guidelines and you will reach your true goal of not just losing weight, but losing that unsightly fat, and keeping your beautiful muscle.
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Replies
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Thank you so much! This is great.0
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This gives me encouragement to not only watch what I eat but to get myself into a good workout routine that will make my muscles burn the fat and not store that crazy stuff
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A visual to explain why the scale isn't your most valuable tool in measuring success.
I weigh 150lbs in both photos.
(First photo is June 2010 and second is November 2011 - I lost weight between the two photos and then 'gained weight back')
What am I doing? Crossfit specficially, but HIIT type workouts and a lot of weight training. I don't count calories personally (bad obsessive mentally unhealthy history with this - not saying counting is bad - just not mentally okay for me) but I eat the RIGHT foods (read: real food... lots of veggies) and eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. Eating the right food has taken care of the calorie issue (seriously - ever tried to go over your calories on brocolli?)
Great share!0 -
A visual to explain why the scale isn't your most valuable tool in measuring success.
I weigh 150lbs in both photos.
(First photo is June 2010 and second is November 2011 - I lost weight between the two photos and then 'gained weight back')
What am I doing? Crossfit specficially, but HIIT type workouts and a lot of weight training. I don't count calories personally (bad obsessive mentally unhealthy history with this - not saying counting is bad - just not mentally okay for me) but I eat the RIGHT foods (read: real food... lots of veggies) and eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. Eating the right food has taken care of the calorie issue (seriously - ever tried to go over your calories on brocolli?)
Great share!
That is freaking awesome, love it!! I have been weight lifting/training for the past 4 weeks with 30 to 45 mins of cardio after...this past week started doing HIIT, I can't believe the difference. Thank you and the OP, I can't wait to see my eventual progress!0 -
Thank you.0
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I try to get people to see the difference between scale weight loss and fat loss. I'm aiming to lose fat and it will take time.0
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thats friggin awesome! thanks0
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Sound advice.0
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Love this!0
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That was some good info! THANKS!0
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Good post & glad there are others that feel the same as me about the scale. I weigh the same as I did last year around this time, yet my clothing sizes are smaller, more fitted & I have a lot less "bulge".
In fact, when I go back & compare my bicep pics (yes, I update them every couple months & it's amazing to see that even when I had definition in June, it is starting to look more sleek & sculpted now in this more recent pic), I weighed LESS in May/June according to the scale but my arms were not as solid.
Tape measures are in the same league as the scale sometimes since while my thighs both measure the same as they did 6 months ago, they are much more solid, less "spread" when I sit (many women will understand that one! :laugh: )
I finally accepted a couple years ago that I would never be "skinny"; genetically, my muscle wants to build so who am I to stand in its way? I've embraced that I'm designed to build & sculpt & have got more compliments & look better in my mid-30's than I EVER did in my younger years. Just wish I had of realized this 10 years ago!0
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