Difference Between Losing Weight And Losing Fat

Difference Between Losing Weight And Losing Fat

There is a big difference between lose weight and lose fat. Your goal should never be to lose weight, but it should always be to lose fat. When you lose weight, you lose a bit of everything: fat, muscle, fluids, organ size. You want most of your weight loss to come from fat, not from other things. If you are only worried about seeing a smaller number on the scale, you can lose valuable muscles instead, which results in a weight gain, that is, fat, in the long term.

Body Fat Test

To determine if you are losing weight or fat, do a body fat test. If you are a woman who weighs 150 pounds and has 35% fat, you have around more than 52 pounds of fat. Ideally, a healthy woman has 25% fat, or about 37 pounds, so you should lose 15 pounds of fat to reach a healthy level. For example, let's say you lose 20 pounds in total, but only 10 pounds come from your fat stores. Even so, you would have 32% fat. To reach 25% body fat, all 20 lire should come from fat.

Dehydration is not a real weight loss

One of the tricks to lose weight quickly that has nothing to do with losing fat is to be dehydrated. If you lose weight because you are dehydrated, you simply lost water and those pounds will come back quickly. Do not fool yourself into thinking that those pounds really went away. You still have as much fat in your body as before. In fact, without hydration, the muscles will shrink because the water keeps them swollen and vital, leaving them lighter but without energy or strength.

Gain muscle to burn fat

Image by Flickr. com, courtesy of Daniel Lobo

One way to lose fat is to simply add strength training to your exercise program. Do not try to lose weight simply by doing cardiovascular exercise. The pounds that you lose when doing cardiovascular exercise will return immediately if you stop exercising, since you do not have muscle mass to keep the weight away. Do not worry about increasing the size of your muscles or gain too many muscles. For the majority of the population, this is simply not a concern. When you add muscle, you improve your body fat composition ratio, which is the main goal.

Losing muscle slows metabolism

Losing weight that does not come from fat is inevitable, but muscle loss will cause a rebound effect that leads to weight gain. The muscle is metabolically active and your temperature rises, which keeps your metabolism fast and burning calories. Even when sitting on the couch, you burn more calories if you have more muscle mass in your frame. So losing muscle lowers your temperature, makes your metabolism slow and makes the weight keep coming.

Lose fat to be healthy

Image by Flickr. com, courtesy of Iwan Gabovitch

Losing weight can make you look like a smaller version of a fat person, since you do not have muscle toning under your skin. To look like a healthy and fit person, losing fat and having muscle is absolutely necessary. Lift weights. If you do not know what you are doing, get help as it is important to do strength training properly to avoid injury.

Video Tutorial: The Difference Between Weight Loss And Fat Loss.

Like This? Share With Friends: