Introduction to Weight Loss vs Fat Loss
It’s simple to get fat loss and weight loss confused, especially if you haven’t spent any time giving a hoot about fitness or nutrition. And there’s nothing wrong with that, you can choose to spend your limited time on this large rotating rock however you see fit.
Losing fat is technically losing weight, well, because fat weighs something. What weighs more, a pound of fat or a pound of dust? Sorry, my girlfriend just baked brookies and I’m a bit hysterical at the moment.
But when you lose weight in general, you are losing not only fat, but muscle as well. There are ways to limit the amount of muscle that you lose, while losing fat. I’ll talk about how to do this a little further down in the article. When some people say that they want to lose weight, they might really mean that they want to lose body fat. Based on your goals, it is important to be able to distinguish between weight loss vs fat loss.
By saying they want to lose weight, someone might also mean that they want their number on the scale to go down. If you’re on a fat loss or a weight loss journey right now, I would highly advise against becoming addicted to scale numbers. Only bust out the scale once a week at most. You will become obsessed if you use it as frequently as every day; and maybe even start to develop an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious and can happen to anyone.
Also, your weight fluctuates greatly during the course of the day (an average range of about 5 lbs). So you might check the scale today and weigh a certain weight and then check it tomorrow and be even heavier. This can be quite worrisome for someone who doesn’t know any better. Another reason that it’s so important to research weight loss vs fat loss is because you might become confused by a scale.
If you’re a sedentary person and you suddenly start hitting the gym, you might expect to lose weight and be surprised that your weight stays the same or even goes up. Because muscle is more dense than fat, it weighs more. And if you don’t have a lot of fat to lose in the first place you may just see some surprising numbers on the scale. Scale image
Fat Loss and how to “Target” Fat.
As we’ve already established a bit earlier, weight loss does not mean only losing fat. When you shed pounds, fat as well as muscle disappear into the ether. I would assume that you’re reading my blog because you’re interested in losing weight or fat. Let’s day that you want to retain as much muscle as possible while losing weight, how does one do that? Let’s look into it.
I’ve recently lost 90 pounds of weight over the course of 5 months. But that was just me trying to lose as much weight as possible, cutting calories, fasting, heavy cardio, etc. I also had an advantage in my weight loss journey in the sense that I was consuming an enormous amount (+3000 over maintenance) of surplus calories per day in liquor. And I cut that out completely.
That’s the first thing I would recommend for your fat loss journey, cut out alcohol, all of it if possible. But a couple drinks a week shouldn’t cause too much harm.
High protein diet. There’s a reason why you always hear “gym bros” talking about their protein. Protein equals muscle. Having a high protein diet will allow you to retain much of your current muscle mass while losing fat. How much protein should you be eating? It might seem like a lot, to you but eat an amount equal to your body weight in grams. So if you weigh 170 lbs, then eat 170 grams of protein. We can make it happen.
Protein powder is your best friend. They are also one of the most cost effective methods of stuffing your body with the amount of protein that it needs. Protein is much harder for your body to store away as fat than fats and carbohydrates. I always buy this protein powder, it’s served me well for the past 5 years and is simply the top choice out there.
Cut your daily calorie intake. You still have to lose weight in order to lose fat, so it’s recommended that you go 300-500 calories under your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). You can calculate your personal TDEE here. In doing this, you will essentially be replacing fat with muscle, which weighs more than fat. None of this is going to happen over night, it’ll take a month or so to notice serious results. If you’re looking to just become more toned without losing any weight, then you should not eat at a calorie deficit and instead eat a little more than your TDEE.
Strength Train and Light Cardio. If you’re going down the fat loss route, in regards to weight loss vs fat loss, then it’s very important to lift weights in order to maintain or even gain more muscle mass. You’ll be looking good if you hit the gym 3 times a week and lift weights, you could go 4 times if you want, or even 6 if you’ve been lifting for a long time. If you’re unsure about which gym to sign up for, planet fitness is a good choice.
Too much cardio can put your precious muscles in danger, but hitting the pavement or treadmill three times a week will do wonders for fat loss. It’s recommended that you do at least 150 minutes of high intensity conditioning a week regardless of your goals. Too much of it can hinder your muscle gains.
Combine all of these things and stay consistent and you’ll definitely meet your goal of losing fat while greatly limiting the amount of muscle that you lose. The key is to stay consistent.
Clearing Up Weight Loss Vs Fat Loss
I just want to touch on the topic of weight loss vs fat loss one last time. We should now understand that weight loss is an overall drop in body weight which might include, muscle, fat, water, hair, feces, etc. I’m sure you get the picture, it’s not a difficult concept or anything.
It’s important that we’re able to distinguish between the two. Each of these two things has a different effect on the body The scale does not tell the full story about what’s going on inside of your body. It’s generally more beneficial to lose fat than it is to lose weight. I hope you were able to take something away from this article today and if you stayed for more than a minute I am truly grateful! Have an amazing day and effective and life-altering weight loss and/or fat loss journey.
