Weight loss or fat loss
Important differences to lose weight and fat healthily
Some
people used the term "weight loss" while others call it "fat loss" whilst
many use the terms weight loss and fat loss interchangeably. Do they mean
the same thing? To many people, they do mean the same thing. But the terms
may be entirely different in meaning. You must know the difference if you
want to lose weight or lose fat effectively and healthily.
When you step onto your bathroom scale every morning, what you will be
reading from the scale is weight loss and not fat loss. Bath room scales
are never accurate in determining fat loss.
Why? Because it measures your overall weight and not your body fat per se.
If you weigh yourself in the morning before breakfast after your bowel
movement, you will probably get your lowest reading of the day because
your body is dehydrated through hours of non fluid replenishment when you
were sleeping and after emptying your bowels, more water and wastes are
flushed away so much so that you are you are lighter. After a night of
sleep and not eating anything, your carbohydrate store is running low and
therefore you are even lighter without the stored carbohydrate known as
glycogen. What happened then? You just loss weight not loss fat! Your body
fat is still there while the weight of other substances such as glycogen,
wastes, water etc are depleted.
Now go weigh yourself again after dinner when you are fully replenished
through meals and consumption of water and it may surprised you that you
may probably weigh 2kg or more heavier and that is at least 4.4 pounds!
You just gained weight and may even gained fat! Now you can see that it is
such a misnomer when people think weight loss and fat loss are the same
thing.
Why must you know the difference? Because for most of us, especially those
who are on the fat side want to lose fat and not necessarily want to lose
weight. Getting the drift?
Now for the more important part. Mere weight loss may cause you to lose
muscle and in turn, make you gain body fat later. Yes, it is ironical.
That is because the more muscle mass you have, the more you burn fat
efficiently because muscle is an active tissue and it requires calories to
function. Body fat just sit there doing nothing and thus do not burn
calories on its own. So the less muscle mass you have, the less calories
your body will burn. The fewer calories your body burn, the more calories
ended up being stored as body fat! Therefore it is important to lose fat
but not merely lose weight which may include the loss of muscle tissues.
How is it that a person may lose muscle on a weight loss program? Well for
starters, we commonly hear about people going on this diet and that diet.
Most diets demand a severe restriction of food or calorie intake. Your
body will then signal to your mind that you are in a starvation mode and
the body is designed to store fat for the impending famine and will use up
your muscle for energy in your daily activities.
Some diets advocate a severe cut in carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is your
body's first source of energy. When your body is depleted of carbohydrate,
it turns to your protein (muscles) and body fat indiscriminately for
energy. Now to make matters worse, because of the restricted carbohydrate
consumed, there will be fewer carbohydrate calories to be used as energy
calories and that again will signal the onset of starvation mode again.
The vicious cycle of your body cannibalizing its own muscle is set in
motion again. The same applies to people on slimming pills or salon fat
loss programs.
So some people say ok, Chris, I see your point, so I will just do plenty
of cardio exercises to lose weight. Another grave mistake. Have you ever
wondered why marathon runners, those who run many kilometers often and are
doing cardio exercises almost everyday are so skinny with no muscle tone?
Because your body is a wonderful machine. It is designed to adapt. When
you run or skip or swim long enough, it will say, look, I better get
lighter so that I can take the stress better and improve the endurance.
Guess what? Your muscles are heavier than fats and what will your body
shed more when it wants to get lighter? Muscle or fat? Your body will shed
both but more muscles than fats.
Anyway, why would you want to lose weight only to become a smaller you
with the same body shape without any muscle tone? Why would you want to be
on a weight loss program that eats your muscles and lower your fat burning
rate so much so that when you are off the program, the fats come piling
back on again?
Therefore, while you are on a lose weight program, you must also be on a
build muscle program. That will mean a combination of correct dietary
habit, cardio exercises and weightlifting exercises to maintain muscle
preservation and a fat loss result.
From now on tell people you are on a fat loss program and not a weight
loss program. That you are on a correct eating habit instead of just
simply dieting.
With the distinction clearly in mind, you will then know how to lose fat
effectively, preserve and grow your muscles and at the same time losing
weight on your bathroom scale. That would be an ideal way to achieve your
weight loss objective because you will lose body fat instead of muscle and
mere body wastes.
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About the Author:
Chris Chew
www.sgfitness.com
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