Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

Let me start by saying there is a difference in weight loss and fat loss. Fat loss is when you decrease you body fat and maintain your lean body mass (muscle). This is good! Weight loss can mean you lose fat, water and muscle. This is bad. Here are a few details of each.

Weight Loss: Anyone can loss weight (in the beginning), by simply not eating. Now here is  what happens when you do this. You lose some fat, water, and the most important tissue to your body, Muscle. As most of you know who have tried this approach you can’t go long before you have to start eating again and when you do, you gain back the fat and the water but not the muscle, therefore lowering your metabolism. (Your metabolism is your bodies ability to burn calories). Then this becomes a cycle, don’t eat, lose weight, eat, gain weight. This will work for a while until your body catches on and you have burn up most of your muscle tissue. Then it just will not work any more. So you get bigger and bigger and that becomes the cycle.

Fat Loss: This is the most optimal and effective way to lose weight and keep it off. Why? Because you maintain your metabolism by maintaining your muscle. Think of muscle as your engine. The more muscle you have the faster your engine runs, burning calories like crazy.

So how do you lose fat and maintain your muscle? Its pretty simple, eat enough calories to keep your body from going into starvation mode but fewer calories than you burn. We each have a certain number of calories in order for our body to work correctly, this is called your BMR (base metabolic rate). When you eat fewer calories than your BMR you start lowering your metabolism and prevent your body from burning fat. So stay above that number. (If you need that number click here). Once you know BMR simple eat that many calories and you will be sure to lose the right kind of weight!

Example:

Jill’s BMR is 1200 calories. Here total metabolism is some where around 1800 calories with daily activity. If she eats 1200 calories for that day she will be in a calorie deficit of 600 calories. This will allow her to lose approximately 1-2 pounds a week and be sure to keep that weight off! If you have questions about this please send the to me by clicking here.