Fat Loss Versus Weight Loss

Fat Loss Versus Weight Loss

The words fat loss and weight loss are used interchangeably and are both often misused. But, there really is a difference between the two and there is certainly a winner. I am equally guilty of using weight loss when I really mean fat loss since weight loss sounds much better as compared to fat loss.

Here are the differences between weight loss and fat loss

Weight refers to measurement often seen in the scale- how much you weight at that particular point in time.Weight measures your body water content, bone mass density and the food you just consumed.

Having that said, you get to lose a combination of muscle, fat and a lot of water weight when you lose weight. Sadly, this water weight can be easily regained.

Fat loss on the other hand refers to loss in body fat. It is said that the less body fat you have, the healthier you are. Weighing scales cannot simply show the amount of fat you lose except if you use a body caliper and even then accuracy becomes an issue here. This is because weighing scales are at times misleading regarding muscle gain as what you see as a big number may in fact mean that you have gained healthy lean muscle not fat- as muscle weighs more than fat.

Excessive body fat is extremely dangerous to your health- Obesity has been linked to deadly health conditions as a result of excessive eating and sedentary lifestyle such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. This tells you to focus on losing body fat rather on focusing on losing that 5 extra pounds.

These facts pushed me to promote an advocacy on fat loss rather than weight loss. There are several reasons that lead me to this advocacy:

Psychological reasons- experience has shown that the scales can be all consuming. The day is spent too much on pondering the number you saw at the scale before going to work, thus it gives you unnecessary negative thoughts.In fact, I do not even weigh in my clients and even encourage them to just throw away the scale. A better indicator is your size. Instead of weighing my clients, I measure my clients and ask them to buy a pair of jeans a couple of sizes smaller to use as a goal to aim for. That is more motivating for them. (Also the thought of buying a new wardrobe can be fun!)

Easy? Why not try this yourself? Get that tape measure out and measure your around your belly button, smallest part of your waist, chest (around your nipple line) and your hips (widest part around butt). Remeasure yourself every 6 weeks. Have your clothes as indicator of your fat loss. If those jeans that were too small for you are now fitting that's a great sign.

Another reason why it is better to lose fat than weight is because a fat cell, (or adipose cell) is much bigger in size than a lean muscle cell, which is small and compact. Having lean muscle means you will be smaller in size and fit into clothes better (no embarrassing bulges!).