Fat Loss vs. Weight Loss

Have you ever heard anyone say, “The last five pounds are the hardest to lose?” If you don’t know why that is, I will explain. There is a very important distinction between fat loss and weight loss. Fat loss is the loss, of, well . . .fat. (I know. DUH, right?) But, weight loss could be fat loss or muscle loss, or a combination of the two. This is very important to understand.

It is important to understand this because if you don’t take this seriously, you will seriously undermine your fitness results. Let’s look at dieting to lose weight. What all diets do (don’t let anyone tell you different) is cause you to take in fewer calories. When you take in fewer calories than you burn off, you will lose weight. That’s simple enough, right?

However, simply burning off calories through dieting will cause your body to react. At first, you will be happy. You will get on the scale and smile. “I’m doing it! I’m losing weight!” Your body is burning off fat and you couldn’t be happier. I get it. This is great, for a while. Then, something will change.

Why am I no longer losing weight?

What will happen next will not make you happy. You see, when you take in fewer calories over an extended period of time, your body will take notice. It will make changes. If you continue to eat a low-calorie diet, especially if you are not working out, your body will do two things. First, your body will SLOW DOWN your metabolism. WHAT??? Yep, I said it.

Your body will try to prevent starvation by slowing down your metabolism. This will keep fat stored to be used later for energy. It’s like your body has its own accountant. The accountant will notice that there are fewer assets (calories) coming in, but the same assets are going out.

“We are losing assets daily! Stop the spending and save!” Your metabolism will slow down. You’ll stop losing weight and get discouraged. Now you’ll quit the diet and gain all the weight back before your metabolism can reset to the new calories coming in again. This is the yo-yo effect.

The second thing your body will do, if you continue dieting is, it will start burning off muscle instead of fat! That just seems mean, doesn’t it? But it makes sense. The reason it makes sense, is that muscle burns 40% more calories, at rest, than fat burns. This is your body’s accountant at work again. Your body is trying to preserve the energy stores (fat), for survival.

Sadly, if you continue to lose weight (in the form of muscle) while saving fat, you will be happy looking at the scale, but less happy looking in the mirror. Your appearance will not be what you expected. As your muscle decreases and your fat stores remain, or shrink more slowly, you will not like the proportions you see in the mirror.

There is something you can do!

There are two simple things you can do to combat this problem. First, you should eat small meals all day long. Five or six meals (small, healthy) meals per day will keep you and your body’s accountant satisfied. As long as the body knows that calories are being introduced all the time, it can burn them freely.

The second thing you can do is work out. Live an active and physical lifestyle. You can burn off calories as you continue to eat your small meals all day. You will maintain, and even add to, your calorie-burning muscle mass. This will give you the look you want. Rather than having skinny limbs and a pot-belly, you will have a trim, shapely physique.

In the first paragraph of this blog, I stated that the last 5 pounds were the hardest to lose. That is true, if you try to diet the pounds off. But now you can see, that the less you eat, the more your body tries to hang onto those last five pounds. You also know why.

To lose those last five pounds, eat a low-fat, healthy diet and increase your calorie-burning exercise regimen. Your body will happily conform to your wishes!

Happy training!