Monday, January 30, 2006

Weight Loss Or Fat Loss - Important Differences To Lose Weight...

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.


About The Author: Chris Chew is a fitness personal trainer of
fashion models, male pageant winners and actors. More of his
free health and fitness tips at :-
http://www.sgfitness.com/site/1388195/page/634691
http://www.sgfitnessonline.com/fitnesstips.htm
 

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