WORKOUT ANYTIME Fitness Blog

Fat Loss versus Weight Loss

If you want a specific outcome from a workout and nutrition program the first step is clearly defining the goal and making sure it is relevant to you!  This may seem obvious but the fact is that the majority of people starting exercise and nutrition programs are focused on the WRONG goal: Losing Weight!  There is a significant difference between losing weight and losing fat, and to achieve the aesthetic goal of “looking better” on the beach it is ALL about losing fat. So what is the difference anyway?

Fat takes up much more space than the same amount of muscle and muscle is much denser (feels firmer) than muscle.  In addition muscle burns more calories than fat at rest and this is key.  The reason is that increasing your resting metabolic rate (by having more muscle relative to fat) allows you to burn more calories all day long — even when you are not exercising!

Take a good look at the picture below and you will notice that 5lbs of muscle is much smaller (and denser) than 5lbs of fat.  So if you lose 5lbs of fat and gain 5lbs of muscle your weight will not change, but you will look MUCH better and your body will feel much firmer to the touch — which is goal right?   Notice the picture of the girl at a much heavier weight but looking great because she focused on fat loss and maintaining or even slightly increasing her muscle mass.

So the important take away here is that for the vast majority of people your goal is to lose bodyfat and maintain or gain a little muscle mass.      Anytime you lose a lot of weight quickly one of two things are happening:   you are losing water (which is NOT permanent) or you are losing muscle which is counter-productive!    So your exercise and nutrition program needs to start with measuring your baseline level of bodyfat so you know where you are starting.    Next develop an exercise and nutrition program designed around the real goal – fat loss!   Then measure each month to see if you are heading in the right direction! See our other blog posts with tips and programs you can use to help achieve these goals!