Should you lose weight or rather just fat?

That is the question. The answer seems obvious: If you are overweight (as in having too much weight) you should be losing weight. But this isn’t the correct answer. I know it may sound counterintuitive but if you are overweight it is most commonly because you have excess body fat that makes you heavy so you should be losing fat.

In everyday convo people talk about losing weight not losing fat, weight loss not fat loss and so on. Is there a difference? Oh yes! The difference is actually huge!

Visually speaking, 1 lb of muscle is about one large handful and 1 lb of fat is just a little over 20% more by volume! Why? Because it is lighter! You probably know that fat (like most lipids) floats on water while muscle slightly sinks. So here is my hypothetical question to you:

if you were to lose a pound of fat or a pound of muscle which one would be more visually noticeable?

Correct! A pound of fat for sure but not for the reason you might be thinking.

Fat may be lighter than muscle but again, visually speaking, it is not the difference in volume that will catch your eyes; it is the difference in QUALITY!

If you lose more muscle than fat you may look smaller but still flabby. On the other hand, if you lose more fat than muscle you will look leaner because you have less fat covering your muscles so you show more definition.

Some heartless, soulless weight loss programs promise 10 lbs off within a week. Have you ever stopped and wondered: 10 lbs of what?

If you are anything like I used to be you probably never have.
Let’s say you went on this «weight loss» program and you really did lose 10 lbs after one week. Should you be happy and celebrating? Maybe but most likely not. I don’t mean to be a party pooper but I can tell you right away that what you lost in this extremely short amount of time was probably mostly water weight, poop and some muscle. (BTW, water is one of the heaviest things we put in ourselves and fairly easy to lose). Yeah, you probably lost some fat too along with some density of your bone structure and joints.

You probably changed some of your eating habits too, right? Maybe only for this short period of time – but still you ate less so your belly (or more like the content of your belly) weights less too. Oh and don’t even get me started with the damage an improper «weight loss» diet can do to you not just physically but mentally, too!

Do you get it now? Weight loss is not fat loss!

The sad part is that most scummy weight loss programs prey on the overweight who don’t know the difference between the two.

No wonder these people yoyo like crazy! They go on a diet -> lose some weight -> happy for it -> they come off of the diet -> eat like they normally do -> suddenly they are overweight again – and the vicious cycle restarts!

Quality vs Quantity

Here is a quick story: I weighed about 220 when I decided to change things regarding my weight. I was puffed up flabby a big snowman like torso with skinny twigs sticking out for arms – as bad as I could get at the time. Then I researched for years and years, tried and tested everything from fad diets to training methods for almost two decades and here I am weighing the same… Is this fair?
Yes!!! Because when you look at me you see a completely different complexion from what I used to be. We can say the quality of my body has improved but my weight stayed the same.

This suggested me a couple of things:

• This weight is probably my healthy, natural weight
• I can maintain this weight quality in a relatively effortless way
• I can maintain my current body fat percentage easily
• Quality always trumps quantity

Now, I know there are a lot of people out there asking the question: YEAH, WE GET IT!!! BUT WILL YOU ALREADY TELL US WHAT TO DO??

But of course I will! As a matter of fact, I will do a lot better than that:

I will educate you! I will pass on whatever knowledge I gather(ed) during my research!

How do you like that? Cool beans? 😉

So what is the solution?

Again, education! Educate yourself, whenever, where ever, however you can. For example, you can start by subscribing to my blog but don’t stop there! Read. READ!! It is the 21st century! Everything is online now! If you can’t find it on the web it probably doesn’t exist!

Knowledge is power and information is the ultimate value – in this case, it may help you live a superb quality, long, healthy, prosperous life.

Stay healthy, my Friends!