Want To Lose Weight... Or Lose Fat? Beware This Common Trap

Do you want to lose weight...

...or lose fat?

Does the choice of words matter?

That depends on your intention and circumstances.

Are we talking about health? For example: a morbidly obese individual being instructed to lose a significant amount of weight by a medical professional in order to reduce health risk?

Or are we talking about aesthetics... "toning up", reducing body fat percentage etc?

It's important to clearly define your goal.

If "weight" refers to total bodyweight...

...a reduction (or increase) can be achieved in different ways.

What Are You Measuring?

When you step on a simple weighing scale...

...you're presented with a single number.

Your bodyweight is, as the title suggests, the total weight of your whole body...

• body fat

• muscle

• bone

• your organs

• water

• even the food inside your digestive system adds a significant contribution.

Obviously, you can control some of the above, while some will remain constant.

The point is, you can change your bodyweight without actually losing/gaining body fat.

Is Weight A Bad Thing?

Water is the easiest example.

For starters, a pint of water weighs approx' 0.5kg/1lb...

So, not only will hydration/dehydration affect weight measurements...

...it can be manipulated very quickly.

Two measurements within just a couple of hours of eachother can (probably will) be very different.

Another example...

In many cases, if you're exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy level of stored carbohydrate in your body is useful.

This helps to fuel your workouts.

That's obviously a good thing.

With that in mind, you need to be aware that for every gram of carbohydrate stored inside your body (as glycogen), 2 grams of water will automatically be stored with it.

Again, this is not only a good thing, but inevitable.

As a result, storing more carbohydrate (more energy), leads to weight gain (NOT fat gain).

There are many scenarios where a client may be encouraged to increase their carbohydrate intake.

Even if they are trying to lose fat.

So you can immediately see, that while you may be "burning" and losing fat...

...your total weight could remain constant or possibly even increase.

Be Specific

This is just one example showing why it's important to be clear about your goal.

What SPECIFICALLY are you trying to do?

Lose weight?

Or lose fat?

In most cases it will be the latter.

Consider this when taking measurements.

Are You Measuring The Right Thing?

Measure what is relevant...

Ultimately, if you're simply trying to lose weight...

...weigh yourself.

If, which is more likely, you're trying to reduce your body fat...

...measure your body fat.

They are very simply, two different things.