I need to Lose Fat, Not Weight!

Oh no, just yesterday I made quite a tale of how good it feels to lose weight. But is losing weight really the issue I want to address? This has got me thinking. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my goal.

Yes even if I’ve seen results in what I do, my search on how to shred pounds and to hopefully do it right never stop. And last night I came across few articles about Losing Weight vs. Losing Fat! Again, that had me wondering. Am I really doing the right thing here? I must have confused losing weight is equivalent to losing fat. God, I was so WRONG! And that’s probably the reason why I can’t get rid of belly fats all the way no matter how hard I try.

So I’m supposed to lose fat, not weight!

Now here’s the thing…

Our body is made of lean body mass and fat. Muscle is the most active tissue that keeps you active. It has been shown to greatly improve insulin sensitivity. Lack of insulin sensitivity basically causes weight gain and will increase your body fat. While fat is just your storehouse of energy. Obviously we don’t want to lose muscle mass because study says it increases metabolic rate and burn up 15-20 times more calories than fat. Excess fat however, just sits around our body and that is what we want to get rid of

How to ensure you lose fat and not muscle?

A lot of misguided dieters (and I’m not gonna lie, I used to be one of them) have that theory that the less you consume, the more you lose weight. We should know by now how much of a crappy thinking that is, right?

Apply a balanced meal. It has always been a proven key to losing weight. Forget restricting calories but do not consume more than what your body needs. Enforcing weight loss with so many diet restrictions causes a lot of personal stress and is rather not sustainable. And don’t forget to couple your diet with physical activities like strength training and cardio workout – that should keep your lean body mass intact.

So this is it…I need to lose fat, not muscle mass! And perhaps it’s also now time not to think so much about the weighing scale and start using the measuring tape instead. ;)