Think Fat Loss NOT Weight Loss

It is the fault of our popular media we are all obsessed with weight loss!

Unfortunately, this is to the downfall of our "real" goal of looking great naked!

The media obsession with those figures on the scales sets false hopes and promises, ultimately leading to failure in our goals. Whilst some publications and reports have recently stopped using weight as the primary indicator, it's twin brother of Body Mass Index (BMI) is used instead, in the false assumption that there is an ideal weight for your height!

Yes, BMI is a slightly better indicator than simply weight alone, but it forgets some of us are naturally built like an anorexic marathon runner, or a muscle packed quarterback, throwing the BMI measure completely out the window.

The problem with weight loss is the unhealthy fixation with restricted calorie diets, hundreds of hours of aerobic exercise, and in some cases, surgical methods to cut a few pounds from the scales.

I call it "unhealthy", as these traditional weight loss methods have been shown in many scientific studies to be detrimental to our body's metabolic rate, causing our body to hold on to the body fat we are so desperate to lose. There is more evidence in the gym today, you'll spot many of the members on the treadmills and in aerobic classes day after day, week after week, without any noticeable difference in body shape. Even the aerobics instructors are looking a little "chubby"!

Restricted calorie diets cause our body to go into starvation mode, with the ultimate result of slowing our metabolism and causing us to store more fat rather than losing the stuff.

It is clear that all the old approaches are not working, so what does work then?

If fat loss or body shape and size was our primary focus, I believe we are more likely to attain our goals. The process of "fat loss" would mean you concentrate on actions to boost your normal metabolic rate, and boost it significantly enough to allow fat to simply disappear naturally.

This would include exercises to build more metabolically active tissues, this means resistance type training to increase muscle tissue. You would also look to adopt eating habits that boost your metabolism rather than slow it down, meaning eating smaller meals every 2 to 3 hours, and eating foods that contain good protein sources and not the processed carbs that are so prevalent in the modern diet.

These methods will not only allow you to drop the 1, 2 or more dress/jean sizes, show your flat stomach or 6 pack abs, and make your butt look smaller, but you'll probably lose some weight in the process too ;o)

So today is the day to change your focus from those numbers on the scales, to simply working out how to lose the fat that is covering your body. Losing the fat is not complicated, it simply requires a shift in your perception of what are the most "effective" methods. Start today by quitting the "diet", eating sensibly and regularly instead. Get into the gym and do the more effective resistance workouts and stay away from the cross trainer!

Tim Goodwin is a Luxembourg based fitness professional specializing in help the busiest people achieve more with their amateur sporting interests, and at the same time ridding them of excess body fat. Visit http://www.getfit.lu/success.html to get a free 18 page report "How to lose weight even when you are really busy" containing a full 4 week program which you can start today! Feel free to duplicate this article, I only ask that it remains in full and includes this resource box.

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Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss - Yes There is a Difference!

In order to lose weight, your body must burn more calories than it takes in, but keep in mind that your body needs calories for energy and when you exercise; your body needs even more calories. Before I talk about energy, the first thing you must understand is that losing weight and losing fat is not the same thing. Just because you lose weight, does not mean you lose fat, and just because you lose fat, does not mean you lose weight. When people talk about losing weight, what the really want to do is lose the excess fat on their body and obtain an attractive figure.

When you eat, the body uses most of the calories for energy. If you eat more calories than the body uses, it will get stored as fat. If you do not consume enough calories per day you will lose weight, but you will also lose energy. When you do not consume enough energy (calories) for your body, it will start using up your energy stores to make up for the energy deficiency. Unfortunately, the energy stores used is not your stored fat, but instead it’s protein and carbohydrates (carbs) that will supply most of the energy (stored fat makes up a very small percentage).

Your body will take the protein and carbohydrates from your muscle cells; causing your muscle mass to reduce (say goodby to that toned attractive look) which forces your metabolism to decrease (a low metabolism = slow or no fat burning). When this happens your body requires less energy to maintain its new lower body weight (remember the body weight is lower because you loss muscle), which is why your body conserves energy by slowing down the metabolism. In other words, the body has adapted to the new lower energy (calorie) intake which means that you will no longer continue to lose weight.

Keep in mind that the weight you had lost in the first place was mostly water weight and you will eventually gain it back in the form of fat, not muscle (in order to get your muscle mass back to the way it was before, you have to work on rebuilding it). When carbohydrates and protein that are already in your body are used as the energy source, your body will lose water weight because both carbohydrates and protein hold water in the cells. In essence, you are dehydrating yourself to lose weight. So yes the scale will go down, but approximately 75% (if not more) of it is water instead of fat. And just so you know, exercising while consuming a small calorie intake just makes the situation worse.

This is because when you exercise, you start burning off more energy and the more you workout, the more energy your body needs. I already told you above where the energy comes from, and if you do not give your body the energy it needs, it will just feed on your muscles even quicker now that you are exercising. So eat more food! In addition to this, when you cut down too much on your calorie intake, your body will start storing calories because it doesn’t know when you will eat again. The calories that are stored will be stored as fat. So in other words, when your body is storing energy, it’s basically storing more fat.
To summarize my point: Not eating enough calories results in muscle loss, dehydration, slower fat burning, and your body will always adapt to a lower calorie intake.

Bottom Line: if you can’t maintain that lower calorie intake for the rest of your life, you will gain your weight back when you get tired of starving yourself!
To lose weight properly (burning fat) you must increase your metabolism (weight training) and your need for oxygen (aerobics) while eating enough calories each day (nutritious diet) to give you energy and maintain the protein in your muscles because protein helps build muscles, which indirectly burns fat. This brings up another good point: When you build muscle your weight will increase because your muscles are made up of mostly water, but your body fat percentage will decrease because building muscles increase your metabolism (in other words, muscles way more than fat, but take up less space than fat). So keep in mind that losing body fat can’t be measured by a scale; use a measuring tape and also look at yourself in the mirror, and then you will see the true results. One of the best ways to know if you are losing more body fat than water is by using a body fat analyzer.

Make sure that you focus on fat loss not weight loss. Your goal should be to lose weight by burning fat, not losing water from your muscles. Remember this when you choose your weight loss program.

This article was written by Vernita Sherman of Ultimate Fat Burning Secrets. Ultimate Fat Burning Secrets is dedicated to exposing fat burning secrets that weight loss companies are keeping from you. Vernita teaches the truth about how to permanently lose weight the healthy natural way, and she is commited to guiding you to weight loss resources that she has personally tried and know for a fact work. You can learn more about these resources and receive a free fat burning course at http://www.bffm.ultimatefatburningsecrets.com

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