Fat loss and weight loss are not the same thing. Not all of your body’s weight is fat. That’s important because a focus on fat alone can lead to missing the subtleties and complexities of weight. That includes making sure you’re not unhealthily losing the wrong mass in your quest for weight loss.
Losing weight can take different forms. You can lose fat, you can lose lean tissue like muscle, or you can lose fluids. Fat does have an important role to play in the body, but it’s pretty clear that it can be associated with poor health outcomes. The trouble comes when trying to get rid of it damages muscle or hydration.
If you lose too much fat too quickly, your body will start to burn through muscle as well. That weakens you physically and means you definitely won’t achieve the toned physique of your dreams. It will also make it much harder to keep the weight off and sustain a healthy degree of fat loss.
Fluid loss also has its dangers, most obviously through dehydration. It’s also the reason your weight fluctuates throughout the day. You may have heard that weighing yourself in the morning and weighing yourself just before bed will produce different results. Every time you have a drink or go to the bathroom, let alone sweat through an exercise session, your fluid levels may change.
Some athletes – or actors trying to look like athletes – use deliberate dehydration to try to rapidly lower their weight immediately before an event. It’s particularly common in combat sports like martial arts where you’re split into weight classes. This is known as weight cutting and it can be pretty dangerous if you start experiencing the life-threatening effects of severe dehydration.
Making sure you eat plenty of protein is one way to maintain and improve muscle mass, even if you’re losing weight. Staying hydrated and replenishing your fluids is extra important during and after intense workouts. Above all, just make sure your fat loss plan is slow and sustainable and not the kind with dangerously rapid results that you’ll never keep up in the long term.
Everyone’s a bit different when it comes to body type and fat loss goals. Know your own body, know what you want and plan accordingly. If you lose weight, you want it to be in a healthy way.
