Weight Loss Versus Fat Loss
What is weight loss?
Weight loss is a reduction in overall body weight. In other words, weight loss accounts for changes in your overall body composition. Our human bodies are made up of body fat, lean mass, and water.
What is fat loss?
Fat loss is making a reduction in body fat. Fat is stored throughout the body. The total amount of fat storage will fluctuate depending with changes in your diet and lifestyle.
General weight loss vs. fat loss
Since many of us put more focus on weight loss, it’s important to note that there are many factors that influence daily fluctuations in weight, including:
- Sodium intake
- Hydration
- Exercise
- Medications
- Illness/Disease
- Menstruation
- Bowel movements/Constipation
- Stress management
- Total calories consumed
- Macronutrients
- Sleep
We have been taught to think of weight gain as a result of consuming too many calories. However, there are so many aspects of our lifestyle impact the number on the scale. It is also very important to note that weight will have natural fluctuations. We also need to remember that genetics can play a role as well.
When most of us set an intention to lose weight, our goal is usually to lose fat. If we were to lose weight from water or muscle this would slow the progress, even though the number on the scale would drop. When we lose skeletal muscle, we will decrease our basal metabolic rate and increase our body fat percentage.
Therefore, looking at a full body composition which will include amounts of body fat, lean mass, and body water is a more comprehensive way, to assess general health and wellbeing. We love our InBody 720 that we have in our office. We use this with all of our HCG DIET and medical weight loss patients.
What is body fat and how can you measure it?
Body fat is typically measured as a percentage that tells us how much of our total body weight comes from adipose tissue or fat. The scan uses algorithms for all of the tissue density’s to make these quantifications. A signal through muscle, fat, and body water to accurately measure fluctuations in metrics that go beyond just weight.
Average body fat percentages vary greatly between men and women, and from person to person. Gender, age, genetics, and lifestyle all play a role in determining the amount of body fat you may have!
What’s a healthy percent body fat range?
For men, a percent body fat of 10-20% is considered healthy. For women, the healthy range is 18-28%. With weight loss, most patients will lose 1-3% of body fat each month. Fat loss is individualized and may not be consistent from month to month. Weight loss is not a linear process and there will be times of plateau and times of faster losses.
Maintaining Weight Loss
After patients have gone through weight loss, we like to see them maintain within a 5-6 lb range. If the scale increases beyond the range, we like to suggest correction days. These can be used anytime to get back on track.
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