Fat Loss vs Weight Loss - The Difference and The Importance

Anyone looking to lose a few kilos usually claims they want to lose weight. But do you want to lose weight or fat? Read on to understand the difference.

Losing weight is essentially weighing less on the weighing scale. It can be achieved in various ways, like reducing your calorie intake or portion sizes. Despite saying they want to lose weight, most people want to lose fat.

It is suggested to preserve as much muscle as possible and lose only fat.

Table Of Contents

1. How Are Weight Loss And Fat Loss Different?

2. Types of Body Fat

3. What Are The Best Ways To Lose Fat?

4. The Best Methods To Prevent Muscle Loss

5. How To Measure Weight Or Fat Loss

6. The Final Say

7. FAQs

How Are Weight Loss And Fat Loss Different?

Fat loss is a reduction in body fat content, whereas weight loss is a decrease in overall body weight. This weight entails muscle mass, water, and fat. Reducing body fat is the goal of most people. One can lose the body’s fat content by reducing calories like weight loss.  Diet alone can not help you with fat loss. Food quality is more important, i.e., protein, carbohydrates and fat content. 

A good resistance program, including weights, is extremely important to build, preserve and strengthen muscles. People only increase weight and build muscles like this if they have a calorie surplus.

Lifting weight will simply mean you are retaining muscles. The more muscles we have, the more calories our body will burn.

Types Of Body Fat

Did you know our body has various fats? It is the fat found within the body, essential to its standard structure and optimal functioning. The other type is non-essential body fat, which is fat in the body that we don’t need. This fat is stored in the adipose tissue. It is also called storage fat, which we aim to lose during fat loss.

What Are The Best Methods To Lose Fat?

It would be best to create a negative energy balance to lose fat. You can achieve this by adapting to smaller portions and keeping track of your calories. It will help if you consume fewer calories than what you expend.

When people claim they want to tone up, they are referring to building muscles and losing body fat. You should maintain or increase lean tissues to lose body fat. This doesn’t mean you have to look bulky.

Muscle is less energy dense than the fat in the body. Muscles take up less space in the body than fat would. If you lose body fat and gain muscle, you will instantly look much slimmer and more toned. A healthy weight loss is a weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week.

This will vary depending on how much weight a person has to lose. It may take years to acquire fat accumulation in the body, so one cannot expect to lose weight rapidly. Weight loss needs to be sustainable. 

Rapid weight loss can have a negative impact on your body. It can even cause heart disease and secondary diabetes. It results in losing lean body mass and muscles. In a resistance training program, losing weight drastically can mean that you are losing fat but also losing muscles. 

The Best Methods To Prevent Muscle Loss

Pure strength training relies heavily on a person’s neural drive. It depends on your shifting speed from Type I to type II muscle fibres. Your ability to recruit maximal muscle fibre can also influence it. While those are highly beneficial for setting PRs in the gym, they do not maximize muscle.

So, to create an intense workout for muscle building, integrate both. For instance, perform five heavy reps followed by a 20-second rest; repeat the same weight for three reps followed by a 20-second rest and then complete two more agents. This creates a considerable stimulus for thicker muscles and the “pump”. You can still use hefty weight, but you made it last for ten reps.

How To Measure Weight Or Fat Loss?

Weight loss can be measured relatively easily. A general weighing scale would tell you how much you weigh. With this, you can see if you have lost body weight or not. The scales can not tell you if your weight is healthy or unhealthy. It does not account for muscle mass. Body fat measurement will give you more specific results.

It would give you the percentage of fat in your body, which can be interpreted from the body fat charts. You can measure the body fat percentage using anthropometric measurements (Body composition analysis).

The Final Say

We can conclude that weight loss and fat loss are two very different things that are easily confused by us. While weight loss can also entail muscle and water loss, fat loss is what one needs to aim for to look slimmer and more toned. Rapid weight loss can be harmful. Preservation of muscles is crucial; hence slow, steady and sustainable fat loss is the healthiest way to lose those extra kgs!

FAQs

1. Why is it crucial to differentiate between weight and fat loss? 

It is crucial because most people tend to work out with the purpose of fat loss but end up losing weight instead. Sure, they might be in better shape, but they are not necessarily fit. 

2. Can only diet help me lose fat?

To lose fat, working out is equally important as diet. To lose the stored body fat, you need to burn calories.

3. If I drop a lot of weight, does that mean I lose all the fat too?

No, fat loss and weight loss are two different things. When you are losing body weight, it can also be muscle and water loss.

4.  What equipment can I use to measure my body fat percentage?

The best way to check your body fat percentage is to get a BCA test, i.e., Body Composition Analysis.

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