Weight loss refers to a decrease in overall body weight due to loss of muscle, water, and fat. Fat loss refers to losing weight from fat, and is a more specific and healthier goal than weight loss. However, it can be difficult to tell whether you are losing weight through fat or muscle. This article explains why losing fat is more important than losing weight, how to tell the difference between the two, and provides tips for losing fat and gaining muscle.
Ways to know if you are losing fat
It is common to track your weight loss progress using a scale. While this can be helpful, many scales do not differentiate between fat loss and muscle loss. For this reason, tracking your weight alone is not a reliable way to determine if you are losing fat or muscle and by how much. Conversely, a bathroom scale can provide a more accurate picture of your body composition by measuring the percentage of fat and muscle you have.
Focus on fat loss, not weight loss
Many weight loss programs claim to help you lose weight quickly and easily. However, it is important to know that a significant portion of this weight may include water and muscle loss. Losing muscle can be harmful because muscle is an important part of your overall health. Maintaining a healthy percentage of muscle has many benefits, such as managing healthy blood sugar levels, maintaining healthy fats, such as triglycerides and cholesterol, in the blood, and controlling inflammation.
Indeed, many studies have linked high fat-to-muscle levels to chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and diabetes. Maintaining muscle mass can also reduce the risk of age-related muscle loss, which leads to severe weakness and incapacity. Also, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. This is the main reason why men generally have higher caloric needs than women. Therefore, losing weight as muscle can reduce the number of calories you burn at rest, making it easier to regain the weight you lost as fat.
How to Lose Fat and Maintain or Gain Muscle
There are some simple ways to ensure that you will lose weight as fat and maintain or gain muscle mass. It’s about eating plenty of protein, exercising regularly, and following a balanced diet that puts you in a slight calorie deficit.
Eat plenty of protein
Protein is an essential nutrient for a host of body functions. They are needed to make enzymes that aid digestion and metabolism, regulate water balance, and support immune health, among other functions. Protein is also important for maintaining muscle mass and promoting new muscle growth, especially when losing weight.
In a 4-week study, young men were randomly assigned to follow a low-calorie diet containing 1.2 or 2.4 grams per kg of body weight, combined with a vigorous training program. While both groups lost more weight, the men following the high protein diet lost 1.3 kg more fat and gained 1.1 kg more muscle than the men.
Importantly, the study found that higher resistance exercise followed by a higher protein recovery snack made the biggest difference. In addition, it limits men’s fat intake to create a calorie deficit and maintain their carbohydrate intake for adequate fuel for exercise. And while eating too much protein on a low-calorie diet without resistance training won’t help you gain muscle, it can help you retain muscle while increasing fat loss.
A review of 20 studies in men and women aged 50 and over found that a high-protein diet containing less than 1 gram per kg led to the retention of muscle mass and fat loss of it is more than a low protein diet. Although protein requirements vary with age, health, gender and physical activity level, a protein intake of between (1 to 1.6 grams per kg of body weight per day can promote muscle gain and fat loss when you eat For reference, the recommended dietary intake of protein is 0.8 grams per kg of body weight per day.
Physical exercise
Exercise is a more effective way to encourage fat loss than muscle loss. A review of 6 studies found that obese adults who did cardio and strength training at least 3 times a week while following a calorie-restricted diet retained 93% more muscle than those who did not. he didn’t. Of course exercise alone is as effective a strategy for maintaining muscle mass as part of a diet, but combining exercise with a higher protein intake can help increase your results. Aim to do at least 150 to 300 minutes per week of cardio and strength training that involves all major muscle groups.
Follow a low calorie diet
To lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit. You can create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories or by exercising, but both.
However, cutting too many calories can lead to a greater loss of muscle than fat. Instead, try moderately reducing the number of calories you eat by 500 to 600 per day to reduce muscle loss while facilitating fat loss. You can reduce the number of calories you eat by eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, less dairy products, and fewer sugary foods and drinks, processed meats and fried foods.
What to remember to lose fat instead of muscle
Weight loss refers to a decrease in your overall body weight, while fat loss refers to weight loss that occurs mainly from body fat losses. To monitor fat loss, using a scale that estimates your fat mass is more useful than just tracking your body weight.
Another easy way to measure fat loss is to measure the inches lost at the waist and hips and note any changes in the way your clothes fit around your waist. Losing weight as fat over muscle should be a priority, given how important the fat to muscle ratio is to your overall health.
You can prioritize fat loss by eating plenty of protein, exercising, and moderately restricting your calories.
