Weight Loss VS. Fat Loss

If your goal is to lose WEIGHT, then you don’t care by what means this is done. All you want to see is the scale go DOWN, typically as fast as possible. When your body loses weight quickly, it goes into survival mode. It starts eating every bit of material it can to continue moving: fat, muscle, you name it. Then, when you decide to get off your 90 day cleanse or highly restrictive diet and go back to eating normal, your body starts storing back up (in the form of fat), because it’s preparing for the next famine (the next time you decide to starve it to death).

FAT loss, on the other hand, paints us a much different picture. See when most of us say we want to lose weight, what we really MEAN is we want to lose FAT. However, the more relevant term in our society is weight loss, so that’s what we think we want. We’ve seen what can happen with a weight loss mentality. When we shift to a FAT loss mentality, suddenly our true objective is clear.

Everyone has heard the term “metabolism”, right? We always want to find ways to “boost” or “increase” or “turn on” our metabolisms. Quickly, our metabolism is simply the amount of energy it takes to run our metabolic processes while at rest. Therefore, the higher your metabolism, the more energy you burn at rest. The muscle on your body is included in that process. It takes energy (calories) to maintain muscle. The more muscle you have, the more energy (calories) it takes to maintain that muscle. So if we’re willing to lose weight at any cost, in essence we’re willing to lose muscle and therefore use less calories at rest.

With FAT loss, we strive to maintain and/or build muscle. Yes, we want to see the scale go down, but we’re happy with a slower pace. Instead of insisting on 3-5lbs a week, we’re happy with 1-2lbs a week. We want to maintain as much muscle as possible in order to keep our metabolisms intact (or make it a fat burning machine if we have the proper tools in place). The fat loss mentality can help us build a system into our lives that is sustainable and long lasting. No more yo-yo dieting or magic pills needed!

Remember, changing a simple word in your vocabulary can change your perspective of the world. If you can change the thought process, you will be able to see the true objectives of your goal and make strides in getting to your dream.