Obesity levels in the UK have trebled over the last 30 years with the country once being dubbed as “The Fat Man of Europe”. In the UK 61.7% of the population is either overweight or obese with the figures rising year on year.
There has however been a rise in healthier living, dieting, and “losing weight”, but is losing weight the right answer?
Weight Loss is when the body loses weight overall. This includes fat, muscle, bone density and organ size.
Fat Loss is the reduction of the fat reserves that are stored in the body.
With almost every diet, weight loss will occur faster at the start, especially when cutting calories and carbohydrates. This does not mean that the body is just losing fat. It also means that the body is losing water and muscle mass. The human body is made up of 50-65% water, so in decreasing water weight, you can lose weight quickly, but in the long term it can cause dehydration. Water weight and the body’s need will eventually lead your overall body weight to increase again, which is why some diets seem to work at the start, but do not provide long term results.
Low carbohydrate diets also lead to water loss rather than fat loss but when consumed as part of a healthy diet with a lower salt intake; this can reduce water retention.
Increased weight loss also means increased muscle loss, which is to be expected when starting a diet. However, muscle loss is not effective when looking to lose fat. It slows the metabolism.
When the body starts to lose fat, muscle mass should increase. This is the reason that using the scales on a daily basis can be misleading when no weight loss occurs. The body is now losing fat not losing weight, and muscle makes up the difference.
Building muscle is imperative for fat loss. Muscle keeps your metabolism healthy and ensures you are burning calories. Without muscle the metabolism would slow down, meaning weight gain would then follow. Muscle also burns fat constantly throughout the day as it continuously needs energy such as fatty acids. Muscle burns fat.
Fat Loss is the most important goal for a healthier lifestyle. Fat is what makes the population increasingly unhealthy and at higher risk of heart disease.
Rather than watching the scales and losing weight, concentrate more about losing fat. Don’t just work out on Cardio training. Add strength training in order to encourage muscle gain and burn fat faster.
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There has however been a rise in healthier living, dieting, and “losing weight”, but is losing weight the right answer?
Is it healthier to lose weight or lose fat?
To define the two, there are significant differences between losing weight and losing fat.Weight Loss is when the body loses weight overall. This includes fat, muscle, bone density and organ size.
Fat Loss is the reduction of the fat reserves that are stored in the body.
With almost every diet, weight loss will occur faster at the start, especially when cutting calories and carbohydrates. This does not mean that the body is just losing fat. It also means that the body is losing water and muscle mass. The human body is made up of 50-65% water, so in decreasing water weight, you can lose weight quickly, but in the long term it can cause dehydration. Water weight and the body’s need will eventually lead your overall body weight to increase again, which is why some diets seem to work at the start, but do not provide long term results.
Low carbohydrate diets also lead to water loss rather than fat loss but when consumed as part of a healthy diet with a lower salt intake; this can reduce water retention.
Increased weight loss also means increased muscle loss, which is to be expected when starting a diet. However, muscle loss is not effective when looking to lose fat. It slows the metabolism.
When the body starts to lose fat, muscle mass should increase. This is the reason that using the scales on a daily basis can be misleading when no weight loss occurs. The body is now losing fat not losing weight, and muscle makes up the difference.
Building muscle is imperative for fat loss. Muscle keeps your metabolism healthy and ensures you are burning calories. Without muscle the metabolism would slow down, meaning weight gain would then follow. Muscle also burns fat constantly throughout the day as it continuously needs energy such as fatty acids. Muscle burns fat.
Fat Loss is the most important goal for a healthier lifestyle. Fat is what makes the population increasingly unhealthy and at higher risk of heart disease.
Rather than watching the scales and losing weight, concentrate more about losing fat. Don’t just work out on Cardio training. Add strength training in order to encourage muscle gain and burn fat faster.
Follow @Natural_Answers
