Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Have you ever noticed that almost everyone in society is talking about weight loss
instead of fat loss when it comes to getting in shape?
at every turn, we're bombarded by
friends and family and coworkers and sports stars and celebrities and
politicians and doctors and everyone basically who talks about
weight. And you hear the same phrases all the time
I need to lose weight he needs to lose some weight she's a bit overweight
I finally loss some weight... Not to mention the fact that almost
all the world's leading diet companies sell programs
that help people to manage their weight for example Weight Watchers
I'm not saying anything bad about Weight Watchers because Weight Watchers helps a
lot of people
but with all this obsession and talk about weight and weight loss
it's no wonder that people seem to think that excess weight is the problem
and that weight loss is the solution. But this could be further from the truth.
Why? Because the real problem isn't weight. It's fat.
and more specifically excess body fat and yet somehow the powerful weight loss
industry
which is a three billion dollar industry, has managed to deceive us
with the idea that the problem is weight loss and with billions of dollars at stake
it's obvious that they have a vested interest in keeping us in the dark about
the truth about weight loss
Now you might say..."why does it matter what you call it? If i'm losing weight I'm losing fat, right?"
Wrong. Even though people make this mistake
all the time, it's never safe to assume that all the weight you lose is fat.
and why is that? It's because you weight is made up of three main elements:
number one, your fat mass -- this is the total weight of your body fat
number two, you lean body mass -- this the way to love your muscle
bone and cartilage; and number three your water mass --
this is the weight of all of the water you hold in your body.
So when you step on the scales and see your weight...
realize that your total weight is equal to your fat mass
plus you lean body mass plus your water mass. So the next time you step on the
scales and you notice...
"I've lost weight", ask yourself this question: "what kind of weight have I lost?"
because you could have -- and in fact you probably have lost -- a combination of
muscle
water and fat. And the reason I say that is because when it comes to weight loss
you don't make a special effort to preserve your muscle then chances are you're
probably gonna lose at least some of it and that's a fact.
And when it comes to water studies have shown that between 30 to 50 % of
the weight you lose
might just be water...
So half or your weight loss might just be water loss. So imagine if they told you that on the
weight loss or the diet book headline
"Lose 30 pounds of weight, half of it's water!"
And this is where the weight loss claims but weight loss industry get
really dodgy and pretty damn sneaky. And why is that?
It's because they know the dea. They know that people are losing muscle and water
but what do you think sounds better: lose 30 pounds
or lose just 10 pounds of FAT?
Obviously the bigger number 30 pounds of weight sounds way bigger and
better than
the smaller 10 pounds of fat. So what do they do?
In many cases instead of teaching you the truth by educating you about
muscle loss in water loss... instead they
exploit you by promising the highest amount of weight loss possible
and if you grew up in a society where you know they didn't think it was
worthwhile to teach us this kinda stuff at school
then it's really easy to get sucked in. So what's the takeaway point here?
The takeaway point is that weight loss
is a smokescreen the hides your body's real changes
in muscle water and fat... And focusing too much on the smokescreen of weight loss
can get you into all sorts of trouble
consider for example the following three scenarios:
#1 -- You lose 1kg of water mass from going to the bathroom and exercising
vigorously and sweating
without drinking water.
#2 -- you gain 1 kilogram of lean body mass right in the form of muscle
but you lose two kilograms of fat mass giving you
a net weight loss of 1 kilogram.
#3 -- you lose one kilogram a fat mass without any change in your lean body mass or your water mass.
Now let me ask you this, all the three scenarios the same?
Well answer is yes they are but only in terms of weight
And why's that? It's because in a scenario the net weight loss
is one kilogram of the weight -- where that comes from losing one kilogram of water
losing to two kgs of fat and gaining one kilogram of muscle
or losing just one kilogram of pure fat. But is each scenario the same in terms of
how it affects what your body looks like? No. No they're not the same..
And why is that? It's because losing one kilogram of water in scenario 1 will
have almost no impact on how you look in the mirror
but in scenario #2, gaining one kg of lean muscle mass
and losing two kilograms of fat will probably have a dramatic effect because
you'll look much leaner and more muscular
and as a side note you also have a high metabolism which means that you will
burn more energy just chilling out every day
What about the final scenario? In scenario #3, you'll look much leaner losing one kg of fat than
you would if you just lost one kilogram of water,
but of course it won't be as dramatic as the situation in scenario #2
where you gained a kilogram of muscle and lost two kilograms of fat.
So what does this mean? Well means that changes in your body weight alone won't
tell you the full story of what's really going on
inside your body. For that you need to know changes in your body composition meaning
changes in how much fat you have and how much lean mass you have.
Now you might be wondering should I really care all that much about my
muscle like is losing my lean mass really all that bad?
Well in my opinion the answer is yes losing muscle is bad.
In fact I think you want to preserve your muscle at all costs.
Here to really good reasons why: number one muscle burns more energy than fat.
Muscle burns roughly twice as much energy as fat
but using muscle to do stuff like walk and run and lift weights
burns even more! So by preserving muscle you can be more food without gaining
extra weight
because of the extra energy that muscle burns.
and number two -- muscle looks better than fat.
Muscle gives your body shape and definition -- which amongst other factors
influences how attractive you are others. And this is especially true for men so
for example in 2007
researchers at the University of California conducted a study that
basically try to find out, how people rate different physiques
and muscularity? So what did they conclude. Well the researchers basically concluded
that muscle matters.
They concluded that women right muscular man and sexier than non muscular men.
But hey that's what other people think...
So let's talk couple of tests and you can decide for yourself.
Look at this image and ask yourself.
Which body shape do I prefer? Do I prefer the one on the left
or the one on the right?
What about this one, do you prefer the left what you prefer the right?
And finally what about this one? Do you prefer the left or do you prefer the right?
I'll let you decide