To have a healthy state of the body, one must keep the weight under check. Accumulation of fat leads to an increased weight, which can make one obese and invite many other diseases out of which some may prove fatal also.
Most of the people in a pandemic situation are concerned about their health as they have gained some extra kilos while they were quarantined. Many eating programs are suggested by fitness gurus on their social media platforms that confuse people a lot. Moreover, there have been multiple unflattering attempts done by people, which ultimately results in humiliating desperation. Owing to this desperation, people are in search of ways to lose some of those extra kilos so that they can again fit into their favorite clothes.
Which is a better method: losing weight or losing fat?
A lot of misconceptions and confusion accompanies these failures. Many people are unaware of facts and structure in which their body works. For having a significant effect, one must have a solid system for his daily routine, including the diet of their choice and some exercises.
Read on to know more
A lot of people nowadays have the single objective of losing weight. But most of them are unaware of what an actual weight loss means. The truth behind their obsession is that they want to lose their fat and not weight. However, they do not know how to distinguish between weight loss and fat loss.
Difference between Losing weight and Losing fat
The decrement in body weight is considered as weight loss. In our body, the total weight is the sum of fat, muscle, and water. The weight scale shows us the number of kilos that we have lost.
On the other hand, fat loss is referred to as the total loss in body fat. Below given are some of the deep explanations for the loss of muscle, water, and fat.
Water loss
Most fitness freaks prefer cutting down their carbohydrate intake to lose weight. Although for a short-term goal, this method might be perfect as carbohydrates have more than three times the water than in any other micronutrient. Our body is made up of 71% water and cannot hold water when there’s a cut back on the number of carbohydrates. With this process involved, our muscles get dehydrated in some time, and this results in body weight loss.
The main problem with this method is that you start taking carbs below 50 to 75 grams, every day that affects the body’s digestion process. It is better to follow a healthy low carb diet, which includes taking up 1 gram per kilo for a healthy transformation. Carbohydrates are necessary for people to complete their daily activities. A healthy body requires 2.5 grams of carbohydrates per kilo if the bodyweight. It makes it easier for fat loss to work without having an intramuscular water loss.
Muscle Loss
One kilogram of fat is very different from one kilogram of muscle weight. It is very well-acknowledged and scientifically proven the fact that a kilo of muscle is denser and more vital when compared to a kilo of body fat. This means that if a person gains 3 kilos of muscle and loses 3 kilos of body fat, then their weight will not change on the weighing scale.
But this does not mean that you have not done anything. You can be astonished by the changes in your body in this method. Muscle loss is a primary concern for everyone when undergoing carb deficiency. However, it is a common step followed by anyone who wants to lose weight. But having a calorie deficient diet must not be your goal as it can risk you in losing your muscle mass.
Fat Loss
For fat loss, our body undergoes lipolysis. It is a biological mechanism in which each and everything that you eat and the ones that have been stored in your body undergo a process of breakdown and convert into fat lipids and triglycerides. This process happens in the mitochondria of the muscles of our body. In this method, the larger amount of muscle a person has, the larger the fat amount will burn. Many people undergo exercising as they feel that with exercise, one can control lipolytic enzymes along with enhancing mitochondria’s role. This whole biological mechanism helps you in working out and shedding the fat.
How to check fat loss?
Mostly the weight loss comes from the loss of water. This means that if you lose about two and a half kilos because of a serious change in diet and exercising plan. Moreover, it is advised by nutritionists to cut around 500 calories every day to lose weight in a healthy way. In this methodology, people generally lose about one kilo in a week. Each person does not have a lot of fat on their belly even if they are overweight.
In the losing fat strategy, you do not cut down on your carbohydrates. Your body forces on glycogen that is stored and provides energy even after you cut down calories. The first thing that one loses is water when undergoing any changes in the diet. In the first week, when you introduce drastic changes in lifestyle, your body changes a lot, which is highly noticeable to everyone and even to the weighing scale.
Fluctuation in your weight
If your goal is to cut down at least 500 grams in a day to lose half a kilo of fat in a time of 1 week, your body will take more than one day to take in food and compensate with a complete half kilo of fat. In this pandemic situation, you must consume a calorie amount that is required for your body to work properly. It is recorded to be around 3500 more calories than your body. With such a large amount of calorie intake, you must calculate the number of calories that you consume. If you consume around 2,000 calories a day, then the total consumption of calories becomes 5,500.
Change your food habits to succeed
Now, after having this first change, you must change your food habits the next day to see some better results. In such cases, you retain your fat weight but lose a high amount of water that oozes out of your body, leading to loss of water weight. It is better to have a stable diet. Not having a stable diet will not only confuse you but your measuring scale as well.
A bit more about the concepts
Undoubtedly, the decrement in total body weight is considered as total weight loss. This weight loss includes the body’s muscle weight, fat weight, and water weight altogether. Loss of weight is technically a loss of body weight collectively. The decrease in the body’s fat weight is known as fat loss. This fat loss is something that everyone desires to achieve.
It all lies in the game of calories
Loss of fat is more concise than losing bodyweight. By this method of reducing calories, the most amount of weight loss which is done is by losing fat of the body. One thing that must be considered while choosing the food that you consume for loss of fat is that the food must be consistent. Micronutrients in the diet, such as proteins, carbohydrates, etc., must be taken more precisely for better results.
Fat reduction is the best possible way for people living in this pandemic situation as it can only be accomplished by having good control over nutrition. Along with a good diet, a good resistance training program can also be beneficial.
Conclusion
In our body, there are different types of fats formed. Our body mostly works on essential body fat that is required by our body. Essential body fat is a type of fat that is important for forming natural structure and provides appropriate functioning of the body. The non-essential body fat is the one that is not required by our body in greater amounts as they do not have any important function. This non-essential body fat is the one that we try losing for weight loss. This non-essential fat is present in adipose tissue that is processed regularly. This tissue is also known as a storage house of fat. Losing this non-essential fat is recommended by many nutritionists for weight loss.