We hear it and say it all the time, “I need to lose weight”. Well, there are many ways to lose body weight. You can dehydrate yourself, empty your bowels, wear less clothing or nothing at all, remove a limb…too extreme? Okay. Let’s start by correcting that statement above from “I need to lose weight”, to “I need to lose fat”.
The scale can be our enemy. Nay, it is our enemy! How many times has the scale discouraged you and caused you to backslide? We have been programmed to focus on the number on the scale, when the number on the scale in no way dictates how healthy a person may be. Also, the number on the scale can vary day to day and not have anything to do with your diet or exercise. The number, the magic number! We hyper focus on a certain number and we will do anything to reach it, including unhealthy and deadly practices such as SCR (severe calorie restriction).
I fell victim to this a while ago. I weighed 400lbs and desperately wanted to weight 240lbs. Well, I achieved my goal. Restricting my calorie intake to just about zero. The end results were loose teeth, hair falling out, bad skin, heart palpitations, food intolerances, and screwed up metabolism. Subsequently I regained all the weight I lost, plus. Instead of focusing on losing fat and building muscle I fixated on what the scale should read. Big mistake!
The difference between weight loss and fat loss.
A decrease in the overall body mass is considered a loss of weight. This weight includes fat, muscle, waste, and water. Fat loss is a reduction in overall body fat. This Diminution in body fat is what most of us desire when we claim we need to lose weight. Losing fat alone can be tricky. In simplest terms we must reduce calorie intake and increase energy output to lose fat while maintaining LBM (Lean Body Mass). But there is a fine line. A VLCD (Very Low-Calorie Diet) will cause the body to consume LBM along with Fat. Balance is required.
I’ve learned my lesson. I haven’t weighed myself in about 3 months and I have no desire to. If people, inquire of my weight I say, “I’m unsure”. The simple truth is in order to lose fat and look better, we must reduce our caloric intake no more than 250-500 kcal per day and increase our energy output by +250-500 kcal. Eat Less-Move More! The scale is not a friend!
This is a new revolution! Throw out those scales! Never be defined by a number again. Instead, let your goal be to lose fat and build LBM. Building LBM will in turn assist in burning fat. Scales do more harm than good. Forget about what society says you should weigh. In its place, decide to lose fat and get healthy and build muscle, no matter what number may appear on the scale. Decided to be weightless!
~Will