Health: Fat-Loss vs Weight-Loss

Fat-Loss vs Weight-Loss

The 3rd in a series of blog posts based on a recent question of the week:

1. Calories-In vs Calories-Out;
2. The Role of Insulin;
3. Fat-Loss vs Weight-Loss

Looking at most health and fitness magazine covers around the end of the year.  There is primarily one focus: Losing Weight

Whether this is because of the likelihood to indulge oneself during the festive season, or because of the annual renewal of vows to be fitter and healthier.  It is bound to be a mixture of the two.  Indeed most of the my clients state this as the number one goal they wish to achieve.  My clients are often shocked when I state that actually they don't need to lose weight: but to lose fat.  Sometimes a combination of the two is required but it is highly unlikely just to be weight-loss.

So what's the difference between weight-loss and fat-loss?

Well the two should not be confused.  Weight-loss is the overall loss of body weight for example going from 70kg to 67kg (154lb to 147lbs) whereas fat loss is based on reducing overall body fat as a percentage of total body composition - this is usually factored as a percentage reduction.  For example a loss of 5% body fat from 25% to 20%. 

Here's a few reasons why weight-loss usually fails or is the wrong approach:

If you are dehydrated you can appear to lose a few lbs or kilos of weight very easily.  Water-loss will directly lead to weight-loss.  In fact most people can lose over a kilo of 'weight' overnight whilst asleep throught respiration (water vapour whilst breathing) and transpiration (loss of water by sweating).  The scales will be fooled, but of course once you drink to replace lost fluids - the scales are back to where they began.

You can also restrict calories for a period of time, via a calorie-controlled or crash-diet to lose weight.  These can be successful in the short-term but are usually very unhealthy as in severe cases they can lead to malnutrition (robbing the body of essential nutrients), and can create the yo-yo diet effect whereby you constantly gain and lose weight for lengthy periods: a vicious cycle of success and failure.

If your body fat percentage remains constant but you have lost weight.  Then this can mean you have lost precious lean muscle mass, a loss of bone density as well as the above mentioned loss of hydration levels.

Have a low body weight with high body fat percentages can also lead to 'skinny fat' individuals.

Two individuals could be exactly the same weight and height - but have different levels of body fat.  A 60kg woman with 35% body fat (clinically obese), will look, feel and perform differerently than someone who is 60kg with 17% body fat (lean and athletic).

Based on these differences one can see that fat-loss is a completely different proposition to weight-loss.  Once the concept is crystal clear then you begin to realise that maintaining a healthy body fat percentage is more beneficial than an arbitrary ídeal weight.