Stop the Fad Diets! Stop the FAD classes. Ask yourself: Do I want to lose Weight or Lose Fat?

This is the most important question you should ask yourself this weekend. They are the same right? What is the difference? Well, your body is made up of a lot of things, lean tissues (Muscle), Fat, hair, skin, organs, muscle, bone, blood, water... losing weight simply by dieting, or having a calorie deficit, does reduce weight, but it is a broad brush and the weight is lost from all areas of your body, yes some fat, but also very importantly muscle and connective tissues. Losing fat, whilst maintaining Muscle mass and connective tissue is definitely the way to go.

The goal to successful weight loss is to preserve as much muscle as possible, or possibly even gain some. While at the same time, remove as much body fat as possible. Your body fat % is a key indicator of your success, not the scale. (I still don't see why we or judge ourselves on weight alone).... The picture above describes it well, both are the same height, both are the same weight, yet the person on the left has 64Kg body composition after removing all fat (o% body fat is not healthy or recommended!) and the other only has 52Kg. Normal calorie restriction diets will reduce both fat and lean muscle, ironically the person on the right has less "good" to lose!

Muscle is vital to your success for losing fat. Muscles have these little fat burning powerhouses called mitochondria. Mitochondria are cellular power plants that are responsible for the production of energy. It’s in the mitochondria that fat is metabolised. It stands to reason that the more mitochondria you have, the more the potential to burn fat. More muscle requires your body to burn more calories to maintain it! Oh... and when you lose muscle you lose these power houses and need LESS calories to maintain weight.

When calculating your maintenance (how much your body needs to maintain its current state) requirement for Calories (I will write another blog on this). The many forms of calculation take into account mainly the same things,

• Gender

• Age

• Height

• Weight

• Activity level

These calculations are based on average people, average muscle % etc. Now if you are not maintaining muscle by body weight or resistance training, or are below average muscle % the calculation may be wrong for you. Going further, you may be on a maintenance diet and gain fat or be on a deficit diet and maintain weight/fat. Losing more muscle means that you need even less calories that you can consume just to stay at that weight.... scary, but familiar with diets alone.

Start by accepting you want to lose fat, not weight. Take a look in the mirror, do you see all of your muscles? No? Not many of us do, but they are there, hiding under the skin and yes under the fat. Imagine now, maintaining those muscles as they are or make them stronger? Now imagine you have reduced your body fat by 8%, you should be able to see some muscles. So 3 easy things to do....

• Calculate your body fat %, these can range from simple calliper measurements at points around you body to DEXA Scans, a fully body composition report (expensive but very accurate). Go to your GP or certified PersonalTrainer, they can also help you calculate this (PT definitely should do this as standard!).

• Take up body weight and some resistance training, including some steady cardio at first, but make sure you are well guided by a certified trainer who will ensure you are able to train firstly and secondly can give you that focus. You must maintain (preferably add) muscles to be healthy and they also burn calories while you rest, so that you can lose more fat! No amount of dance or aerobics type classes are going to build muscle, so drop the dance for resistance training, better still do both!

• Eat a correct balanced diet, with all the required macro nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates , fibre, water, vitamins and minerals) to meet your goals. Everyone is different, we all have different likes and dislikes and this should be factored into your nutrition and training plan to meet your goal of fat loss and regularly reviewed.

If you want to raise any questions, chat, discuss this article, or want some help with resistance training, please feel free to contact me!

Contact me by e-mail: dannidobsonpt@outlook.com

Call/Text 07811 888394

Facebook @Dannidobsonpt

Insta and YouTube coming soon!

Danni X