Choose To Focus On Body Fat % Instead Of Body Weight
If you've ever cut calories for quick weight loss, you probably noticed a quick decrease in your body weight, which made you feel like you were taking the right action steps. You cut calories, and you lost weight. So why do you need to know about body fat % when it's obvious that losing weight is that easy?
In addition to weight loss, you may have noticed difficulty in maintaining the "low cal" lifestyle, sluggishness, and periods of binge eating. Eventually, you regain all the weight you initially lost and a few extra pounds for good measure. Getting in the best shape of your life is not quite as simple as just cutting calories to lose weight.
The human body is extremely adaptive and intelligent. If you slash calories, your body automatically adapts and begins to conserve energy. In some cases of extreme calorie depravation, the body will go into starvation mode. This means the body is conserving energy at all costs and your metabolism is screeching almost to a halt (not really, but it slows down A LOT!)The tricky part is....the first thing you lose when cutting calories like that is water, and you also begin to use your immediate energy reserves (glycogen). You begin storing all the food you do eat as fat and your metabolic rate decreases. So even though it appears that you have "lost weight", all you've really done is lost excess water and important fuel your body needs to stay healthy. Worse yet, if you do manage to cut calories for a short time, it's almost impossible to maintain this behavior. For most people, it backfires and usually results in bingeing or overeating.
If you make the decision to focus on decreasing your body fat %, verses losing body weight, you'll notice that you get continual results, and your body looks firm and more tone than when you just focus on the scale. Your body weight really doesn't give you much information about your overall fitness level, or your level of health. It's your body fat %, not your body weight which really determines what size you are and how good you look. A healthy body fat % will give you a lean, tone, healthy & fit look. A low body weight doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a tone, fit stomach, lose your love handles, or have nice, firm arms.
We've all experienced it before, losing body weight feels really good, but when you look in the mirror, you can still see unwanted fat deposits that look jiggly, cottage cheesy, and lumpy. It's your body fat that takes up space and has no real shape except just to hang around looking sort of gross. When you jump up and down, its fat (not muscle) that you feel flapping around. Fat cells have no real function except to store energy and sit around looking ugly until you find a way to burn off the excess energy.
Conversely, muscle is quite different than fat. Muscle is firm, shapely, and serves a very important purpose in your body. Muscles are calories burners and require much more energy to maintain than ugly fat cells. Having strong muscles helps support your entire body structure including bones, skin, ligaments & tendons. When you have the right balance of muscle tone and body fat, your body looks tone, firm, and fit.
Why is it so important to know the difference between muscle & fat? Understanding the difference between muscle and fat is crucial if you want to learn to have the physique you want and keep it for life. When you know the difference between muscle & fat, you realize how important it is to focus on losing body fat instead of losing weight. When you begin to make this shift, you'll see lifetime, lasting results that lead you toward your goals.
What can you do to lose fat? The best way to lose fat it's better to make smaller changes and cut 300 or 400 calories from your usual daily intake instead of trying to get by on the bare minimum of calories. By doing this you'll be providing your body with energy it needs throughout the day and keep your metabolism steadily burning calories. To learn more, visit: www.visfitness.com
Related Tags: fitness, health, weight loss, exercise, nutrition, diet, lose weight, lifestyle, body fat, fit body for life
Jessica Dawn has been studying health & fitness for over 10 years. She received a bachelors degree in Kinesiology (exercise science) and is passionate about sharing the benefits of fitness with everyone she knows.
Jessica is a health & fitness expert who shares her passion for wellness through online writing and teaching. For a free 5 Day Fitness Mastery Course, visit: www.visfitness.com In this course, Jessica will show you how to develop a lifestlye of health, vitality, and fitness. She answers the quesions you have about life-long weight control and resolves the roadblocks you may have faced in the past. Jessica's information elimates the despressing cycle of yo-yo dieting and empowers you to stay fit for life, develop a healthy body and life-long weight control.
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