Tuesday 1 March 2011

Losing weight and losing fat, which one?

There's a huge difference between losing weight and losing fat. Losing weight is losing weight from muscle mass, fat or from losing water. Losing muscle mass is not necessary unless you're a huge body builder that is trying to have lean muscles. Losing water is bad because our body needs to be hydrated to function well. Losing fat is what we're really after. And theoretically speaking is pretty much easy to do. But first we need to understand what is fat and why do our body's have fat. Body fat is necessary to insulate us from the cold, thats why animals in colder climates have more body fat like polar bears for example. And body fat is also like savings in a bank. In this case, the bank being the body and the fat the savings. Our body stores fat as a safety precaution, in the extreme situation that there is no food, as a last resort your body will burn fat for energy. To be clear, the body actually burns muscles before it burns fat but that's discussed in another topic, this is the link here.

"okay I get it, I get it.. what does this have to do with losing fat!?"

If your body absorbs more calories than you burn in a day, then the extra calories are stored for future emergencies as body fat. To lose body fat all you have to do is burn more calories than your body absorbs! Simple as that. Well at least simple in theory. If your body doesn't have any more calories to burn from the food that you consume, it draws the energy from the body fat which it has stored all over your body. And that causes you to lose body fat, looking more toned all over. And losing body fat means you'll lose belly fat as well so you'll be one step forward in achieving that six pack!

And remember when you're trying to lose body fat, be realistic!

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