When trying to lose weight most people think that all they want to do is lose weight. However, they are missing a VERY important piece of the whole weight loss picture.
What about losing fat? What about maintaining their muscle?
Two people can weigh exactly the same but have a totally different level of health and fitness. One person may have a body fat percentage of 20% whereas the other person may have a body fat percentage of 40%.
They weigh the same but their body composition is very different in terms of how much muscle and fat they have on their body.
Why is this important for people wanting to lose weight?
As you lose weight, the ideal way is to lose weight from fat, rather than losing weight from both fat and muscle.
As an example let’s say that two people weigh 15 stone. With a body fat percentage of 40% they would have 6 stone of fat on their body.
Let’s say that the first person loses 3 stone of fat while maintaining their muscle. They now weigh 12 stone and have 3 stone of fat left on their body. They have a body fat percentage of 25%.
The second person loses the same 3 stone in weight but they lose 1½ stone of fat and 1½ stone of muscle. They now weigh 12 stone and have 4½ stone of fat on their body. They have a body fat percentage of 37.5%.
Both of these people now weigh 12 stone but the person with the body fat percentage of 25% is MUCH healthier and fitter than the person with the body fat percentage of 37.5%.
This example clearly shows why the best way to lose weight is to maintain your muscle while losing weight from fat, because…
You get a much healthier and fitter body.
Plus you also get a better looking body…
When you lose weight from both muscle and fat you very often end up looking like a miniature version of yourself. On the other hand, when you lose weight only from fat you end up with a much more toned and athletic looking body.
Also by having a lower body fat percentage you are able to do more and better quality exercise. That’s because you’re not carrying around excess fat that slows you down AND you have more useful muscle.
The other massive bonus about maintaining your muscle while losing weight from fat is that muscle burns more calories than fat. This means that after you’ve lost the weight you can have a higher calorie diet and still be able to maintain your weight.
This is great for long term weight loss because you don’t need to be stuck on a low calorie diet just to keep the weight off.
So how do you lose weight from fat while maintaining your muscle?
To do this you need to challenge your muscles as much as you can.
When you exercise your muscles hard they get broken down due to muscle fibres tearing. Your body then repairs these muscles and makes them stronger.
If you don’t work your muscles hard enough then your body will start using your muscles for energy. That’s when you’ll lose weight from muscle as well as fat and miss out on all the benefits that I’ve explained about here.
This is why exercise is such an important part of long term weight loss. It helps you to maintain your muscle and allows you to have a higher calorie diet without putting the weight back on.
Which exercise is best?
It’s important to know that different exercises and different training methods have very different effects on your body.
Some exercises challenge your muscles more than others and this determines how much muscle and how much fat you lose. Ultimately how you exercise decides what body you end up with when you’ve lost weight.
For example, quicker and harder training methods will help you maintain more muscle than slower and easier training methods because they challenge your muscles more.
Two of the best exercises to achieve this are circuit training and running, and this is why I provide these Classes.
In summary, remember to always aim for fat loss rather than weight loss alone.
If you exercise your body in the right way then you’ll get better health, better fitness, and a better looking body. Plus you get to have an enjoyable diet rather than a restrictive one.
James Porter