So today I wanted to talk with you about the distinction between weight loss and fat loss. As you know, I often refer to scale weight. But scale weight is not always the most reliable or accurate measure of your progress. The reason is that scale weight represents many things, not just purely body fat. It can be influenced by other factors that are constantly changing, such as your level of hydration, the quality and quantity of the sleep you're getting, what you've eaten recently, how stressed you are, and even the time of day you take your weight. All these things are going to fluctuate and so your scale weight is not necessarily a measure of body fat.
Remember, people try to lose weight essentially to reduce the amount of body fat they have and therefore the scale isn't always going to be a true reflection of that progress in terms of fat loss. You can still be making fat loss progress but the scale weight might not be changing. That's why it's important to use other metrics to assess whether you're losing body fat. This includes taking physical measurements, looking at how your clothes fit, and taking photographs from various angles (see below). Also, if you've been in a weight loss program for a while, at some point your weight loss will slow down and eventually stop. When that happens, most of the time it's just necessary to continue what you're doing, stay consistent, and keep persevering. Recently I experienced a bit of a stall in my weight loss. What's probably happening here is something called metabolic adaptation, which means that your body is adapting to the inputs you're giving it. If you're trying to lose body fat (as I am), what your body will often do is reduce how much energy your body uses in a day to match the energy that is coming in. Since your body now requires less energy/calories to be alive, your BMR (basal metabolic rate) will reduce. All this means is that your body just requires less energy to maintain itself. At this point you might need to recalculate what your maintenance calories are as well as recalculate your total daily energy expenditure. Once you start eating in your new deficit, you should start seeing fat loss progress again. Obviously you can also increase how many calories you are burning, which will increase your BMR.
Now, if you ask yourself why you should lose weight, that's really a very individual question. Speaking personally, I can say that there are so many positives that have come from my fat loss journey. True, there are many things I'm still working on, and yes, there have been some challenges. But there are immensely more things that are positive that have come from it, mainly that I live in a much healthier and more functional body. Pushing 73, I've found a passion for movement and I enjoy a lifestyle that I absolutely love.
To close, here are a couple of funny pics from today's workout. In this photo you'll notice that my right ribs stick out more than my left ribs.
That's due to me breaking these ribs in a surfing accident back in the day. Also, did you notice how skinny the guy in the above photo looks? When you're trying to lose body fat, there's always a danger that you will lose lean muscle mass at the same time. That very well might be the case with me. However, take a look at this picture.
Trust me, it's the same guy. We're looking at basically the same muscles but from a completely different angle. I don't appear as skinny as I do in the first picture. That's why it's so important to take photos from various points of view and then compare them. The truth is likely to be found only when you assess all of them together.
Oh, and don't forget the famous "stink eye" picture either!
