One of the MOST frustrating things I used to deal with was that I thought weight loss was unpredictable. It’s sort of like you throw some effort out and cross your fingers that what you are doing is going to result in weight loss.
Has anyone else been there???
Today we are going to discuss fat loss vs weight loss, a little bit of the nutrition
science behind it, why weightlifting helps with fat loss, and how YOU can start losing fat if that’s your goal.
I do want to preface this conversation with something first.
The things I’m going to be teaching you today are not easy. Fat loss can be predictable but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to be easy.
Losing fat is generally not easy because of our current food climate, if you will. Basically, I’m trying to say that we have a lot of unhealthy food at our fingertips all the time.
I want to make sure you understand that.
I’m not trying to be depressing or anything, but I don’t want anyone here to get the idea that just eating some more protein and lifting weights is going to suddenly grow you huge muscles and a snatched waist. It won’t, and anyone trying to tell you otherwise is lying. Or doesn’t understand the science. OR they are super blessed genetically.
This process takes time and consistency. There are plateaus, there’s setbacks, and it can get hard. BUT! If you are willing to put consistent effort in, I know that this method works. It’s predictable.
Science proves it. Thousands and thousands of steroid-free bodybuilders prove this.
So even if you are a regular woman, you can apply these fat loss bodybuilding principals that I’ll be talking about today and you will get results. But it will take time and consistency, so trust the process.
Also, I’m going to be assuming here that you don’t have any underlying health issues that would interfere with your efforts. If you have health issues, be sure to discuss your plan with your doctor first so you know there isn’t something going on that will impact your results.
Alright, so let’s get this started.
So there’s fat loss and there’s weight loss. Let’s define those real quick.
Fat loss is obviously losing FAT. Fat cells are the storage unit of your body, so if there’s extra calories at the end of the day your body stores those calories in the form of fat in your fat cells. And to define calories really fast-calories are a unit of energy that your body uses. Your body turns your food into calories for use, and any calories that are extra and not needed it stores as fat.
That’s a good thing from a survival perspective, which is the only perspective your body has. Your body cares 0% about how you may look, it only cares about survival. This fat storage mechanism that your body has allows you to have something to pull from if you can’t find food, right. So our problem is that we have a LOT of food available so our body makes a LOT of trips to the storage unit.
So how’s fat loss different than weight loss? Well, weight is simply a measure of how much gravity pulls on your body. So whether you lose 10 lbs of muscle or fat, or even a limb! the scale doesn’t care and can’t tell either. So obviously we want FAT loss and don’t really need to care about weight loss.
I will do an post and podcast episode soon about how often you should weigh and all that, because weighing yourself can give you some valuable information, but it needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt and also the right mental attitude.
A lot of us have been conditioned for years to live and die by the scale, so if that’s you its probably good to take a break. Your weight is going to fluctuate and may even go up some initially when you start weightlifting, and I really want you to be in a good head space when you look at the number on the scale. So if you have a negative view or get anxious about it then I’d stop weighing yourself for a bit. The scale is a tool you use, not the other way around.
There are better ways of measuring if you are losing fat anyway, and we will go over that in another episode.
Today I’m going to assume that if you are listening to this you are interested in losing some fat. This means you have a lot of stores in your storage unit.
Well, if you try to lose fat by just eating less, you will probably be successful, but the funny thing is that your body is going to say “oh no, we are in a calorie deficit” and it’s going to pull from your fat stores but it also will want to pull from your muscles because you aren’t using them that much if you are just trying to eat less.
There’s some science to that, but I won’t go into it too much, but it’s a big struggle when you are losing weight with diet alone.
This was why, if you know my story-you can go back to episode one to listen to it- in the past when I would lose weight my legs would get super skinny as well, because I was losing WEIGHT in the form of both muscle and fat. That’s why we want FAT loss and not necessarily weight loss, depending on where you are and what your goals are.
Most of us DON’T want to lose our muscle, we want to lose fat.
So how do we accomplish this? Well, to lose fat you MUST be in a calorie deficit.
What is a calorie deficit? It just means that you are eating less than your body is using. Your body is not going to empty fat out of your storage units if you have plenty of calories coming in through your food.
So we go into a calorie deficit, but how do we get our body to not use our muscle as well?
The answer is simple. You USE your muscles. You tell them you need them to grow. You have to tell your body “Nope, can’t use those muscles because we need those to lift all this heavy stuff over here. Sorry, it’s a necessity”.
The way to make your body prioritize fat loss is to tell your body that you need those muscles! And the BEST way to do this is by….weightlifting!!
Weightlifting is an extremely effective way to tell your body that it has to pull primarily from the fat stores alone because your body is all about keeping itself functioning.
So if you are using your muscles, it’s going to prioritize another source for fuel because it sees those muscles as essential. When you aren’t doing anything to stress your muscles then those muscles become fair game to your body to use for fuel because you aren’t using them!
Your body is always trying to prioritize. That’s why in true starvation, the body pulls from fat and muscle first, and from the internal organs and all that LAST because those are the most necessary for survival.
When you lift weights while you are in a calorie deficit, you help bring muscle up to an essential level for your body, and your body will prioritize using your fat over muscle.
Because you are using your muscles for lifting weights it’s now NECSSARY that you keep those muscles, so your body is going to prioritize fat stores. I hope this is making sense to you.
Now I do want to touch on something here. This does NOT mean your body will never tap into your muscles for energy as long as you lift weights. If you do a low enough calorie cut, then of course eventually it’s going to tap into those muscle stores.
But with a modest calorie deficit, your body is not going to feel threatened enough to tap into your muscles in a significant way, and will prioritize fat loss over muscle loss.
I experienced this myself!
It was SO shocking to me after years and years of dieting and doing cardio for weight loss, that there was a way to lose the fat I wanted to and not have skinny little legs from muscle loss, and I want that for you too!
This WORKS with time and consistency.
Yes, there are going to be plateaus and setbacks, no you can’t choose where on your body will pull the fat from, but if you are doing what you need to do and staying consistent then you are going to see results.
Need a workout plan to get your started? You can get my FREE one here.
Stay tuned for Part 2! We will be diving into the hands-on methods you can use to lose fat.
Happy lifting!
-Rachel
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