 Hi friends welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach who has lost and maintained a 140 pound weight loss and today we're going to talk about weight loss versus fat loss. This is a question I get asked all the time from my coaching clients. I see comments here on YouTube, DMs on Instagram, in my Facebook group. People want to know what's the difference and what am I supposed to focus on. So today we're going to deep dive into weight loss versus fat loss. You're not going to want to miss this. So if you're excited give this video a big thumbs up. Subscribe if you're not. Turn your bell on because I upload five videos every single week and Sunday we always do something kind of fun including weight loss versus fat loss. Check out the description box down below where you will find nutrition coaching. Highly highly recommend those personalized macros and calories. That is how I have lost and maintained my weight loss as well as one-on-one coaching for questions, accountability or to talk with me directly. Links and discounts to my favorite things are also down in that description box as well as my Facebook group. Come join us. We'd love to have you. So let's jump in all about weight loss versus fat loss and what you should be focused on. So the first thing that we need to do is define what weight loss is. Weight loss is the overall drop in weight due to any body component including fat, muscle, water and more. While fat loss as if the name implies refers to losing only excess fat from the body. So weight loss is fat, lean muscle and water, fat loss is fat. Fat muscle and water play a huge part in weight loss. A lot of times we'll use the terms weight loss and fat loss interchangeably and actually they are very very different. When people are trying to lose weight they typically weigh themselves on a scale and use that number as an indicator of their success. However the scale only tells you how much weight you've lost not how much fat you've lost. Remember the scale measures mass it doesn't know what that mass is made up of. You and I can weigh exactly the same on the scale but look very very different. Losing fat is much more beneficial than losing water and muscle. It helps with overall body composition which we're going to deep dive into that as well and really truly fat loss not weight loss should be our goal. So what's truly the difference between weight loss and fat loss? When someone loses weight again they lose water, fat and lean muscle. When someone loses fat they lose fat and one of the best ways to explain this is to talk about body composition. Fat mass is the weight of all the fat molecules in a person's body. Lean mass and fat free mass are terms that people may use interchangeably to refer to the non-fat molecules in the body. This includes most of the mass of internal organs, bones, muscle and more as well as all of the water in the body. So our body composition is made up of these things. I also want to talk a little bit about water weight because this is something that can be really confusing for people. When we start a new diet or weight loss journey we typically lose a good amount of weight in the first week and people get motivated by that and they think that that weight loss is what should be expected moving forward but there's a good possibility that the majority of that weight loss you saw in the first week or few or first weeks of a diet is typically water weight. You're not actually losing fat. Fat comes off a lot slower than weight or water weight and on average water actually is about 50 to 60 percent of your total weight. The term water weight is the water weight that your body is actually holding. Now we don't want to go on down the path of oh I'll just drink less water so I have less water weight. That is not the way to lose weight. We need to make sure we're adequately adequately hydrating our body and actually the more water we drink the less water weight we have and the more weight loss we're going to see. So make sure you're increasing your water intake not decreasing. Really the way to reduce water weight is to decrease the amount of sodium that you're consuming. Excess sodium is what actually contributes to water weight far more than the water that you're drinking. So if you want to make a small change to alleviate some water weight just decrease your sodium a little bit. So the burning question what should we be aiming for? Should we be aiming for weight loss or fat loss? 100 percent our goal is fat loss and fat comes off a lot slower than weight so you're not going to see your weight decrease quickly on the scale because remember people who want to lose weight focus on the scale. People who want to lose fat focus on body composition. When we lose weight we lose lean muscle and the only way to keep our metabolism functioning at its peak performance is to have lean muscle. Lean muscle burns calories at rest so you're naturally going to burn more calories doing nothing with lean muscle and more lean muscle on your body is going to change your body composition. It's going to make you look a lot smaller but what you have to remember is that a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh exactly the same. A pound's a pound. A pound of fat, a pound of muscle, flour, sugar, butter, a pound's a pound. However there's a big difference in what fat and muscle look like on your body. I'm going to share with you some visuals of fat loss versus weight loss but there's a few things you need to know about focusing on weight loss versus fat loss and the loss of lean muscle can have some detrimental effects on your overall health not to mention the way that your body physically looks with weight loss. Loss of lean body mass can lead to things like a lowered metabolism, fatigue, decline in your neuromuscular function, potential effects on emotion in psychological states and increased risk of activity. We want to lose fat while maintaining our lean body mass. Remember like I said having more lean muscle on your body is actually going to burn calories at rest so the more muscle versus fat on our body we're going to burn more calories doing nothing and our body is going to look drastically different. Have you ever heard the term skinny fat? That's not our goal. Okay that skinny fat is not our goal. Our goal is fit and healthy. So I'm going to pop up an image for you that speaks volume. Five pounds of fat burns 20 calories a day. One pound of fat burns five calories. Five pounds of muscle burns 250 calories a day and one pound of muscle burns 50 calories. Now look at these images. First of all look at the diagram on the left of two different bodies and then look at the diagram on the right. Think fat loss not weight loss. These two people weigh exactly the same 130 pounds but their body fat is very different. So the person on the left that looks a lot leaner has 20% body fat. The person on the right that looks heavier and wider has 35% more body fat but what you need to take away from this is these two people weigh exactly the same. We can be the same height and the exact same weight and look completely different depending on how much muscle versus fat we have on our body and fat doesn't burn calories. Muscle does. So like I said our goal should be fat loss and lean muscle growth rather than just losing weight which again is fat lean muscle and water. I think these pictures absolutely speak volumes. Now you might be wondering how do I know if I'm losing fat or losing weight? This is actually a question I get asked all the time. There are a lot of ways to measure fat loss. Number one body fat scales use bio impedance to tell someone what their body fat percentage is and a person can use scales to track their fat loss. Calipers measure fat in specific areas by pinching the skin such as the abdomen however they can be challenging to use accurately. So you can use a tape measure this will track if you're losing weight however it doesn't specifically show if inches loss are fat or weight. You can do your waist to hip ratio or your waist circumference. These are measurements that a person can obtain with a tape measure and help monitor fat around their middle. You want your waist and hip circumference to be balanced that will show you a true picture of overall health and as women we typically carry our weight either in our stomach area or hips, thighs and buttocks and really the most accurate way to know how much fat is on your body and to track whether or not you're losing fat or weight is to get what's known as a DEXA body scan. Now I had one of these scans a few months ago I will link that video down below. I did a whole video on my DEXA body scan and if you follow me you know that my weight that I weigh between 185 and 90 pounds I am a 5 foot 8. I am considered to be overweight on the BMI chart. We don't know her we don't follow her we don't care about her but I am definitely not overweight. In fact I have quite a bit of lean muscle above average lean muscle and remember fat and muscle weigh exactly the same. You guys are what you guys always say oh you're so skinny you look so thin you look so healthy even though the scale doesn't indicate that the arcade BMI chart doesn't indicate that my body shape and body composition absolutely indicates that. That defines the difference between fat loss and weight loss. I want to insert some pictures here showing you some side-by-sides where my weight hasn't changed but my body composition drastically changes and I do lose inches every single month even if my weight doesn't changes. That's our ultimate goal. That essentially means that I'm replacing a pound of fat in my body with a pound of muscle so the scale doesn't move but my measurements and my body composition definitely change. I also want to pop up this image about weight loss versus fat loss. This is probably the most accurate truest statement of the difference between the two. So on the left this individual is focused on weight loss on the right this individual is focused on fat loss. So the person on the left weighs about 141 pounds 35% body fat and her goal is weight loss so she wants to become smaller. Now the person in the middle weighs 165 pounds or 75 kilograms and this person also has the exact same body fat at 35%. This person in the middle is only doing tons of cardio and following a fat diet. So these two individuals their focus is weight loss. Now the person on the right's focus is fat loss. So this person also weighs exactly the same as the first person 141 pounds but they actually have 20% body fat because their 141 pounds is made up primarily of lean muscle. This person does more strength training with some cardio proper diet with enough protein. This way you become leaner and tone. You can see that the person on the left and the person on the right weigh exactly the same but look drastically different. That's because the person on the right is focused on fat loss. Weight loss is losing weight mainly by losing muscle tissues, water weight and very little fat. So what you're going to notice with weight loss is no change in body composition. Results are only temporary with almost immediately rebounding your weight. A decrease in fitness level and strength, less energy, poor performance, early aging, weak immunity and depression and anxiety. This is not what we want. We do not want to focus on weight loss. A lot of you also comment that I've aged backward since I've lost weight. That's because my primary goal has been fat loss and becoming the healthiest, fittest version of myself. So instead of accelerating aging, we can actually delay aging by focusing on fat loss. So by losing fat, we lose weight but specifically losing fat from the body while preserving our muscle mass. So we're going to be able to reshape our body composition. The results are more permanent and easier to maintain our current weight. Improved fitness level and strength. We have more energy. We have peak performance, delayed aging, a strong immunity system and a happy and strong mindset. So we're just a better person overall when we focus on fat loss, not just our body but our mental health as well. So fat loss is the goal and now let's talk about how to actually do that. So popular diets, low fat, low carb, keto and high fiber diets definitely help with weight loss but high protein helps with fat loss. Protein is the hardest macronutrient for your body to digest. The macronutrients are protein carbs and fats. So while your body is breaking down the protein that you're eating, it's burning calories, it's increasing your metabolism and it's helping maintain your lean muscle which are all components of successful fat loss. And the best way to lose fat is to do it with diet and exercise. Now you don't have to spend hours in the gym sweating, you don't have to do tens of cardio. If you remember the image of those three lovely ladies, the person who looks the leanest, the strongest, the fittest, the healthiest does the least amount of cardio. And I live and die by this. I do boot camp three days a week. That's actually considered to be hip training. That is the only consistent cardio that I do. I do not do any other cardio throughout the week. I walk which walking is exercise. There's a big difference between exercise and cardio. To know if you're in a cardio state, your average heart rate should be 125 or more. So looking at your fitness tracker and you look at your workout, you log your workout, you look at your results. Your average heart rate should be 125 or more to be considered cardio. When I walk, my heart rate very rarely even reaches 100. So for me, that's exercise. Walking is the best form of exercise for weight loss. So I do cardio three days a week incorporated with a lot of strength training. Like I said, it's more of a hip workout. The rest of the week, I solely focus on lifting weights, doing strength training and recomping my body. That has been my focus since day one. That is why my weight on the scale is higher, but my body looks smaller. Like I said, that's our ultimate goal. We don't want to focus on the scale. That's what people who lose weight focus on. We want to focus on body composition. We want to weigh the same as our friend and look substantially smaller, leaner and healthier. Our goal isn't skinny. Our goal is healthy. So the bottom line of today's video is we want to focus on fat loss. Now of course, losing weight and taking extra weight off your body helps with a lot of chronic illnesses. One pound of weight loss equals four pounds of weight off of your knees. So just losing 10 pounds of weight can actually lead to 40 pounds off your knees, which can drastically change someone's quality of life. However, losing weight also leads to losing lean muscle and losing water. And we again want to focus on fat loss. We want to keep our water. We want to keep our body hydrated. We want to not only keep lean muscle, but building muscle. And we just want that pesky fat to leave our body. It's also recommended to work with a coach like myself, someone who's been successful with weight loss that can help you navigate the macro nutrients and how to be successful with strength training and fat loss. Again, I do offer personalized macros and calories. That's exactly where you should be starting for a fat loss journey is knowing what you should be eating every day to reach your goals. And I also have coaching to discuss your macro nutrients, get you set up for success. I will make sure that is linked at the top of the description box. But again, our goal is fat loss, not weight loss. Let me know down below if you were someone that was focused on weight loss and you've shifted or want to shift your focus to fat loss and how that's benefited you in your weight loss journey. And of course, if you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe, turn your bell on so you don't miss any future videos. Again, everything for nutrition, coaching, macros and calories is at the top of the description box. Links and discounts to my favorite things. And don't forget, we'd love to have you join our free supportive Facebook group. Thank you for watching. Let's focus on fat loss and reach our goals in a healthy, sustainable way. See you in the next one. Bye.