– What you didn’t know and what you need to know about the misunderstood FAT inside of us and the FAT we eat.
How come everyone wants to “lose weight?”
That’s like me saying: I want to study to be a better trainer so I’m going to read, and as long as I’m reading it must be beneficial, right? Well, what if I’m reading a book on electricity, would that help me help my clients? Probably not … unless their power went out.
When someone says they want to lose weight, they are ultimately saying, I don’t care what I lose, I just want less of me. So let’s say you lose 10 lbs … Great job! But what if you lost 10 lbs of muscle? Here are a few of the “wonderful benefits” of muscle loss:
• Less strength
• Less stamina/endurance
• Slower metabolism
• Increased body fat % (Since there is the same amount of fat on you and less muscle you are technically fatter. “Skinny fat” is what we call it in our industry; you’re smaller but now you’re softer and squiiiiishy-errr.)
• Loss of calcium from bones
The average person doesn’t measure their body fat before, during, or after their “weight loss” program, so you never really know if you are losing fat or muscle. Most people who follow this program: 1) starve themselves 2) do WAY too much cardio 3) don’t resistance train because they’re afraid they’ll get too “bulky.”
Let’s say you end up with 20 lbs of weight loss. If we broke it down, it would look something like 10 lbs of fat loss, 3 to 4 lbs of water loss, and 6 to 7 lbs of muscle loss (I am being generous with these numbers, it’s probably worse). By the end of the “successful” weight loss period, you are starving and tired. You end up eating more now, because you’re feeling deprived and hungry. Problem: you have less muscle = lower metabolism = you are about to weigh more than when you started.
Sound familiar???
In our next blog post, we’ll take a look at what you REALLY want to lose … FAT!
In our last post, we talked about the misguided goal of simply “losing weight” – which often results in muscle loss.
So now let’s take a look at what you REALLY want to lose … FAT!
Most people are worried about 2 things – how they look (body fat %, how they fit their jeans, how their shirts fit, and so on) and how they feel (energy, health, etc). But before you can start to lose fat, you first need to understand fat.
There are 2 types of fat: subcutaneous and visceral.
Subcutaneous fat is found just beneath the skin and is the kind of fat that everyone wants to lose. It’s the stuff you can pinch and grab, has dimples, and sometimes looks like cottage cheese. This fat’s purpose is to protect your organs and insulate (prevent heat loss).
Visceral fat, also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat, is in on your organs and can really affect your health!
Potential effects of visceral fat:
· Insulin resistance (BAD)
· Hyperglycemia (high blood glucose, BAD)
· Hyperlipidemia (high blood fat, BAD)
· Coronary artery disease (BAD)
· Sleep apnea (BAD)
· Diabetes (REALLY BAD)
Interesting Fact: Sedentary people, smokers, and drinkers have been shown to have more intra-abdominal fat, or visceral fat, than active people who are non-smokers and non-drinkers.
It is important to maintain a good nutrition AND exercise regime to help target both kinds of fat. Studies have shown that sumo wrestlers who have high subcutaneous fat had very little visceral fat and by all other medical measures were HEALTHY. So don’t assume if you have little “body fat” you are healthy (another kind of “skinny fat”).
Coming up next… Did you know that EATING FATS can help you LOSE FAT?