Are you losing the right type of weight?

Muscle Versus Fat

All weight loss is not considered equal.  This is a mantra to live by as you embark on your weight management program.  Though we all are conditioned to determine our success solely by the weight loss shown by the scale, it is much more important to judge our achievements based on our changes in body composition.

All weight loss is not GOOD Weight loss. All weight gain is not bade weight gain.  -R. DeVito

Body Tissues

The human body consists of a variety of different types of tissues, lean tissue and fat tissue.  The lean tissues include bone, muscle and organs.  Muscle and organs are considered metabolically active, whereas fat is metabolically much less active.  This means that muscle and organs help to increase your metabolism and burn fat and calories, while fat tissue does almost nothing.  Therefore, it is essential to maintain muscle tissue while losing fat, thus the additional movement will increase your metabolism.  

Muscle dose not weigh more than fat. It just takes up less space.

Weight

It is important to realize that a pound of muscle is denser and more compact than a pound of fat.  It is helpful to think of a pound of fat as a pound of feathers, and a pound of muscle as a pound of iron.  The pound of feathers would clearly take up a lot more space than that same pound of iron.   By gaining lean body mass (water, bone and muscle) while losing body fat, you will look and feel lighter, your clothes will fit better and your overall sense of well being will improve.  In summary, body weight is only one of the many determining factors of success.   

Changing your Body Composition

To decrease your percent of body fat, you need to create the right balance between the calories you consume and the calories you expend.  The most effective way to do this is to decrease your consumption of calories and increase your activity level.

General Body Fat Percentage Categories*

Classification	Female  % of Body Fat	Male % of Body Fat
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese/Undesirable	32% +	25% +

* American Council Exercise

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