The Difference Between Weight Loss and Fat Loss
When I was a third grade teacher, I had a student who grew tired of raising his hand in class to ask questions, so he cleverly constructed a two-dimensional arm with a hand out of aluminum and cardboard and attached it to his desk. He would raise this silver appendage whenever he wanted to say something aloud, saving himself the physical energy of waving his real hand in the air. At first it was easy to notice when this shiny new contraption would stand upright and Kevin would look on with pride waiting for me to call on him. Over time though, the foil covered object started to blend in with the clutter of the classroom, and I would forget to call on him. Feeling overlooked, Kevin eventually retired his creation, opting instead to raise his human hand in the air to get a quicker response.
Often in my line of work as a personal trainer, I have noticed that it is easy to view the topic of weight loss much like I did when Kevin raised his aluminum hand. Novel at first, at the beginning of my career I would pay close attention to every word a client would say about weight loss. As the years have passed, the temptation has grown to hear certain phrases and assume I understand what the client means without asking for clarification. Over time, just like Kevin’s silver arm, subtleties in terminology can easily go overlooked as assumptions can cause confusion and misunderstanding.
Recently, as I was having a conversation with Luis Bermudez, owner of Reliquum Training Studio, I carelessly used the phrases weight loss and fat loss interchangeably in a conversation to mean the same thing. Quick to notice my mistake, he inquired, “Are you referring to weight loss, or are you referring to fat loss - two totally different things?” Admitting my faux pas, I realized that even though I have been in the fitness industry for years, it was easy to become lazy with terms that should not be used in place of one another. What followed was a great conversation about the differences between weight loss and fat loss, and it was a reminder that you are never too advanced to revisit the basics with a trusted professional who is more experienced than you.
How many times have you said or heard someone say, “I want to lose weight”? This common phrase is so popular in our culture that it is rare for anyone (except trainers) to scratch their head and reply back, “What does that mean?” Very few people envision themselves losing weight to only end up looking like a squishy, fleshy, and smaller version of their original figure. Most people imagine weight loss to look like a tighter, firmer, and shapelier version of one’s self. Alas, the difference between the two descriptions is the difference between weight loss and fat loss.
When people say that they want to lose weight, most often what they really are meaning, when asked, is that they want to lose fat.
As long as I am in the world of health and fitness, I suspect that this topic will continue to be a popular subject for many people. In order to set realistic and clear expectations that lead to success, it is important to understand the difference between these two phrases, and use them accordingly.
Weight Loss VS. Fat Loss…What is the Difference?
When I am texting, almost every time I type the word “on” in a sentence, it is autocorrected and incorrectly replaced with “in.” (e.g. “I am taking the dogs in a walk”). Too lazy to correct, I usually leave it, hoping that my reader will understand the intended meaning. This is not the case with weight loss and fat loss. Both phrases are commonly interchanged, yet there is a scientific difference between the two.
Weight loss refers to a decrease in your overall body weight from muscle, water, and fat losses. At first, this might seem desirable until you realize the other physiological effects that occur when one loses weight from muscle, water, and fat. Losing weight through dietary changes alone or excessive cardiovascular endurance exercise causes you to lose a little bit of everything - fat, muscle, fluids, and organ size.
So while the number on the scale will decrease, so too will the amount of muscle that you have. Having less muscle causes your body to burn fewer calories at rest throughout the day which slows your metabolism. Your weight loss has actually made you a smaller and weaker version of your original self as you have less muscle tone underneath your skin. Along with this, the shape, form, and contour of your body that you have wanted to alter still looks the same, just smaller. Sometimes losing weight is actually advisable according to your goals, but it is important to understand what you are after.
Fat loss however, refers to weight loss from fat. When you lose fat, yet are able to maintain as much muscle or lose as little muscle as possible, you will increase your metabolic rate, otherwise known as your metabolism, as having more lean muscle mass burns more calories per day than fat. Over the course of a year, this can add up and make a huge difference.
Losing weight from fat allows you to improve your body composition as you have more lean muscle mass which helps shape your body. While one pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as one pound of fat, muscle has a leaner appearance due to its high density whereas fat is bulky, fluffy, and occupies more space than muscle. With more muscle, your body will become tighter and look more defined, and your shape will be more in line with what you imagine weight loss should look like.
Okay then, How Do You Lose Fat, not just weight?
While making changes to your nutrition, the best way to lose fat and keep muscle is by adding strength training at least two times per week. Do not try to lose fat by only doing cardio, as just like with dieting alone, you will lose precious muscle mass along with the weight. And while cardiovascular exercise is advisable, it needs to go along with strength training, as a combination of exercise types appears to be the best prescription.
In addition to muscle preservation, muscle building, and an increase in metabolic rate, there are numerous benefits of adding strength training to your fat loss regimen: increased muscle strength, prevention of bone loss and the potential to build bone which reduces the risk of osteoporosis, strengthening of connective tissues, improvement in coordination and balance, and the burn of extra calories after you work out. And just as mentioned above, you will like the more firm look of your body.
Strength training helps to offset and reduce the natural decline of aging, as after the age of 30 most people start losing lean muscle mass at a rate of three to eight percent per decade.
Reliquum Training Studio, Portland, Oregon.
Too Good to Be true?
While the benefits of strength training to help preserve muscle while losing fat are all that they are claimed to be, you might be tempted to abandon this belief once you step on the scale and do not like what you see. According to Bermudez, “The scale may not reflect much weight loss as you will be gaining muscle which makes your weight loss not equal to your fat loss.” That is why a woman who has been strength training can lose body fat, improve her body composition, and gain muscle, yet the number on the scale does not change much. Rest assured, building muscle changes your physique even if your scale weight does not change.
How Do You track Fat Loss?
In order to track fat loss, I am not suggesting that a person should completely ditch their scale. I encourage clients to use the scale judiciously and not as their sole form of measurement as most scales do not differentiate between weight loss and fat loss. Even if your scale does provide a more accurate picture of your body composition by measuring the percentage of fat and muscle you have, it still is not entirely precise so just be aware.
Other ways to gauge fat loss include measuring inches or centimeters lost from your waist and hips, having your trainer take regular body measurements, noting any changes in how your clothes fit, or taking body progress photos in the same position with the same lighting.
Above all, the main thing is to be patient. It takes time and consistency to lose fat just as it takes time to develop muscle, and most people give up too quickly. If only the rate at which one lost fat while adding strength training to their program was an easily predictable formula, we would be quite lucky. However, there are many possibilities that can occur among the different enzymes, hormonal responses, biochemical reactions, and endocrine functions which can affect the rate that one loses fat.
Losing weight or losing fat can serve a necessary purpose in a training program if that is your goal, but it is important to know which of the two you would benefit from, if any at all. While it is easy to want to substitute one phrase for the other, they are distinctly different. The next time someone mentions that they want to lose weight, it might be good to reply, “Do you want to lose weight, or do you want to lose fat? If you are unsure, I am happy to tell you the difference.”
A re-creation of Kevin’s aluminum foil hand.
Lieberman, Daniel. 2020. Exercised : The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health. London: Allen Lane, . Copyright.
Miller, Becky. n.d. “Difference between Losing Weight and Losing Fat.” LIVESTRONG.COM. Accessed February 16, 2021. https://www.livestrong.com/article/78702-difference-between-losing-weight-losing/.
Van De Walle, Gavin. 2021. “Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss: How to Tell the Difference.” Healthline. February 9, 2021. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/weight-loss-vs-fat-loss.