Weight Loss Isn’t Fat Loss

00:00The goal should be how much muscle can I preserve or build while reducing body fat? Because muscle is protective, muscle is metabolically active, muscle is anti-aging, muscle empowers you, gives you that confidence. People look at you and be like, yeah, that girl works out. She's disciplined. And what's going on, my friends? Hey, you guys, welcome back to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show.

00:31Or if this is one of your first episodes, welcome to the show. I hope that these episodes are giving you insight and education and truly helping you to shift your mindset around the way you get to your dream body and the way you make your internal processes inside your body healthy. And it just helps you to create new patterns that lead you on a better, more enjoyable journey for you to get to the body composition that you want. And I hope this episode actually, whether you've been here listening for a while or you are new, and we're going to talk about the difference between weight loss and fat loss.

01:06So this is episode number 334. And I'm going to get a little bit more scientific with you guys. But I hope in a way that like actually liberates you rather than overwhelms you. Because I think there's a lot of, it's a fundamental misunderstanding that women have when it comes to the difference between these two things. And until you understand the difference between weight loss and fat loss, physiologically, hormonally, and metabolically, you'll keep chasing a number that doesn't give you the body that you want.

01:37We talked about this a little bit last week in the episode around the scale. And I hope that today this episode connects the dots between the scale, muscle, fat tissue, metabolism, and why your body can look radically different at the same or even higher weight. And I'm going to bring that story that I talked about last week about me and using myself as an example into this episode, just breaking it down a little bit more. Because that part still blows women's minds that I weigh more than I did in my journey, beginning my journey.

02:13And a lot of women don't think that they, they don't even, it doesn't, it's not a conceptual acceptance of people want to lose weight. But they don't accept the fact that they could gain more but look drastically different. So I'm going to unpack that a little bit more in this episode today. But I want to actually start with just the, bring back the basic science and bring in a little bit about what I talked about last week because it's all going to tie together. I'll remind you guys that the scale measures total body mass. And that includes fat mass, lean mass, like your muscle, your organs, and your bone.

02:45It includes water. It includes glycogen, which is stored carbohydrates. And it includes food volume in your gut. Okay. And I'll remind you guys that the scale cannot distinguish between fat and muscle. When the scale goes down, it does not automatically mean you are, there has been fat loss. It just means something changed. And that is why two women can weigh, both weigh 150 pounds yet look completely different.

03:21And I want this image to stay in your mind throughout this episode. One may have a higher body fat percentage and low muscle mass. The other may have significantly more lean muscle tissue and a lower body fat percentage. Okay. So let me say that again. One will have low muscle mass. The other could have significantly more lean muscle tissue. One may have a lower body fat percentage.

03:53The other may have a higher body fat percentage. Same exact weight. They both weigh 150 pounds, but they look completely different in their appearance. Drastically different in their appearance. And they could also be drastically different internally as well. So let's talk about weight loss. Weight loss occurs when your total body mass decreases. Again, fat loss, it includes all that. Fat loss, lean mass, water, glycogen, food volume input, etc.

04:26It happens when your total body mass decreases. And that can happen through putting your body in a calorie restriction, through dehydration, through manipulating and depleting your glycogen stores, aka being in keto, reducing your carbohydrate intake. It can happen when you are reducing inflammation. And it can happen by muscle breakdown. Here's the important part I want you guys to understand. The body does not prefer to lose fat during aggressive weight loss.

05:03So what I mean if calories are too low, if protein is you're not eating enough, it's insufficient. If your resistance training is non-existent, if you are doing a bunch of cardio, but you're not working, you're not providing that stimulation to your muscle. If those things are happening, the body is going to break down muscle tissue. Again, I'm going to say it again. If your calories are too low, if you're not eating enough protein, and if resistance slash strength training, if that is absent, the body is going to break down muscle tissue.

05:36Why? Because muscle is metabolically expensive. So from a survival standpoint, the body would rather conserve fat and sacrifice muscle. Is that clicking? The body would rather make sure it has something to survive off of, meaning conserving the fat, holding on to it, and it's going to sacrifice muscle tissue because it's metabolically expensive. So rapid weight loss often equals you losing muscle, reducing your resting metabolic rate.

06:16It is increasing your hunger hormones. It's increasing your ghrelin, and it's decreasing your feeling satiated. That hormone is decreasing your leptin, which is why women lose weight fast. They feel exhausted. They look softer, and then they regain it over and over and over. That's weight loss. That's not fat loss. Okay, so I just explained weight loss. Let me go into how fat loss is different.

06:48Fat loss is the reduction of adipose tissue while preserving or increasing your lean muscle mass. So this requires you to have adequate protein intake. I talked about this a little bit last time. Protein is the building block of muscle. Protein is what is going to make your muscle feel safe. Think of it like that. So if you're eating enough muscle, the body is going to preserve the muscle that you have on your body and help you to build more.

07:20It also requires you to do strength training. It also requires a sufficient amount of calories to support recovery. And it requires time. When fat loss is occurring properly, this means that muscle protein synthesis is supported. It means that fat oxidation increases. It means that insulin sensitivity improves. And it means that your metabolic rate is preserved. This is why fat loss is often slower on the scale, but far more dramatic visibly.

07:55This is why you can see a difference in pictures quicker than you will see a difference on the scale. Because fat is being lost while muscle is being maintained or built. And muscle is dense. Quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating or a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from it. Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat, and feel confident.

08:29Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. If you've ever seen those pictures on the internet or you could Google the look, the difference of fat and muscle, fat is like this big jiggly yellow blob that they use. And muscle is this like dense, maroon-shaped figure of a muscle that they use in these pictures. Muscle is way more dense than fat is. Which brings me to this part that I wanted to break down for everyone's brain.

09:01At the beginning of my journey, I weighed around 140 pounds. I talked about this in the last episode, but I really want to unpack it a little bit more here. And on paper, that sounds good. It sounds you're lean, right? I'm 5'6", I'm 140 pounds. But physiologically, I was skinny fat. Meaning, I had low muscle mass, I had a higher body fat percentage, and I had poor metabolic health. Now, years later, I'm over a decade into my journey.

09:32I weigh 145 to 150 pounds. I fluctuate between those two numbers. So I weigh more than when I started my journey. Yet, you guys know, if some of you guys know my before picture, I can bring it up mentally in your mind right now as I'm sharing this with you. And some of you guys know what I look like now. My waist is so much smaller. My body is tighter. My legs are stronger. My metabolism is faster. Way more faster. My physique looks drastically different. I have shoulder caps.

10:02I have biceps. I have abs routinely year-round. I have a bigger butt, right? My physique is athletic. I am the same height, but I weigh more on the scale. Yet, I look completely different via my body composition. Now, to tie it all, why? Because muscle weighs more than fat by volume. Five pounds of muscle takes up significantly less space than five pounds of fat.

10:34Think about what I said. This fat, big, jiggly blob, that will weigh five pounds. Yet, when you put it next to the dense muscle that takes up way less space, but it's heavier, by volume, it weighs more than fat. So, when women say, I don't want to gain weight, what they're really saying is, I don't want to gain fat. But muscle gain, even a small amount, radically changes how your body looks and how it functions.

11:07So, I just, I hope that that drills it into your brain, that you could be on a journey going into it saying, I want to lose weight. I want to look different. Yada, yada, yada. Saying all of these things. I want to feel better in my clothes, right? You know, I want the scale to go down, but I look softer after. If you ever said these things, I've gained weight, but I look leaner. Like, I'm doing everything right, but the scale isn't moving.

11:38Or I lose weight, but I don't want to, I don't like the way that I look, right? If you've been saying these things, that's, you gaining muscle could keep that scale the same or make it go up. And you've got to be okay with that. Because it's going to change the way your body looks. What you're really saying is, like, I don't want to gain weight. I just don't want to gain, you're saying I don't want to gain fat. Because you could potentially gain weight in all of this. Again, keep that in mind, because muscle is more dense. So it's going to weigh more.

12:09You're you as a me. Think about me. I weigh more when I step on a scale. Because my lean muscle tissue is more dense. Because I have more of it than I do body fat. This is why women feel fear of scale. Let's just dive into this, into this brain track. Women have been conditioned to believe that lower weight equals a better body. And higher weight equals failure. But that belief ignores your body fat percentage, your muscle mass, and your metabolic health. So this is why women under eat, over cardio, avoid lifting, and panic when the scale stalls.

12:44And they end up looking exactly how they don't want to look. Soft, skinny fat, flat, inflamed, tired. Because they optimize for weight loss instead of body composition. So we talked about this a little bit in last week's episode. How do you measure fat loss properly? If you want to measure fat loss, you need different metrics. You need that waist circumference. You need progress photos. You need strength progression. You need to focus on your energy and how you feel when you're recovering.

13:15You need to focus on your hunger and your cravings. And that's stabilizing. Those are indicators of you improving your insulin sensitivity, you increasing your lean muscle mass, and you reducing your fat mass. I'll remind you from what I said last episode or two episodes ago. The scale becomes supporting data. It's not your decision maker. So if you see that you've increased two pounds, that means a wide variety of things. You could have had a high sodium meal. It could be your period.

13:46You could have had a poor night's sleep. You have more inflammation to your body. You're stressed out. You're dehydrated. It can cause all of these things. It's not a decision maker. You're not actually gaining fat. You could be putting on more muscle, which is the ultimate goal. The goal should not be how much can I weigh? The goal should be how much muscle can I preserve or build while reducing body fat? Because muscle is protective.

14:16Muscle is metabolically active. Muscle is anti-aging. Muscle empowers you. It gives you that confidence. It's like people look at you and be like, yeah, that girl works out. She's disciplined. You don't age well by shrinking yourself and doing what a lot of women have believed they need to do in order to lose weight. We're not focusing on losing weight. But you're going to age well by strengthening yourself, by doing everything in which I'm talking about in this episode and focusing on fat loss. And you building more muscle to your frame.

14:49And by doing that, that scale may not move. And that's okay. The scale is it's we need to just shove it to the side for a little bit if we don't have a good relationship with it. So overall, if you are listening to this and you are thinking, I weigh more than I want to, I just want you guys to ask yourself better questions. Is my body actually healthier? Am I stronger? Am I leaner? Is it leaner than it used to be? Use looking at yourself in the mirror, how you're feeling as variables rather than that number on the scale.

15:24Because weight loss is a number. It's a number. It's your total body mass that includes so many different things. Fat loss is you creating a huge transformation. If you are eating enough strength training and doing those things, you're creating a healthy metabolic system. And overall, that's going to create a better transformation within your body composition. You are focusing on preserving muscle that you have and building more of it. And ladies, if you are in your mind at all in this episode, I don't want to get too bulky when building muscle.

15:59You're not going to get bulky. That is a myth. Unless you are taking performance enhancement drugs or you are a bodybuilder that is getting ready for a show and you do it in a non-natural way, you won't gain. You won't get bulky. We, as women, do not have the hormones like men do. So if you see your husband or partner bulking up, we don't have those hormones they do. Okay? And once you understand this difference, weight loss being a number, fat loss being you holding on to muscle and building more of it and changing your overall body composition,

16:37if you understand this difference scientifically, you will stop chasing that number on the scale and you will start building the body that you want. Weight loss encompasses you losing a little bit of everything on your journey, including muscle, and that will just get you to a skinny, fat, softer version of yourself. You focusing on fat loss is going to, and the ways you go about it, remember, calorie restriction, weight loss. Eating enough and having protein, fat loss.

17:07It's going to give you that more fit, athletic, strong look. So just be obsessed with fat loss. And that is what I hope is able to just start to rewire in your brain because it's not what women have been conditioned to believe. You haven't, you didn't grow up that way. A lot of women think eat less, train more, train harder, spend hours in the gym. You don't have to do that. And so I hope this episode helps you guys in that context and share this with a friend.

17:40All right. I love you guys. I'm seeing the next episode. Peace out. Real quick. If this episode resonated with you or gave you the push that you needed, I'd love for you to pay it forward. Drop a quick rating and review. Share the podcast with someone who might need it and help me keep spreading the word. Your feedback not only helps to show grow, but it might just be the nudge someone else needs to kickstart their transformation. Thank you so, so, so much for your support.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.