You see when you weigh your self on the scales they may tell you that you have lost weight. However many kilos or pounds – and you are probably quite happy about weighing less right? After all that is what you want. But did you know that for every kilo of weight you lose – 50% is actually fat loss, while the other 50% is made up of muscle, fluid and bone density?
Many people are not aware of this. While your new weight number on the scales may look great to you now – most people will put this amount of weight loss back on and more in the future. The biggest reason for this is because you have lost muscle mass in your original efforts to lose weight and this decreases your bodies ability to burn more calories. You need lean muscle to burn calories – the more you have – the more your body becomes at efficiently burning fat.
The best way to determine if you have actually lost body fat is not via the scales. It is by using your trusty old tape measure and taking your measurements. When you notice a decline in centimeters you are losing body fat. You will also notice it in your clothes and how well they fit you too.
This is why some people who may look really fit and slim actually weigh the same as you – and you may be overweight. It is because they have more lean muscles and lean muscle weighs more than fat. Because they have all this lean muscle their body is very efficient at burning calories – so they may weigh the same as you but be considerably smaller because they have less body fat.