Weight vs Body Composition

Did you know that you can lose weight, only to become a smaller version of the current you? Think about that for a minute. Look in the mirror. I'll bet you not only want to lose weight, but you want your body to be different in terms of shape too. You may even have a clear picture in your mind of the way you want to look. I'll also bet that mental picture is a happy, healthy, strong, vibrant you, whether you're male or female. If that's the case, what we must keep in mind is that weight loss is just one part of the picture, and this concept seems to hang us up on the journey.

I went through a period of my life in which I lost all my excess weight. At first it's motivating for the scale number to be down, to buy new clothes in smaller sizes and for people to comment on your weight loss and how small you look. The trouble was, I was just an overall smaller version of my old self. I still had the same soft spots and fat pads I had before, they were just smaller. I didn't feel any better in a bathing suit and I still couldn't find jeans that fit quite right. Truth is, I wasn't exercising while I was decreasing my calories. For some reason my smaller body and my mental picture weren't synching up.

Let's talk about weight loss and the scales, because those two things are usually come to mind when we become determined to make a change.

If you have a lot of weight to lose and it's just apparent, that may be the task at hand and the scales will be a helpful tool to you at first. Increasing activity and cleaning up eating habits can do wonders for jump starting your weight loss. (Please notice I didn't say anything about going on a diet. The word diet is a 4-letter word for a reason. We're moving away from the dieting mentality). Less calories eaten and more calories burned typically translates to a drop in the number on the scale. In this way, it's true that weight loss is a game of calorie balance.

Seems obvious, but keep this in mind:

• The scale is one helpful tool when you have excess weight to lose
• When the number goes down, your entire body weighs less (doesn't necessarily mean you've lost fat)
• Unless you want to be the same shape only smaller, weight loss alone won't get you to your goal

I won't go into the dreaded plateau here, but I will say that during the time I had lost weight and gotten to my magic number on the scale, I still had too much fat and not enough lean mass. I was consuming a ridiculously low amount of calories a day and couldn't go any lower. I'd lost weight, but my body composition was still undesirable. I soon discovered there is much more detail than the scale number once excess weight has decreased.

If you want to really change your physique you need to improve your body composition. This means you want more lean mass and less fat. This is how your shape changes, and to do it, exercise and clean eating must be a part of the picture. The goal should shift from a focus on weight loss and becomes one of losing fat and either preserving or building muscle.

A few more things to keep in mind:

• A change in body composition (increased lean mass, decreased fat) is what changes your body shape.
• Exercise is an essential tool in decreasing body fat and preserving or building muscle
• Eating habits can make or break your efforts toward a body composition improvement

Josh Hillis, a personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, has said: "Scale weight tells me how many calories someone ate vs. how many calories they burned. Body fat percentage tells me the quality of the food you ate and the quality of your workouts. To get where you are going, you may need to change both."

Very well said, I couldn't agree more. Decreasing your body fat percentage is about keeping your metabolism firing, burning calories, working with intensity when you exercise, and eating high quality foods your body can use as clean fuel to keep stoking the fire. This is what will spark the changes in your body that are the most likely to get you to that mental picture of yourself, regardless of what number is on the scale. Your body will be strong, your shape will begin to change and you won't even care anymore what the scale says!

I'd love to hear more about where you are on your own journey, and your thoughts about weight loss, fat loss and body composition.

Related Posts:

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss Part I

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss Part II

Why Black Dumbbells Are Better For You Than Pink Dumbbells

I am a true believer that you can get an excellent workout without any equipment at all. In fact, people that can go in the gym and do multiple sets of exercises with free weights week after week can still have their butt kicked with basic bodyweight exercises, using no external load of weight at all. I say this as a preface because I am not at all knocking the value of bodyweight exercises; I need them and do them. But for today I really want to talk about dumbbells, and in particular, dumbbells and women. That said, there are some men who may benefit from this, or be able to share with the women in their lives.

Most women I know and read about have a fear of using a significant amount of weight while working out because they don't want to get big or look too muscular. I understand this. First you must define what you think is "big" or "too muscular". But keep in mind that it's just not likely to happen, IF you're following a sound nutrition plan, not to mention our lower natural levels of testosterone to support it. My quads tend to get too big if I am not watching what I eat. So it's a balance, because if you're working to pack on muscle you'll be eating more calories. If you're working toward fat loss your calories must be balanced and as clean as possible. So, in fact, lifting weight remains critical strategy in fat loss, and coupled with the right eating, it works for you and you will like the way you look and feel.

The yellow model is fat and the red model is muscle, each weighing 5 lbs. Which do you think is going to look bigger on your body? Some people think that you can turn fat to muscle or muscle to fat. This is not true, they are two different types of tissue. But the goal is to decrease the amount of fat on your body, which makes it smaller and shows your muscle definition more, and to build muscle, creating the look of fitness, and better yet, actual fitness. I truly think this is the look that many women are going for, but they are afraid to do it with weight, and unfortunately so because moving weight is a very important component if this is what you want to achieve.

I used to read any kind of "fitness" magazine I could buy. You know the typical ones on the newstands, ladies. Well, I can tell you that there is no way on earth my body was going to transform into one of those cover models doing the workouts they suggest. I realized I was going to have to do a lot harder work than that and I can also say I don't want the skinny-fat look either. It wasn't until I started tapping into more of the resources geared to men that I really began challenging myself, increasing my weight during workouts and seeing changes in my body. Jason Ferruggia, of Renegade Strength and Conditioning, LLC in New Jersey, says it well: "You need to challenge yourself and give your body a reason to actually change. Kickbacks with a couple soup cans ain't gonna cut it."

Just say no.

In order to do this, you first need to step away from the pink dumbbells. I'm not saying go pick up something heavy off the rack when you are learning a new exercise and take a chance on an injury. But the sooner you work away from the pink and into the black the better in terms of fat loss and muscle growth. Ferruggia suggests the following in his newsletter today: lift heavier weights, (moderate heavy weight training burns far more calories than high reps with light weights), use compound free weight and bodyweight exercises, and follow the rule of progressive overload. What he means by progressive overload is to continually challenge your body out of what it's adapted to, meaning increase your weight, increase your sets, change your rest periods, etc.

If you've never challenged yourself with weight (any at all or heavier weight) before, you will see your fat decrease, your muscles look more defined and your inches go down; yes, even in your butt and thighs. And for those of you who want some nice looking shoulders and arms, the same tactic is true. So bottom line is to work with some real weight. Many times people forego weight training until they get their scale weight down with cardio. I'm an advocate of personal trainers who can safely get you started and monitor you, and of formal programs that are designed well, but there is no need to wait. Weight training can and I think should be a part of the strategy from the very beginning.

Related Post(s):

Bodyweight Workouts

Which Workout?

Workout Plans and Intensity