The Difference Between Losing Weight and Burning Fat
One of the most talked about topics and goals among dieters: losing weight. But should losing weight really be what you are trying to do? As someone who studies health and fitness to no end, the words “losing weight” don’t sit well with me. The reason for this is because weight loss is just a number on a scale.
And the issue is, people don’t really seem to care what kind of weight they lose as long as the number on the scale goes down. Overtime, this will catch up to you.
Months ago, I remember seeing a man come into the gym each and everyday trying to lose weight. He came in Monday through Saturday and did the exact same routine each day. He would grab his book, jump on the treadmill and start walking for 10 minutes, then he would put his book down and proceed to jog at a slow pace for the next hour or so.
He did this every single day.
Now overtime, this man started to lose some weight but for the amount of time he was spending at the gym it was nothing to go home bragging about.
And although he started to lose some pounds, all the weight he was losing was muscle. He looked weak and many times sick because I know for a fact he was starving himself to lose this weight.
This my friends, is not the way to go about getting in shape.
When your goal is just “losing weight”, for some reason your mind shifts into a different gear and starts thinking that you must workout more, eat less, and spend hours running on the treadmill.
Frankly, this isn’t your fault as there is a ton of misleading information out there that you are being constantly fed. However, now that you have stumbled upon this article, you can finally know the truth.
No matter where you are, your goal should NOT be to lose weight, but should be to burn fat!
Although these words are very similar, they send a completely different message to the brain about how to go about doing it.
For whatever reason, when someone says the words “lose weight,” my first thought is still of all those people wasting their time doing long slow cardio and starving themselves with their diets.
But when you say the words “burn fat,” my first thought is intensity, six-pack abs, ripped lean muscle, …”
See the difference?
The difference between these two goals may seem very small, but the way you go about attaining your goals will determine whether or not you will be happy with the outcomes in both the short and long run!
When you train to burn fat by eating and training properly, not only will you see faster results, but you will also see:
- Improved overall fitness
- Greater strength gains
- Peak body and overall performance
- Delayed aging
- Reduced risks of disease
On the other end of things, when you are training to lose weight by doing crash or starvation diets and long slow (boring) cardio, you will also see:
- Decreased fitness
- Decrease in strength
- Poor performance both in and out of the gym (mentally and physically)
- Early aging
- Reduced immunity meaning you will be sick more often
Your approach on how you will attain your goals will make or break the results you get.
As you can see from the picture above, you want to be on the right side of things where your focus is to burn and lose fat. It doesn’t matter if you lose weight if you lose a ton of muscle and decrease your overall health in the process.
The best way to go about getting in shape is by trying to burn fat and lose fat.
Don’t get sucked into thinking that you must go on some crash diet or starve yourself, then train for hours a day. Doing this will only lead to bad weight loss.
Instead, focus on the workouts found here at FatBurningWorkoutsHQ.com and go read this article HERE on how exactly you should eat when trying to lose and burn fat!
It is time to start burning, so go now and get after it!