Friday, May 7, 2021

I'd rather be overweight than look it: weight loss vs. fat burning



I've been blogging about how I lost 100 pounds a few years ago. Now I'm trying to lose weight again. Happily, I'm not obese this time, but I am overweight. Weirdly, despite the scale only showing a little weight loss, I look smaller. And I realized, if I had to choose one or the other, I'd rather be overweight than look it. Let me explain.

In this second round, the challenge to lose weight has been made more difficult. I'm not as active due to shoulder surgery followed by Covid 19. But although I've only lost a few pounds, I've lost fat in several areas. I think this is because my goal is fat burning vs. simple weight loss. Here's why. 

By volume, muscle weighs more than fat. A person may be overweight, even be nearing obese with the usual BMI algorithm, but still not have much noticeable fat. BMI measures body mass index, not body fat. Obese is just a categorical word. Neither are necessarily true indicators of size. So I decided that fat burning was more important than the number on the scale. 

I've seen what weight loss without fat burning looks like. Gastric bypass surgery alone doesn't lose weight let alone fat. Even with diet and exercise, gastric bypass weight loss surgery often leaves the body saggy. I want to look trimmer. I want my clothes to fit better. 

And that can be done without gastric bypass. Part of how I lost 100 pounds was to aim for fat burning with keto diet and supplements like apple cider vinegar and raspberry ketones. I'm going to work on looking smaller and I think the BMI and scale number will catch up. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive