Q. Glen, How quickly should you shed your excess pounds? Yes, we all wish we could melt off the fat "overnight," but supposing you really could take the weight off "lightning fast." Is rapid weight loss is really healthy and safe? And is it permanent?How much fat loss is realistic? How much is physiologically possible?
A. I've got bad news for you. You have been lied to over and over about "quick fat loss" and it really irks me that weight loss companies keep getting away with it at your expense!
It's time to bust this myth and uncover the truth.
Fat Loss Lie #10: "Fat loss can be quick and permanent"
The "Quick Fat Loss" Lie Exposed
"Lose 30 pounds In 30 Days!"
"Lose 9 Pounds Every 11 Days!"
Lose 10 Pounds This Weekend!
You see ad claims like these all the time, and they sure are enticing, aren't they? They play on our emotions and our desires for instant gratification.
Patience is the one thing you never seem to have when you’ve got a body fat problem. You want the fat gone and you want it gone now! And why not? It seems so do-able. Everywhere you look, you hear promises of quick weight loss and you even see people losing weight quickly.
We have reality TV shows that actually encourage people to attempt “extreme” body makeovers or see who can lose weight the fastest, and the winners (or shall we say, the "losers", as if that's a flattering title to earn), are rewarded generously with fortune, fame and congratulations.
Let’s face it. Everyone wants to get the fat off as quickly as possible - and having that desire is not wrong – it’s simply human nature. However...
Serious Problems Can Occur If You Try To
Force It And Lose Weight Too Quickly
The faster you lose weight, the more muscle you will lose right along with the fat, and that can really mess up your metabolism.
Weight loss will be the healthiest, safest and most likely to be permanent if you set your goal for about two pounds per week (and even if you lose only a single pound each week, that is healthy progress). This is the recommendation of almost every legitimate and respected dietician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and personal trainer on the planet, as well as exercise organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association.
Are there any exceptions? Yes. It may be ok to lose more than two pounds per week if you have a lot of weight to lose, because the rate of weight loss tends to be relative to your total starting body weight. Generally the rule is that it’s safe to lose up to 1% of your total body weight per week, so if you weigh 300 lbs to start, then 3 lbs a week is a reasonable goal.
But there IS a catch.
What Really Matters Is Not How Much WEIGHT
You Lose, But How Much FAT You Lose
Where did your weight loss come from? Did you lose body fat or lean body mass? "Weight" is not the same as "fat." Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water.
Let’s look at an example with some numbers so you can really grasp this concept of weight versus fat and then you can see, illustrated with specific examples, what will happen when you lose weight too quickly.
As an example, let’s take a 260 pound man who has a lot of body fat to lose - let’s call it 32%. With 32% fat, a 260 pounder has 83.2 pounds of body fat and 176.8 pounds of lean mass. Using this example, let’s look at a few possible scenarios with losses ranging from two to four pounds per week.
Weight Loss Scenario 1:
Suppose our 260 pound subject loses four full pounds instead of the recommended two pounds per week. Is this bad? Well, let’s see:
If he loses a half a percent of body fat, here are his body composition results:
256 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.6 lbs fat
175.4 lbs lean body mass
Out of the four pounds lost, 2.8 pounds were fat and 1.2 were lean mass. Not a disaster, but not good either. Thirty percent of the weight lost was lean tissue.
Weight Loss Scenario 2:
If he loses a half a percent of body fat and only three pounds, here are his results:
257 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.9 lbs fat
176.1 lbs lean body mass
These results are better. Although he lost less body weight than scenario one, in this instance, 2.3 pounds of fat and only 0.7 lbs of lean mass were lost.
Weight Loss Scenario 3:
What if he only lost two pounds? Here are the results:
258 lbs
31.5% body fat
81.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass
These results are perfect. Even though our subject has only lost two pounds, which seems slow, 100% of the two pound weight loss came from fat and he kept ALL the muscle!
Weight Loss Scenario 4:
Now let’s suppose he loses three pounds but he loses more body fat: .8%
257 lbs
31.2% body fat
80.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass
These are the best results of all. When the weekly fat loss is .8% (better than average), 100% of the three pounds lost is fat. So as you can see, yes, it’s safe to lose more than two pounds per week… but only if the weight fat. If you lose three or four pounds per week, and you know it’s all fat, not lean tissue, then more power to you! If you lose four pounds and two of those pounds are muscle, you just shot yourself in the foot!
If as little as 20%-30% of your weight loss comes from muscle, when compounded over a few months, you’re talking about a massive muscle tissue loss which can dramatically slow down your metabolism, weaken you and turn you into nothing more than a “skinny fat person” (that's a person with low body weight because they lost so much muscle, but still holding stubborn fat because they shut down their metabolism).
Don't Be Fooled By Water Weight Losses
One thing you should also know is that it’s very common to lose 3 - 5 pounds in the first week on nearly any diet and exercise program and often even more on low carb diets. Just remember, its NOT all fat - WATER LOSS IS NOT FAT LOSS!
The only way to know if you've actually lost FAT is with body composition testing. For home body fat self-testing, I recommend the Accu-Measure skinfold caliper as first choice. Even better, get a multi site skinfold caliper test from an experienced tester at a health club, or even an underwater (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.
From literally hundreds of client case studies, I can confirm that it’s rare to lose more than 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of weight per week without losing some muscle along with it. If you exceed 2.0 to 3.0 pounds per week, the probability of losing muscle is extremely high. If you lose muscle, you are damaging your metabolism and this will lead to a plateau and ultimately to relapse.
The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake That Is
FATAL To Your Long Term Success
Lack of patience is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to losing body fat. If you want to lose FAT, not muscle, and if you want to keep the fat off for good, then you have to take off the pounds slowly. (of course, if you want to crash diet the weight off fast, lose muscle with the fat and gain all the fat back later, be my guest)
This is one of the toughest lessons that overweight men and women have to learn - and they can be very hard learners. They fight kicking and screaming, insisting that they CAN and they MUST lose it faster.
Then you have these TV shows that encourage the masses that rapid, crash weight loss is okay. To the producers of these shows, I say SHAME ON YOU! To the personal trainers, registered dieticians and medical doctors who are associated with these programs, I say DOUBLE SHAME ON YOU, because you of all people should know better. These shows are not "motivating" or "inspiring" - they are DAMAGING! They are a DISGRACE!
The rapid weight loss being promoted by the media for the sake of ratings and by the weight loss companies for the sake of profits makes it even harder for legitimate fitness and nutrition professionals because our clients say, “But look at so and so on TV - he lost 26 pounds in a week!”
Sure, but 26 pounds of WHAT - and do you have any idea what the long term consequences are?
Short term thinking… foolish.
Do it the right way. The healthy way. Take off pounds slowly, steadily and sensibly with an intelligent nutrition and exercise program, measure your body fat, not just your body weight, and make this a new lifestyle, not a race, and you will never have to take the pounds off again, because they will be gone forever the first time.
We're getting close to the end of this series and next time, in part 11 of 12, you'll find out about the scandal that is taking place in the medical and pharmaceutical industries ("The big pharmacy lie")... Plus, you'll also learn the truth about steroids and other performance-enhancing and fat-burning drugs. Until then...
Train hard and expect success,
Wishing You Great Health!
Any questions? Ask Glen
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