Lose Fat: Why fat loss is not the same as weight loss

Your "weight" is made of your entire body. Your skeletal frame, hair, skin, organs and yes "fat" etc all form part of your "weight", and the biggest component of all is water. We are made up of "water" and lots of it - we need water to function effectively and efficiently - or to put it another way - you need water in order to live.

Dieting on it's own is not going to reduce your body's fat stores - what is the first thing we lose when we go on a diet apart from our sanity? That's right - Water.

So how do we lose fat and not just weight?

Well you need to prompt your body to use the material we have stored for energy rather than using the "food" we are constantly putting into our systems. Fat stores form part of our survival mechanism - those times when we are faced with famine and don't know where the next meal is going to come from. And that is part of the problem. Most western countries don't suffer from the effects of famine. If we go without food for more than a couple of hours our stomachs remind us - and because we think we "feel" hungry, we eat more food that our body cannot use as energy and has no choice but to store it.

So, to use the fat stores we have - we must put our minds and our bodies on a "diet". We need to eat enough to maintain our energy levels and our brains function and then our body can be "tricked" into tapping into the fat stores to make up the deficit.

And one of the best ways to kick start this process is by exercising (cardio preferably) first thing in a morning on an empty stomach. There is some evidence that says consuming half cup of black coffee (caffeine is a thermogenic after all) can help with the fat burning process. So if you want to kick start your fat burning - why not give it a go and see if it makes a difference.