When most people think of losing weight, they often think of endless cardio, crash dieting, bogus supplements and starving themselves. While all of these things might help you lose weight, it’s not what we need to focus on in the big picture.

One thing we need to realize is that losing weight is not the same as losing body fat.

If you’re trying to simply lose weight, you’re really missing out on changing your body composition for the better. See, your body is made up of all different types of weight, from muscle mass, glycogen, water, fat and so on. So if you’re simply focusing on losing weight, how do you know if you are benefiting your body positively in the long run? Although the scale might be dropping, you could be

losing vast amounts of muscle mass as well. Keep in mind, muscle mass is metabolically active tissue and will help your body burn additional calories which will result in additional fat loss. Additionally, muscle will give your body that lean and defined look, which will turn you into a ripped machine once you finally lose body fat.

This is why going on crash diets that allow you to lose ridiculous amounts of weight in a short period of time is a bad idea, since the end result will be more fat and less muscle. I know that sounds completely ridiculous to what you’ve been told, but it’s true.

Instead of focusing on simply losing weight, we need to focus primarily on losing body fat. To do this, we need to drop our weight at a much slower rate then what is mentioned above. I recommend losing a maximum of two pounds per week, so your body will not go into starvation mode and will not burn your muscle for energy – you will be losing strictly body fat. Focus on making small changes in calorie consumption, only cutting your calories around 500-1000 of what you normally consume.

For example, if your daily amount of calories to maintain your weight is 2500, then you would consume anywhere from a minimum of 1500 calories per day (to lose two pounds per week) and a maximum of 2000 calories per day (to lose one pound per week). Although this might seem like it would take forever, you need to realize that healthy, long term fat loss is not a slow process. In fact, fat loss is a slow process that can take many weeks or months to accomplish, depending on where you start.

The good news is this – Once you finally do lose the fat, you will be an extremely happy, healthy person if you utilize the techniques I’m giving you today. Not only will your confidence skyrocket, but you will feel like a totally new person – A new body means a new you.

Losing weight is not the same as losing fat. One can benefit your body positively, while the other can benefit your body negatively. This is why relying on thermogenic fat burning pills, crash dieting or other methods to help you lose weight is not wise, since you will not be benefiting your body positively. Instead, we need to focus on the healthy approach of simply losing body fat at a reasonable pace. Don’t even worry about the weight on the scale because in the long run, it doesn’t matter – What truly matters is how your ratio of lean muscle mass to fat on your body. The more of the former and the less of the latter, the healthier and better looking you will be.

– Hi there, my name is Drew and I am the author of this post and the proud owner of the website how2gainmusclefast.com. I am also a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym. It is my mission to help my clients and fellow bloggers gain muscle, lose fat and help them become a healthier and happier person. One thing I’ve learned throughout my 10 years of training people – Anyone can change their body composition for the better with the right information, which is why I love what I do.