What Is the Difference Between Weight Loss and Fat Loss?

What is the different between weight loss and fat loss? Which of these two types of body mass losing processes is healthier? Which of the two can be attained quicker, which of the two works more effectively? And ultimately, which between weight loss and fat loss is an overall better body mass losing process? A great comparative match-up these two make, but in the end, there may only be one which would ultimately be better than the other.

What Is the Difference Between Weight Loss and Fat Loss?



First off, fat loss and weight loss are two totally different processes. The common misconception people often make is thinking and claiming that the loss of fat and weight loss are one and the same.

That could not be any more wrong. While losing weight can mean loss of fat, it does not necessarily mean that they are one and the same process of losing body mass. There are specifics ways each hold, and though they may have a few elements which are highly identical, they are separate processes overall.

Fat Loss


What is fat loss? In its most basic definition, the loss of fat is the process of losing body fat using a variety of means. Those means may differ from exercise, to diet, to even liposuction procedures. However the means may differ, as long as their goals are focused toward losing fat.

Fat is not all bad, but is not all good either. Fat is needed by the body because it is what the body burns when it is put through stress and work. It is unhealthy for either a man or a woman to have 0% body fat; what would his or her body have to burn then? In the absence of fat, the body eats other parts of itself like muscle, which is more on weight loss already. The normal fat percentage men should have is between 12 to about 20 percent; women should have significantly more, around 15 to about 25 percent, since they would need extra fat for when they get pregnant.

This is easily mistaken to be the same as weight loss since a lot of people think all their weight is composed of fat. This is not true. Yes, a person's weight is composed of his or her fat, but overall weight is total accumulation of more than just fat (which will be touched upon later on when weight loss is discussed). Fat is not the only factor which makes a person heavy. Fat is, however, the most dispensable and expendable excess of the body which can be lost to make a person's weight lighter, without his or her body being unhealthy.

Weight Loss


Weight loss, similar to fat loss, is also the process of the body losing fat, but not only fat. A person's body is composed not only of fat, but also of bones, muscles, tissues, organs, skin, and many more. 


Fat alone does not make a body heavy, but all the internal and external parts of the body, as long as it is attached to it, is what makes a body weigh the way it does. Weight loss then, is the process in which the body loses fat, or muscle mass, or bone mass, or organ weight, or skin weight, or a combination of all of these.

Weight loss is not entirely a bad process your body can potentially go through, but compared to losing fat, it is not an advisable process for your body to go through. Weight, as an overall category, is highly essential for your body's overall health. Losing muscle mass or bone mass is not something your body should go through. This is why your body needs fat, so it does not eat muscle or bone mass.

When a person loses more than just fat, the body highly decreases in weight. If you are an individual who has no more fat to burn or lose, you should be very, very careful not to go overboard and lose more than just fat. People like anorexics suffering from anorexia often do not have fat left in their bodies to lose or burn, so they become thinner, and more fragile, until they die due to severe weight loss.

In this match-up between these two goals, it may seem that fat loss is the preferred victor over weight loss. It may be the case, but do keep in mind that weight loss is not an option you shouldn't choose to take. Just be wary, however, to only have a goal of losing fat and not any other type of weight, and this match-up might end with a draw.
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