Metabolic Health
Here’s Why We Grew Heavier on the Scale After Getting Thinner in the Waistline.
Based on decades of transformational experience, I explain key concepts and principles of healthy weight management.
Purpose of the Article
This article explains the difference between the concepts of weight and fat loss. I focus on steady fat loss and healthy weight management with lifestyle choices. These principles are customizable, so they are not health advice. I penned this piece for information, inspiration, and awareness purposes.
Inspiration for the Post
Subscribers who read my content on fat loss and healthy weight management point out that they follow the principles mentioned in my articles, but they don’t seem to lose weight even though they feel better.
They wonder what they might be doing wrong and how they can improve their situation. This is a typical pattern that I have observed and experienced for many years.
In my opinion, they don’t do anything wrong apart from trusting the weight scales too much. So, my point in this story relates to weight versus fat loss. In other words, we need to focus on losing inches from the waistline rather than losing numbers on the scales.
I also had similar concerns before knowing the difference between weight loss and fat loss. Thus, I decided to compose this post to answer this essential question in summary and add clarity to the point without going into technical or scientific details.
Difference between Weight Loss and Fat Loss
Weight loss and fat loss are used interchangeably by fitness enthusiasts. I read many books and articles, causing confusion to readers. Even though they sound like similar concepts, they are different in reality.
There appears to be an obsession with weight loss over the last few decades. Unfortunately, the weight loss concept is confusing and causes unnecessary anguish to people. I was also affected by this situation in my younger years, giving me nightmares.
Weight loss can include losing fat, fluids, muscles, and even bone density. While losing visceral fat is the primary goal for many of us, losing muscle mass and bone density can be detrimental to our health.
The problem comes from the confusion of concepts affecting people's mental health. For example, people who cannot see weight loss through scales get stressed, have anxiety, and are even depressed.
So they attempt to eat less and over-exercise creating more stress. They might lose some weight after cutting calories too much, but they lose mainly fluid, muscle, or bone density rather than visceral fat. The situation gets worse.
In my articles, I always highlight the difference and focus on visceral fat loss and healthy weight management. The critical point is while losing excess visceral fat, keeping our lean muscles and dense bones is vital.
When I completed my transformation from a metabolically disadvantaged position to a thriving one, I got heavier on the scale but thinner in the abdominal area.
Weight Scales versus Waistline Measurement
Using a scale to measure weight can be confusing and discouraging. A scale cannot simply show how much fat we lose. It shows overall weight.
Therefore, a much better indicator is measuring the size of the waistline. Even though a person might not lose any weight by applying the principles and methods introduced in this article, they might still eliminate some visceral fat.
As the title of this story indicates, the heavier I got on the scale, the thinner I became because I lost visceral fat while gaining substantial muscle. This is because muscle is much heavier than fat.
However, measuring the waistline only indicates the fat lost or gained in the abdominal area. A better tool is the DEXA or MRI scans which show the overall fat percentage in the body. It also indicates bone density.
Unfortunately, DEXA scans are costly and usually are not covered by Medicare or primary health insurance. MRI scans usually require a specialist referral in many countries.
Five Practical Tips to Lose Visceral Fat and Maintain Muscle Mass and Bone Density Sustainably
To make this piece practical, I organized the content under five headings.
I only focus on the critical items and link relevant stories for details.
From my experience, losing visceral fat depends on five factors. I summarize them in the subsequent sections.
1 — Manage Blood Sugar and Insulin
Even though every cell in the human body needs glucose for energy, excessive sugar is seen as toxic by the body. Therefore, it has a mechanism to rapidly move the excess sugar from the bloodstream to muscle and fat cells.
This mechanism is managed by insulin which is the master hormone for our metabolic activities. It has a critical role in our metabolism.
The critical point for fat loss is to manage our blood glucose and prevent the excessive and frequent release of insulin. By focusing on this principle, we can make our body more insulin sensitive and allow it to burn fat as desired.
I explained the sugar paradox in this article. I also introduced three tips to eliminate insulin resistance and shrink the waistline.
2 — Make the Body Fat Adapted
For many years I struggled with losing visceral fat. I followed the conventional wisdom, advising us to eat less and move more. This old-school thinking worked for losing weight but did not work for losing visceral fat.
When I ate less, reduced the total calories, and moved more, spending more calories, unfortunately, I lost muscles instead of visceral fat. I became thinner in various body parts, but my belly never shrank, giving me a metabolic disorder at a young age.
My solution was to make the body fat adapted. When I switched from sugar-burning to fat-burning metabolism, losing visceral fat became effortless. During this period, I lost visceral fat and maintained lean muscle.
I couldn’t tap into belly fat before being fat-adapted. However, my body used belly fat in the fat-adapted state. Thus, I documented my experience in an article titled Here’s How to Become Fat-Adapted and Trim Waistline in Three Steps.
3 — Customize Food Intake and Eating Regimen
After trial and error, I found that there was no single diet meeting everyone’s needs and desires. I explained it in a story titled Here’s Why There’s No “One Size Fits All Diet”.
Since what we eat is critical for losing or gaining fat, we must pay attention to our diet. For me, the solution was to personalize my diet with help from a qualified dietician. I explained my experience in a story titled Here’s Why and How to Design a Customized Diet to Thrive.
In addition to what we eat, how often we eat matters for weight loss and gain. My problem was frequent eating. Therefore, after performing time-restricted eating, fat loss became much easier and more sustainable.
Initially, I skipped breakfast. Then, I decided to eat one nutritious meal a day, as I documented in this article titled Here’s What Happened on One-Meal-a-Day After 15 Years. Replacing carbs with healthy fats as an energy source improved my situation.
4 — Perform Adequate and Customized Workouts
Movement is essential for overall health. However, it is also necessary for mobilizing fat and activating mTOR to maintain muscle mass.
In addition, exercise contributes to having stronger bones, as I documented in an article titled Three Tips for Improving Bone Health and Reducing the Risks of Osteoporosis.
Moderate fasted cardio for fat loss can be effective. However, too much cardio might increase cortisol and prevent losing visceral fat, especially in the abdominal area. A friend used it successfully with supervision.
In my experience, resistance training in the form of weightlifting and calisthenics has been ideal for fat loss and maintaining stronger muscles and bones. Resistance training might also contribute to the hormonal balance that I cover in the subsequent section.
5 — Optimize and Balance Hormones
Hormones play a critical role in fat mobilization and muscle building. As mentioned in section #1, insulin, like glucagon, is the most critical hormone for both fat accumulation and muscle building.
Losing visceral fat and building lean muscles can be challenging without optimizing insulin. The more insulin-sensitive body, the more fat burning can happen. We need to optimize leptin, too, to prevent overeating.
Another critical hormone for fat loss and muscle building is cortisol. Even though cortisol is the stress hormone, it significantly impacts our metabolism. Elevated cortisol might prevent fat-burning and cause muscle loss. Thus, we need to manage our stress well to optimize cortisol.
As sleep deprivation and chronic stress can cause excessive cortisol production, we must improve sleep quality. In addition, regulating our emotions with mindfulness practices such as meditation can be helpful.
Other hormones affect our metabolism. I introduced them in an article titled Lose Visceral Fat by Understanding the Intricacies of Six Critical Hormones. Hormonal intelligence is necessary to lose fat and build muscles.
Even though calories are important, fat loss and muscle building revolve around hormones, as I documented in an article titled Here’s Why Fat Loss Has Nothing to Do with Calories.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Understanding the difference between weight loss and fat loss is critical.
The key point is that weight loss includes fats, muscles, fluids, and bones. However, fat loss focuses on eliminating visceral fat while maintaining muscle mass and bone density.
I highlight the common mistakes in fat loss and weight management and offer practical solutions in summary.
1 — Stop excessive calorie counting, instead
A — Consume adequate calories needed for your body.
B — Customize your diet instead of using fad diets.
C — Refrain from excessive workouts such as cardio.
2 — Focus on hormonal balance
A — Optimize hormones with quality nutrition, exercise, sleep, and rest.
B — Get the hormones checked through medical tests.
3 — Obtain hormonal support from endocrinologists.
3 — Use macronutrients suiting your needs
A — Lower refined carbs as much as possible.
B — Replace them with whole food and complex carbs.
C — Consume adequate protein and healthy fats.
4 — Watch out for micronutrient deficiencies
A — Consume an adequate amount of essential micronutrients.
B — Personalize the diet with help from a dietician or nutritionist, if possible.
C — Supplement with essential micronutrients if the diet is insufficient.
5 — Stop overstressing the body and mind
A — Give the body the essential nutrients, sleep, rest, movement, and fun.
B — Recover from physical, mental, and emotional stress timely. Don’t exercise until fully recovered.
C — Take breaks at work, slow down when needed, and work in a flow state.
6 — Refrain from sedentary life
A — Move the body with joy daily without overstressing.
B — Create a personalized workout regimen suiting your needs.
C — Recover from the effects of previous workouts before starting the next session.
Final Words
To conclude, rather than using weight scales, it can be better to use waistline measurements to monitor our fat loss. Let’s keep in mind that muscle is heavier than fat.
Therefore, our waistline is a better indicator of our fat loss or gain progress. Physicians still use waistline measurement to diagnose metabolic syndrome.
The principle for healthy metabolism is indicated by waist circumference. It is less than 40 inches for men and less than 35 inches for women.
There are some smart scales on the market sensing and measuring fat percentage. I also came across small gadgets connected to an app and used them. However, they are not reliable yet.
If you can afford it, you may consider annual DEXA scans or MRIs that can be valuable for measuring fat, muscle, and bone profile. So, let’s focus on losing inches from the waistline rather than losing numbers on the scales.
Related Stories
I documented my reviews, observations, and experiences with metabolic health, particularly maintaining lean muscles and melting visceral fat via healthy lifestyle habits. I link a few stories for new readers.
Lose Visceral Fat by Understanding the Intricacies of Six Critical Hormones
Reduce Abdominal Fat and Increase Lean Muscles with Two Practical Steps
Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline
Three Tips for Retaining Lean Muscles While Losing Visceral Fat Steadily
I only touched on the macronutrients in this article within the required context. However, micronutrients are also critical for health. I documented some micronutrients from food or supplements in the attached stories.
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
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