Weight loss vs. fat loss. I chose fat loss.

Most of you who have followed my transformation journey know that I lost 200+ pounds, 11 dress sizes, and more than 80% of my body fat in 18 months. The approach of my customized plan was hormonal fat loss aimed at burning stored fat and building muscle while stoking the metabolism so that I didn’t stall or plateau.

Perhaps the most telling number in my journey is the body fat percentage reduction. At my leanest, I had 14.5% body fat – that of a elite female athlete. In maintenance, I am holding at about 18% body fat – still well within that range.

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my annual exam and well, again, I was called a “rock star” and an “idol” by the nurses and my doctor. I was invited to the Women’s clinic at HealthPartners to speak to women who are struggling with breaking the cycle of lifelong obesity as I did. And it felt great. So all good news here.

So, I get frustrated when I see people struggling to lose weight and think they are doing everything right by counting calories and not paying attention to what those calories are. Many of those same people work out so hard in the gym only to stall out. This blog from Jade Teta of Metabolic Effect explains the hormonal approach to fat loss better than anything I have read so I wanted to share it here. If you are in the camp of yo-yo dieting and/or struggling to keep your weight off, please read this blog.

If I have learned one thing throughout my journey (and honestly, I have learned so much more), it is this – eating less and exercising more may produce short term results on the outside at least – but you can be what’s called “skinny fat” and that is not healthy, plus you are far more likely to suffer from plateaus (metabolism stalls) and end up suffering from the weight gain rebound. I did it most of my life.

Hormonal fat loss in my view is a far healthier and more effective approach. And it isn’t that tough to understand. Let me know what you think.

Read full blog article by Jade Teta, Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss