Difference Between Weight and Fat
Key Difference: Weight basically is the vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity. When speaking in terms of human body, it is the force due to the effect of gravity on body mass, expressed in Newtons. Whereas fat is a natural oily substance occurring in animal and human bodies, especially when deposited as a layer under the skin or around certain organs.
It is easier to explain weight and fat when spoken in terms of human body. Body weight is the sum weight of your bones, muscles, organs, body fat etc while body fat of a human or other living being is the total mass of fat divided by total body mass, multiplied by 100; body fat includes essential body fat and storage body fat. Essential body fat is necessary to maintain life and reproductive functions. Because of the demands of childbearing and other hormonal functions,the percentage of essential body fat for women is greater than that for men. The internal organs in the chest and abdomen are protected by the fat accumulation in adipose tissue known as storage body fat.
While body fat percentage is a measure of fitness level, weight is not. Body fat percentage measurement directly calculates a person's relative body composition without regard to height or weight. Body weight can fluctuate daily since it’s influenced by your stomach/bowel/bladder content, water loss/retention, muscle loss/gain, fat loss/gain etc. A fit body has a lower levels of fat percentage, 10% to 15% for men and 15% to 20% for women. Your fat percentage is a true indicator of how fit and in good shape your body is.
,When talking in terms of obesity there is a very common misconception among people. People are more concerned about losing weight whereas they should focus on reducing their body fat. Losing weight is not the challenge. You just don’t eat. You will lose weight, but unfortunately, the weight you lose will be both muscle and fat. The aim when doing weight loss is to preserve as much muscle as possible, or possibly even gain some, while at the same time lose as much body fat as possible.
Weight loss = Muscle loss + Fat loss + Water loss
Fat loss = Reduction of stored body fat
If you lose 30 pounds but 15 pounds of that was muscle, this cannot be considered as a successful weight loss attempt. You might become smaller, but due to muscle loss you will also experience a slower metabolism, will feel weaker, and might even have a worse body composition than when you started.
Bodycarehealthclub.com explains, ’Muscle is vital to your success for losing fat. Muscles have these little fat burning powerhouses called mitochondria. Mitochondria are cellular power plants that are responsible for the production of energy. It’s in the mitochondria that fat is metabolized. There is a positive correlation between the amount of muscle you have and the number of mitochondria. And it stands to reason that the more mitochondria you have, the more the potential to burn fat.’
Losing weight other than fat is unavoidable, but the loss of muscle mass will cause a rebound effect that leads to weight gain. Muscle is metabolically active and lights your furnace, keeping your metabolism brisk and burning calories. Even when you’re sitting on the couch, you burn more calories if you have more muscle mass on your frame.
Weight Loss vs Fat Loss
Weight Loss is:
a) Unreliable: Your body-weight tends to fluctuate daily as it can be influenced by factors like water loss/retention, muscle loss/gain etc.
b) Irrelevant: 2 people with similar height can weigh the same, but look completely different because one has lower body fat than the other.
Fat Loss is:
a) Reliable: You become fitter and healthier and less prone to any kinds of risk of life-threatening diseases. Everything from your metabolism to your energy level improves.
b) Relevant: There are different ways to measure your accurate fat percentage and it is free of any dependant factor or variables.
This does not mean that you shouldn’t lose weight. If you’re overweight, some weight loss is required to restructure your body, but at the same time, focus on fat loss should never be lost.
Image Courtsey:ourhealthpage.com,everydayhealth.com
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