When talking about weight loss, the first two things that come in mind are diets and calories. That's logical, since they both are key elements on getting rid of those extra pounds of fat.
Everyone knows that if you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. That's quite easy to understand and it works for some extent. But unfortunately it's not the whole truth. If the only thing you monitor is your calorie intake, you may eventually find yourself gaining weight instead of losing it.
What causes you to lose weight?
Weight loss happens, when your body consumes more calories than you eat. Sure, it is important to control the calories you eat, but did you know that your diet (and the amount of calories in it) also affects your metabolism, which in turn determines how much calories is burnt while your body is at rest.
This is significant, because your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) comprises a huge 70% of the amount of calories your body burns. Doing physical activity like jogging or other exercise only adds a little bit to the amount of calories burned.
Instead of asking "how to reduce my calorie intake", you should in fact ask "how to reduce my calorie intake while keeping my metabolism up".
Losing weight vs. losing fat
Another thing you should consider when losing weight is whether you are merely reducing your body mass or actually losing fat. It makes a great difference when you think about it.
Almost every time you hear someone talking about a miraculous weight loss program where he/she lost a huge amount of weight in a short period of time, the body mass being lost comes mainly from water and muscle mass. But if you want to keep your metabolism up, the last thing you want to lose is your muscle mass. Instead your main focus should be in losing fat but retaining your muscle mass.
Keeping track of your success
When you start losing weight, the first thing you should do is to measure your body fat percentage. You can use a measuring device such as Tanita scale, but if that's out of reach for you, use an online body fat calculator. They are usually free to use and only requires a few measurements to calculate your body fat percentage.
By keeping track of your body fat percentage, you'll know what is happening in your body. If you lose weight, but your body fat percentage remains the same, you are probably losing your muscles. When that happens, you are doing something wrong.
To lose fat, you need to create a caloric deficit by burning more and eating less while keeping the nutrient density of those calories as high as possible. You should also keep an eye on your metabolism to make sure your body is burning as much calories as possible.
The importance of monitoring your body fat percentage
Sometimes it may seem as you were going the wrong direction, even when you are actually doing things right. There may be times when your weight actually goes up, while you are still losing fat. That's because your lean body mass, which consists mainly of your muscles, weighs more than the fat in your body.
At those times the only way to know for sure what's happening, is by monitoring your body fat percentage. When your body fat percentage goes down, you'll know you are losing fat even if your weight is going up.
For long-term weight control you need to lose weight slowly and patiently and follow a nutrition plan that is well balanced between lean protein, healthy fatty acids and natural carbs.
For more information on fat burning, visit my Fat Burning Secrets Blog [http://www.fatburning-secrets.net/blog]. Don't remember to keep track of your body fat percentage!
About the Author:
Lauri Laine is dedicated to healthy weight loss by burning body fat as safely as possible. His strongest passion has always been in healthy living and keeping in good shape.