Losing fat vs losing weight

Losing weight and losing fat are not necessarily the same thing.  You might think that they go hand in hand but that isn’t always the case.  Here is an example: Spend some time in a sauna.  You will sweat, lose weight, and probably detox some but what you eliminate mostly is water weight.  You can drop many pounds with a sauna but it won’t be fat.

When we start a patient on a reduction program one of our chief recommendations is to avoid coffee.  Coffee tends to cause blood sugar fluctuations and leads to sugar cravings and hunger especially at the end of the day which is the worst time to eat.  Coffee is a diuretic and drinking can make you lose lots of water.  When you stop drinking it you will usually, at least temporarily, gain some water weight.  This will normally go away within a few weeks or even less.  The point is, even though the scale goes up, the fat may be coming off.  Over time, avoiding coffee is generally very beneficial for fat loss because of the leveling of blood sugar.

Hormonal imbalance can be a complicating factor in weight control.  The most common scenario is an abundance of estrogen relative to progesterone.  When estrogen is dominant fat tends to accumulate (imagine a woman who is pregnant).  When progesterone is dominant you tend to be lean (imagine a women marathoner). The best way to know where you stand is to have you hormones tested.

If you have questions, give us a call at 704-837-2420 or click here schedule a no-charge consultation.