Due to advancements in science and medicine, Medical Weight Loss in Atlanta is finally a viable option for people struggling to lose those last few pounds. Let’s face it, the standard American diet can take its toll on our bodies and losing weight has become a struggle for millions of people, making weight loss products and services a multi-billion-dollar industry. Promises of quick weight loss by taking a pill or drinking a shake or eating prepackaged daily meals is so prevalent in media that you would be hard pressed to live through a day without being bombarded by weight loss marketing messages. If it’s not a product, it’s a service; if not a service, then it’s a diet – they are ever-evolving and ever-changing. (They are called fad diets for a reason.)
At Elevate Wellness Clinic, we deal with many clients that are looking for the best Atlanta Weight Loss clinic or gym to solve all of their weight loss problems. Losing weight is not always accomplished by self-control, working out and watching what you eat. Of course, those things matter, but often there can be underlying issues that get in the way of weight loss. One common obstacle of losing weight is the fact that most people think that if they weigh less, they will look better. That is not always true. Also, many people use the terms “weight loss” and “fat loss” interchangeably – when in fact, they are very different things.
In this post we will focus on the difference between weight loss and fat loss and why it is important to understand the distinction. It is a topic that we plan to cover often on this website.
Let’s start with this: Pound for pound, fat loss is better than weight loss! (pun intended)
The truth is that healthy people often have a higher body mass then an unhealthy person. Fat weighs less and is less dense than lean muscle mass. Therefore, a scale that only measures weight can be misleading. Many times, you will hear people in the fitness industry encourage their clients to throw out their scale and just worry about how they feel, how their clothes fit and how they look in the mirror. One reason that they say this is that they know that only measuring a person’s weight can be misrepresentative of what is actually going on.
A person losing weight could be losing fat AND valuable, healthy lean muscle mass. This is one reason that calorie deficit-based diets are not always the best option. Lean muscle mass actually burns calories; even when you are at rest – so the more you have, the easier it is for you to stay trim and fit. The goal for most people is to lose fat – not just weight.
Top Tip: Your home scale is not the best indicator of whether or not you are losing fat.
The goal to successful fat 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. Your body fat % is a key indicator of your success, not the scale. At Elevate Wellness Clinic, we can accurately measure your total body composition, so we can tell exactly how much fat you have and how much you have lost. Body composition analysis is a method of breaking down the body into its core components: fat, protein, minerals, and body water. It describes your weight more accurately and provides a better glimpse into your overall health than traditional methods. Body composition analysis can accurately show changes in fat mass, muscle mass, and body fat percentage. Measuring your body composition will tell you your own body’s unique makeup and help you identify areas to work on to improve your overall health and wellness.
In our clinic, we offer the InBody Test, which is a non-invasive body composition analysis that provides a detailed breakdown of your weight in terms of muscle, fat, and water in one comprehensive report. An InBody Test is not intrusive and takes about 15 to 30 seconds. There is no pinching with calipers or dunking in a body mass displacement tank. It gives you accurate results you can trust to help you reach your health and fitness goals with precision and actionable objectives.
So, what are those actionable objectives when it comes to losing weight? Well, everyone is different – but from our perspective, they typically have to do with diet, exercise, and balancing your specific body chemistry.
Your body burns carbohydrates, fat and protein for energy. And most of the time, for most healthy people, it burns it in that order. Simple carbohydrates are essentially sugar, and the body can burn it pretty easily for energy; but your body only burns what it needs. If you are running marathons, your body needs to burn more calories to get you up that hill! If you are sitting in front of a computer screen for 6-hours straight, your body doesn’t need to burn as many calories. When you consume food, your body will break it down and consume what it needs – the rest will be stored as fat.
Fat is your body’s natural fuel tank. Fat is stored to used later and your body is very good at storing it. The more energy you need, the more fat you will burn – assuming that you are not taking in more easily consumable calories. Everyone stores fat differently because of their individual genes, hormones, age, lifestyle, and other factors specific to them. Your body tends to hoard calories as fat to keep you alive and safe. The challenge is learning how to get rid of that extra fat. To lose fat, you need to burn fat.
Of course a healthy diet and exercise will help you burn fat; but there are other things that you can do to optimize your results. In fact, peptide therapy in Atlanta has become popular in recent years due to advancements in healing and recovery and growth hormone optimization. For men of a certain age, Atlanta testosterone replacement therapy centers are a great option for determining whether your weight loss challenges are, at least in part, hormonal.
There are multiple ways to jump start your fat burning. From cardio exercise, to weightlifting, to changing what you eat and when you eat, and to balancing your hormones – fat lose methods are not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. When used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise, lipotropic injections have shown great promise in boosting metabolism and aiding in burning fat and building muscle. Medical weight loss methods including the use of daily oral medications to control cravings and boost metabolism can help a person overcome those stubborn last 20lbs. At Elevate Wellness, we consider every patient’s individual biological make up, weight loss and body image goals, and lifestyle before making our recommendation for the best plan for losing fat.
If you would like more information about medical weight loss options in Atlanta, please do not hesitate to contact us for a FREE consultation!
Fill out this FORM for more information about Medical Weight Loss in Atlanta, or to schedule your free consultation.