Weight Loss; Why don’t you just lose fat when you diet?

To lose weight (body fat), you must be in a “calorie deficit.” This means that you should either consume fewer calories than your body consumes or exercise to burn more calories than you consume.

During the first few days of a caloric deficit, the body uses its glycogen stores as an energy source.

Adam Collins in Conversation website Glycogen, he writes, is a string of glucose that comes from the carbohydrates you eat. Since carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy, any glucose that the body does not use immediately is stored as glycogen to be used for energy later.

Carbohydrate molecules bind to water, so when the body stores glycogen, water is stored in the muscles along with it. By consuming glycogen reserves, the body also releases a large amount of water. This is why some people may feel that they lose significant weight at the beginning of the diet.

Glycogen stores only last a few days, so the body stores extra calories as fat to be used when needed. When glycogen stores are depleted, the body turns to fats for energy. But not all tissues, including the brain, can use fat as an energy source. This is why when you are in a caloric deficit, the body must metabolize the muscles.

Protein (from the food you eat) is stored in your muscles. The body can convert this stored protein into glucose to be used as energy. When this happens, you lose muscle tissue. This has significant consequences, including a decrease in metabolism, and may eventually lead to weight gain after losing weight.

Many factors can affect the rate of muscle loss during a calorie deficit. While it was once thought that the more fat you have, the less muscle you will lose due to a calorie deficit, this has been disproved today. Obese and lean people have been shown to lose muscle to the same extent when dieting.

However, ethnicity and genetics may also play a role. Studies show that black people tend to lose more muscle mass when in a caloric deficit than white people.

Research also shows that certain genetic variants can affect some people’s response to dieting and the amount of muscle mass loss.

Regardless of gradual or rapid weight loss, muscle loss will occur. One of the most important factors in determining how much muscle mass you lose is how much weight you end up losing. If a person loses 10% of their body weight, usually about 20% of that is lean mass (the proportion of body mass that is not fat, such as muscle). This amount can be equal to several kilograms of muscle.