How to Lose Fat But Not Weight.

•Why You’ve Stopped Losing Weight

When you’re dieting for fat loss and the scale hasn’t changed in a couple of weeks, it’s for one of two reasons:

You haven’t lost any fat (at least you haven’t gained any though!).
You have lost fat but you don’t see it on the scale.
Breaking down number one is going to take longer than number two, so let’s start with the short and sweet.

• How to Lose Fat But Not Weight

The most common reason people lose fat and not weight is fluid retention.

This is particularly true for women, who are hormonally inclined to retain fluids and who also have to deal with large fluctuations due to menstrual cycles.

What happens is very simple: you lose a pound of fat in a week but you “pick up” an additional pound of water along the way. Obviously it’s not always 1:1 so, when it comes time to weigh in, it can look like you only lost a negligible amount of fat that week or even gained some.

If you want to see how much water retention can affect your weight, double your sodium intake for a few days and watch the scale. You can easily gain 1 to 2 pounds per day for several days.

Fortunately, water retention issues are fairly easy to fix. It usually requires little more than balancing sodium and potassium intake, drinking enough water every day, and keeping your cortisol levels under control.

Once these things are in–when your electrolytes are balanced, you’re properly hydrated, and your cortisol levels are normal…and you’re not about to get your period…you can rest assured that you fluid retention levels are stable.

Another common reason why people lose fat but not weight is they’re new to weightlifting.

This matters because when you’re new, you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time, and building muscle means adding weight, of course.

Furthermore, when you first start training your muscles intensively, they soak up and hold quite a bit of additional glycogen and water. This too adds weight.

These “newbie gains” are so predictable that I often tell people new to weightlifting and proper dieting to expect not to lose weight for their first 3 to 6 weeks.

Sure, keep track of your weight, but your waist measurement is a more reliable indicator of fat loss progress during this period. If your waist is shrinking, you’re losing fat regardless of what the scale says.

Now, if you have any real amount of fat to lose, you eventually need to see your weight go down. Unfortunately the joyride does come to an end and your body simply can’t continue building muscle as quickly as it can lose fat (and eventually you can only do one or the other).