Inch Loss vs. Weight Loss: The Surprising Truth About How Your Body Loses Weight

You’ve been working out diligently. You’ve been eating right. You feel great. Yet when you look in the mirror, you’re not seeing the difference you expected. The culprit? The frustrating inch loss vs weight loss debate.

So, what gives?

Unfortunately, unlocking that healthy-looking body isn’t always as simple as it seems. Each of our bodies reacts differently to diet and exercise. Plus, depending on the exercise you’re doing, the muscle gain could be offsetting the fat loss.

Today, we want to help clear the air on the inch loss vs weight loss debate. To do so, we’re sharing these fundamentals of body composition, weight loss vs fat loss, and the effects of body contouring.

What You Need To Know About Body Composition And Weight

To begin a conversation about inch loss vs weight loss, we have to understand just how our bodies are composed in the first place.

Besides our skeletons (which we can’t make too many adjustments to!), there are three main contributors to our weight: muscle mass, water, and fat.

Muscle Mass

30-40% of our total body weight is made of skeletal muscle. These are the muscles that help us with critical functions like walking, chewing, and breathing.

Water

50-65% of our body is made up of water. That’s why staying hydrated is so crucial! Our bodies use water to regulate our temperature, support digestion, and maintain cell health.

The average person’s body can hold onto between one and five pounds of water. That amount depends on what we’ve eaten, had to drink, and even estrogen levels. While these are all-natural, they can lead to higher numbers on the scale that don’t have anything to do with our actual fitness level.

Fat Mass

For women, body fat ranges between 25-30% of total body weight. For men, that average is in the 18-24% range. While fat gets a bad rap, it is important. It keeps us warm, protects our organs, and supports our reproductive health.

The trouble is in knowing exactly what that percentage is. Most standard scales aren’t equipped to measure our body’s composition. Instead, you may need to get a specific scale or head to the doctor’s office to see if you’re in the right range.

Breaking Down Inch Loss vs. Weight Loss

If you’re happy with how you look in the mirror but not happy with the scale, it’s likely that you’re building muscle while you lose fat.

Since muscle is denser than fat, it will take up less space on your body even if you end up weighing the same amount.

For that reason, a scale may not be the best indicator of your health. Without knowing the percentage of muscle or fat, knowing where you stand is difficult.

If you are just losing inches, but not losing weight, the following factors could be at play:

• Muscle gain – Growing muscle underneath layers of fat will help cut down on inches but not necessarily weight.

• Hormones – When hormones are imbalanced before or during menstruation, our bodies can end up retaining water and salt. While it feels like there is some weight gain, it’s not connected to any extra caloric intake, so it will pass.

• Water retention – This affects both men and women, and can be tied to physical activity, salt and carbohydrate intake, and medications.

How Body Contouring Can Help

Even when we’re taking all the right steps, there are stubborn areas of our bodies that may be resistant to change. That can become clear when you’re losing weight and feeling great, but find there are still some areas you’d like to tighten up.

One popular, safe solution is body contouring. Also known as body sculpting, it helps to eliminate fat, tighten skin, and help shape certain areas of the body.

Not a weight loss procedure, body contouring addresses specific areas where typical weight loss practices aren’t effective. What’s more, it can also help improve areas where dramatic weight loss has occurred, including extra skin.

There are both surgical and nonsurgical options for body contouring. The nonsurgical ones include the use of heat, cooling, lasers, and other options to provide effective results and quicker recovery times.

Schedule Your Appointment At The Hourglass Body Spa

If you’d like to know more about melting away unwanted inches and reshaping your body, we encourage you to get in touch with our expert team at the Hourglass Body Spa.

With our non-invasive liposuction alternatives, we’ll help you to lose inches, tighten skin, and feel more like yourself again.

To get in touch and book your next appointment, you can contact us here.