Your muscles first burn through stored glycogen for energy. “After about 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise, your body starts burning mainly fat,” says Dr. Burguera.
"In general, muscle is not lost before fat—it is very dependent on nutrition and activity volume," Miranda-Comas says. "A person who is attempting to lose weight by not eating may lose weight in muscle first before fat."
When you're fasting, your body loses weight from muscle and fat. During the first few hours of a fast, your body gets its fuel from glycogen stores in your liver and muscles; the glycogen is broken down into glucose.
Your muscles first burn through stored glycogen for energy. “After about 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise, your body starts burning mainly fat,” says Dr. Burguera. (If you're exercising moderately, this takes about an hour.)
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
The two main stages of weight loss are rapid weight loss and slow weight loss. In the first stage, you'll drop weight at a rapid rate. Most of the weight loss in this stage is from protein, carbs, and water. In the second stage, you'll lose weight more slowly, but most of the pounds you shed will come from fat.
You may be losing weight and gaining muscle
If you're losing inches but maintaining your weight and you regularly strength train, you may actually be losing fat and gaining muscle. The process of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is called body recomposition.
Muscle is denser than fat, and as it is more compact within your body, as you gain muscle mass, you end up looking thinner, no matter your physical weight. So, if you've been doing a lot of strength training lately, it's likely this is the reason that you're looking fantastic but not dropping those numbers.
You've gained muscle.
And here's an often overlooked fact: Muscle tissue is more dense than fat tissue. So as you gain more muscle and lose fat, you change your overall body composition, which can result in a higher weight, but a smaller figure and better health.
As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
Research shows that 84% of fat loss is exhaled as carbon dioxide. The remaining 16% of fat is excreted as water. During the conversion of energy, carbon dioxide, and water are byproducts of waste. They are excreted via urine, perspiration, and exhalation.
Set a realistic timeframe
At one to two pounds per week, losing 25 pounds will take you a little more than 12 weeks, or three months. To lose weight in a healthy manner, you should cut 500 to 1,000 calories a day by eating less and exercising more.
The first stage of weight loss is when you tend to lose the most weight and begin to notice changes in your appearance and how your clothes fit. It usually happens within the first 4–6 weeks ( 1 ).
Excess visceral fat can pose serious health risks, but when you embark on a healthy diet and exercise plan, this fat is often the first to disappear. This means you're likely to notice weight loss in your abdominal area first. Too much visceral fat can make your belly protrude.
Coming to the point, you will first lose “hard fat” (visceral fat) that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and later, you will burn soft fat (belly fat, thigh fat, back fat, etc.). Women accumulate fat cells around their belly area, hips, thighs and these areas are usually the last from.
Why do so many of us get so fat? the answer appears obvious. “The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight,” the World Health Organization says, “is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.” Put simply, we either eat too much or are too sedentary, or both.
Any fat that's not used by your body's cells or turned into energy is converted into body fat. Likewise, unused carbohydrates and proteins are also converted into body fat. All types of fat are high in energy.
The most stubborn fat of all is subcutaneous fat, and for females it is much more difficult to lose this type of fat compared to men because it holds 9 to 10 times more alpha receptors than male body fat.
While weightlifting can support weight loss, paying attention to your nutrition is another important factor. Weightlifting burns calories, but you'll need to pair it with a suitable diet to achieve noticeable weight loss ( 5 ). You can reach a calorie deficit by exercising regularly and eating slightly fewer calories.
Eating too few calories can be the start of a vicious cycle that causes diet distress. When you cut your calories so low that your metabolism slows and you stop losing weight, you probably will become frustrated that your efforts are not paying off. This can lead you to overeat and ultimately gain weight.
One of the main reasons why burning calories through exercise may still not result in weight loss is due to overexertion, or inflammation of your body. If you exercise too hard on a daily basis, there is an excess of inflammation in your body. All the added up inflammation makes you gain more weight than lose.