This is an important topic! Too many times women ask me, why does my weight not change? It all comes down to BODY COMPOSITION. This means what are you composed of- how much fat : muscle : bone : water etc If you are on a journey to become healthier, then shedding toxic body fat may be one of your goals. Body fat is not just fat where you hate it – it is a chemical balance. The body stores fat as energy and the body can burn fat as energy too – IF you teach it how.
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Your body usually prefers to break down glucose. It is easier.
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It will only break down fatty acids in the absence of glucose.
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Glucose gives you 4 calories per gram. Fats give you 9 calories per gram.
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If you have 11 kilograms of body fat, it basically means that you have 100,000 calories stored in your body, available to be burned.
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You probably burn between 1800 and 2500 calories per day.
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So basically you have stored energy for 50 days without eating anything.
But don’t go starving yourself just yet! Balancing hormones is key in unlocking fat from fat cells to be burned as fuel. Billions of fat cells exist in all body types, no matter their shape, sandwiched between the skin and muscle tissue. It’s not the amount of fat cells that dictate a person’s weight, though; it’s the size of them, which can fluctuate depending on how much fat they are storing. Read this to find out How Does Body Burn Fat
Weight training and strength training WILL alter your body composition – this is a good thing! You need to change the composition of your body to less fat and more muscle. If you want to tone your body along with reducing toxic fat – this includes weight training that helps you gain lean muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat in less volume. So during weight training, you will lose fat and gain muscle. This is essentially what keeps the number on your weight scale from shifting first few weeks or months of your transformation journey.
This should not demotivate you! Why is muscle more important than fat ? Because —
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muscle burns more calories
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muscle needs more calories to sustain itself
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muscle means means you will age injury free
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muscle keeps you toned and lean
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more muscle means increased metabolism
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more muscle in lower body has been linked to improved brain performance and longer life
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etc !
Good news is, women are high in estrogen and low in testosterone. This means weight training will NOT make you look bulky like men. So get to those weights fast.
How long does it take to see changes in the number scale?
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it depends on your specific body type and metabolism and health history
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it doesn’t really matter because you need to focus on changing body composition rather than lowering the number on the scale.
So how do you know if your program is working for you?
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Check your dress size
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Monitor your energy levels
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monitor your sleeping patterns
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monitor your cravings
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note general increase in quality of life
Your metabolism will take time to shift – about 3 – 6 weeks. You can not see changes unless you are following a precise workout routine. Just eating will help you balance hormones and improve gut health (very important during shedding toxic body fat); but exercise is what will truly speedy up the process of burning the fat out of your body.
So don’t be upset if you are not seeing results in 4 to 8 weeks of starting a new program. Every body is different and will require specific tweaking to find the metabolism sweet spot.
Ignore the dumb scale. It only shows you how much you weight in relation to gravity of the Earth. To truly understand your body composition you need a smart scale and a very smart coach to show you the correct path 😉
Marina Farook 
I didn’t quite understand the science behind choosing a proper weight loss routine. This article breaks it down so well. Thank you, Marina!
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Very welcome Shaheena !
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