Weight loss is a physiological phenomenon of reducing body weight. Losing weight is a common human need that occurs in order to improve health or improve physical appearance. But the weakening of the human body can also occur as a side effect of various diseases. However, nowadays almost every person faces the need to lose weight during their lifetime. This is precisely why weight loss is the target of many businesses, which use this need to profit in various ways. They profit directly or indirectly by offering certain solutions. But not all of these offered solutions are true, but a large part of them are false! The false offered solutions are formed as a result of your lack of education about the functionality of the human body and the desire for quick/painless weight loss .

How can we change, that is, reduce body weight? Fat mass (fat), muscle mass and water retention in the blood are the three main variable factors with which we can change body weight (body mass). Therefore, weight loss can be achieved through:

• Reduction of fat mass
• Decrease in muscle mass
• Reduction of water retention in the blood

When it comes to "reducing body weight", we usually mean reducing fat mass, because there are rare cases when we need to reduce muscle mass and reduce water retention in the blood. Fat mass is a part of the body mass that almost always occurs as an excess in the human body. This is so because it occurs as a result of unused excess energy. That's why when we talk about reducing body weight, we mean reducing excess fat mass - " fat ".

How is excess fat mass formed and why do we want to get rid of it? The fat mass consists of white fat cells (white fat cells), i.e. white adipocytes (white adipocytes). These fat cells are mostly found under the skin where they form the subcutaneous fat , but also in minimal amounts they are found inside the stomach around the organs forming the so-called. visceral fat . White adipocytes have the function of accumulating triglycerides (fats), which are used as the only source of energy in crisis situations of sugar deficiency . In fact, adipocytes are a type of reservoir in which fat is stored as a reserve fuel for energy. During the accumulation of fat in white adipocytes, their volume and mass increases. As a result of this, there is an increased fat mass - "fat", and therefore an increased body mass - " fatness ".

Since the majority of white fat cells are located under the skin, the formed subcutaneous fat contributes to deforming the normal body appearance. The more we increase the amount of subcutaneous fat, the more we cover our normal body definition. And that's why, it's no coincidence that this is the biggest reason for the release of these extra pounds, it's common among the population. Also, excess fat weight does not make us sluggish, slow and easily tired, because it additionally burdens our skeletal muscles and organs.

How is weight loss measured, that is, how is progress measured when trying to reduce body weight? Almost everyone trying to lose fat measures their body weight by tracking their progress. But this way of monitoring the progress is not recommended because on the scale we cannot separate the fat mass, but we measure the total mass of the body. In addition to fat mass, the change in body weight can also be influenced by muscle mass and water retention in the blood. For example, if we measure on the scale that we have lost 5 kg, these 5 kg lost can include muscle mass and water mass. Maybe of those 5 kg we have lost 3 kg of fat mass and 2 kg of muscle mass, or we have lost 4 kg of muscle mass and 1 kg of water mass. Or worse, it can happen that we have reduced 5 kg of body mass, but in fact we have reduced 6 kg of muscle mass and increased 1 kg of fat mass (fat). All kinds of changes to the above-mentioned three factors are possible, and therefore it is not recommended that the measurement of body weight (mass) be a measure of whether and how much we have reduced from adipose tissue - fat. Body weight can be a measure to reduce fat mass only if we are sure that we do not make any change in muscle mass and water retention in the blood. This is achieved with a properly balanced intake of nutrients, adapted for a specific person. If you don't know how to properly balance your nutrient intake, you need a consultation with an expert, or a recommended way to measure your progress is to monitor the definition/purity of your muscles by occasionally photographing the upper part of your body.

Measuring body weight can only be a measure of progress if our goal is to lose body mass, whether it's muscle, fat or water. But this approach is unhealthy and not recommended to anyone. Healthy weight loss is the one in which we lose excess weight, and this is usually a reduction of fat tissue. It can happen that excess weight is muscle and water, but these are rare cases related to various diseases and extreme sports in which we will be familiar with it.

Also, as a measure of healthy weight loss, it should not be the measurement of the waist circumference, because even if we notice in this way that we have certainly reduced fat, it may happen that during the attempt to reduce fat tissue, we have also lost muscle mass. .

How to reduce adipose tissue (fat melting) without losing a healthy weight? As we mentioned above, fat mass consists of fat cells (adipocytes) that are filled with fat (triglycerides). Therefore, in order to reduce fat (fat mass), it is necessary for these fat cells to weaken, and at the same time to "empty" of triglycerides. The emptying of adipocytes from fat is realized only if there is a deficiency (lack) of sugar in the body. In order to cause this situation of sugar deficiency, it is necessary to take in a smaller amount of sugars (monosaccharides) in relation to the amount that our organism spends to obtain energy (in a unit of time) . This enables the body to use the reserve energy, which is the energy obtained from reserve fats, ie. fat located in white adipocytes. In a sugar crisis, the triglycerides found in the white fat cells from the fat are catabolized (decomposed) into the component fatty acids and glycerol through a special biochemical process. Furthermore, these catabolites of triglycerides are released (poured out) from the white fat cells into the bloodstream, so that they are further delivered to the liver. In the liver, fatty acids and glycerol are used as a basis for the creation of sugar (glucose/monosaccharide), through a process called gluconeogenesis , and they are further used to obtain energy (through the creation of a high-energy compound adenosine triphosphate). By emptying the white fat cells of triglycerides, the fat mass (fat) decreases accordingly. This process is popularly known as " fat melting ", " fat burning ", " fat loss " or " fat cleansing ". In order to achieve healthy weight loss, i.e. melting fat without losing a healthy weight, in addition to the deficiency of sugar in the body, a sufficient intake of proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and water is needed, in order to maintain the normal function of the body. cells or in other words to maintain a healthy body mass. If this satisfactory intake of nutrients is not achieved, the body's cells and tissues will preferentially begin to die, that is, to break down (catabolize). For example, if we do not consume enough protein, the first targets for breakdown are the skeletal muscles, whose catabolites will be used to feed the rest of the body's cells. With this breakdown of body cells, we automatically get a reduction in healthy body mass.

When trying to lose weight, we should never allow a loss of healthy body weight to happen, because accordingly we disrupt the normal work of the body as a functional unit, which contributes to the possible further occurrence of various diseases.