At least 75% of people who come to me for fitness advice claim that they want to lose weight. Some of them have specific amounts of weight that they want to lose. This is the case throughout a good part of the world where overweight and obesity statistics have climbed to alarming levels. People are seeking weight loss advice like crazy.

There is a significant difference between weight loss and fat loss. Weight loss is a reduction in weight from any substance in your body. This can mean fat loss, muscle loss, water loss, bone loss, or any other kind of loss.

Fat loss is just fat loss. If you have excess fat around your waistline, then you want to lose fat and not weight. If you have flab under your arms, then you want to lose fat and not weight. If you have chunky thighs, then you want to lose fat and not weight.

If you want to be healthier, then you want to lose fat and not weight. Toxins get stored in fat tissue. Losing weight from other sources is not going to improve your health.

A lot of fad diets, crash diets, and aerobic exercise programs lead to a decrease in muscle mass. This decrease will result in an initial decrease in weight, but you may or may not lose bodyfat. In fact, you will actually be setting yourself up for fat gain in the future.

You may have heard that muscle increases your metabolism. This is true. Muscle mass makes your body use up more energy to stay alive. This means more calories burned throughout the day. With that being the case, why in the world would you not want some muscle?

Whether you are a man or a woman, a little bit of muscle looks good. Ladies, do not worry. Unless you work out and eat like a female bodybuilder, you will not get huge and bulky. Resistance training is good for you. Muscle is good for you. Go get some!

Yes, you can build some muscle and this muscle can help you lose some fat. This means you can lose more fat than weight over a given period of time.

This may seem obvious, but, OK well it is obvious. However, it is an important point to mention. For most people looking to lose significant amounts of weight/fat, this is the best option.

Keep in mind, though, that you still want most (if not all) of your weight loss to come from fat. Combine resistance training, interval training, and solid nutrition and this will be no problem. It will require hard work (see my hub on the heart of fat loss), but you will end up with a better, healthier body.

You should now be able to see that the scale is not important. Your weight is generally not all that important. Don't get me wrong, there are some uses for weight. You can see a general trend in your health and body. Yet, the main focus for most people should be on fat loss.

A quick example, you can eat breakfast and drink a glass of water and step on the scale and see that you've put on a couple pounds. An hour or so later you can use the facilities and then step on the scale and see that you've lost a couple pounds.

Some people go crazy with the scale. They step on it two or three times a day. This is way too often. Everyday is too often. Every week is two often. Do not check the scale more often than every two weeks.

I admit that bodyfat measurements are not always accurate. There are a lot of factors involved. But you can use other measurements such as waist, hip, or thigh measurements.

I also like the idea of using pictures. Take a "before picture of yourself". Then, take a new picture every month or so to judge your progress. This can be fun and is great proof of your progress.