Many of my female students only begin the weekend happy if they weigh less on Friday. Meanwhile, many of my male students trying to define their muscles think that the route is to “keep their mouth closed”. To reach these objectives, careful attention must be paid to the recommendations of the specialist in supplements and personal trainer Ricardo da Luz Santana: “losing weight is not related to losing fat or getting thin in a healthy manner”. This article presents some tips that are very useful for those who want to get thin without neglecting their health.

But isn’t losing fat the same as losing weight?
Definitively NOT.
Anyone can lose weight. It is very common: but people lose weight and gain it all back quickly. If you stop eating, take products (natural or not) that accelerate the metabolism, or if you go on instant and miracle diets, you will probably lose weight in a few days. Sure, you lost weight, but you did not get thin. You probably lost a lot of liquid and a good quantity of thin mass. Fat? You can bet you lost very little.

The body reacts in an aggressive situation when you suddenly stop eating. The organism defends itself by preserving its sources of fat and releasing amino acids to produce energy. It is a question of survival. The body, upon noting the lack of food, will seek energy by initially removing it from the muscles, which will give that famous sensation of initial lose of weight, but which in reality will leave the body flaccid with the passage of time. 

Today, even with the tremendous access to information that we have, there are still many people who jump into “strategies” (if you can call this a strategy) of accelerated weight loss, whether to look good for the summer, or to slip into that dress or those jeans, which is a “thermometer” that tells you if you are fat or thin. Normally people are upset with their weight and the scale just needs to go up a bit less for them to be happy, without observing the details of this process. Becoming thin and not only “light” by decreasing the body fat that accumulates in the “critical areas” of the body demands more intelligent nutritional strategies and oriented physical activity.

Therefore,
 
- If you maintain a minimum frequency of physical activity, under professional orientation, you do not need to exceed the limits for two or three months to be ready for summer or to achieve any goal;

- If you eat with good guidelines, in 3-hour intervals, and eat few carbohydrates at night, you will not need to go hungry or undergo suicide diets;

- If you take supplements with proper orientation, in keeping with your nutrition and your training goals, you will not need to appeal to instant “miracles”.

With these simple guidelines, you will be able to get thin and leave your body truly well defined, without concern for losing (or gaining) weight.