Losing Body Fat vs. Losing Weight: Which is More Beneficial to Your Health?

This is a subject I can say I have an opinion on, which sums up the reason I started this blog: to get across the things I've encountered so far in an area it's hard to deny is littered with bullshit and clever marketing by even cleverer marketing departments.
The reason I began changing my health was to better my life and shed the hideous amount of body fat I had. But, at the time, I saw the problem as being my 'weight'; my assumption was that if I drastically lost the weight, the body fat would drop also.

This is essentially a half-truth; whatever the means, losing weight will inevitably reduce body fat, but this is very much a contextual solution. I've never been slim, and I've certainly never been slight, but weighing in at 17 stone at 15 was a worry. At that size it's hard to define your build, so all you want to do is get rid of the fat slob in the mirror.

It pays to know that body fat essentially doesn’t way that much; doctors tend to advise men to have around 18% or less body fat, and women around 23% or less, though these parameters are not finite. There is a significant grey area, so to have say 5 or 7% more is not really a problem.
Throughout the ever changing history of fitness culture, it has generally been women and girls who have been aware of their weight, and as much of a cliché it may sound, the addition of weight to a slighter frame is enough to play on anyone's mind.
With guys it tends to be the other way round: men tend to have larger frames, are broader and thus carry more weight. We seem to see the reduction of body fat as more essential than weight loss.

My loss of weight was a dramatic one - I went from 17 stone to 12 in a very short amount of time - around three months - and this was from not eating much and walking a lot to school and around where I lived at the time. After that I ended up putting some of the weight back on, but soon got into using a gym and after three years, here I am.

The loss of body weight is a tentative issue - I would never pass on advice that directly prescribes immediate and dangerous weight loss, as I feel that anyone, guy or girl, can exercise enough to strip away body fat. If you base you're exercises solely on weight loss you run the risk of losing sight of a safe route, and no ones health is worth that risk. Someone may have a large build, have thicker set bones or simply be taller; all of these affect your weight.

So which one is more beneficial? In my opinion, focusing on stripping away body fat will help improve your health, your appearance, your self confidence and to some extent your body weight too.
The only advice I would ever use here is the same you would read anywhere else: to reduce body fat exercise to a greater extent that how much you eat, you’re body will burn the fat down to fuel the physical activity.

Keep the peace,

D R-Lincoln