What’s More Important: Losing Weight or Toning Up?

There are many reasons people get into fitness. Some people want to lose weight, others want to get toned up and trim the fat. But is the best approach just to do one or the other? Can you tone up and lose fat all at once? Here’s the breakdown of the difference between losing fat and toning up and how you can achieve your fitness goals!

Define a Goal

Ask any Los Angeles personal trainer and they will tell you that when people say they want to lose weight, what they really mean is they want to lose body fat. Losing weight, in and of itself, is a really vague goal simply because there are many ways in which you can do it. You can lose weight by losing muscle or by losing stored energy in the form of glycogen. You can lose weight by losing water and if you’re super lucky, you can actually lose weight by losing fat.

When it comes to changing the composition of your body, there are only three choices: gain muscle, stay the same or lose fat. If your goal is to look leaner, then it needs to include at least one change to your body composition.

Getting Leaner

Let’s talk about the one thing on everyone’s mind: fat. It doesn’t matter if your goal is simply to tone up because the act of toning up will eventually lead to the loss of fat between your skin and the muscles beneath. Reducing this layer of fat means that you can see definition of the muscles you’re working so hard to tone.

If losing fat is your focus, should you still be interested in getting toned up? According to Los Angeles personal trainer Lalo Fuentes, CSCS, “Getting toned will lead to fat loss, so no matter how much body weight you need to drop, at least part of your focus needs to be on building muscle as you lose fat.”

So, whether or not you want to reduce fat, tone up, or lose weight, you’re really working toward the same goal!

How to Get It Done

Your best bet to really change your body is to work with a personal trainer. That’s because simply working out isn’t going to get you the results you likely want, you have to overhaul your nutrition plan too. That doesn’t mean just eating what your personal trainer asks you to, but also learning from them about the proper ways to nourish your body in order to meet your goals. When you learn what to do, then you will make lasting changes in combination with a specific, targeted exercise program.

Changing your body, whether it be toning up or slimming down, isn’t an easy thing. It takes work and dedication to reach your goals, but you can do it! A Los Angeles personal trainer such as Lalo Fuentes, CSCS, can help you fine-tune your goals and work toward them steadily and successfully so you can have the permanent and lasting results you want!