17/08/2026
Plot twist: not everyone trying to lose body fat wants to be as small as possible. 👀
There’s a BIG difference between:
👉 “I want the number on the scales to come down as quickly as possible.”
and…
👉 “I want to lose body fat, but I also want to eat properly, train hard, get stronger and keep as much muscle as possible.”
Both are fat-loss goals. But the process — and what you prioritise — can look very different.
Here’s the sciencey bit without turning this into a biology lesson 😂👇
To lose body fat, you need to be in an energy deficit over time. That bit hasn’t changed.
But bigger deficit ≠ automatically better results.
If calories get very low, it can become harder to fuel your training, recover properly and get enough protein and nutrients. And the faster you lose weight, the more attention you need to pay to preserving lean mass, rather than just celebrating that the scale is dropping. 📉
If your goal is fat loss + keeping muscle, the boring basics are still bloody effective:
🏋️♀️ Strength train and give your muscles a reason to stick around
🥩 Eat enough protein
🍚 Keep enough food coming in to actually fuel decent training
🚶♀️ Move your body
😴 Recover
📉 Use a sensible calorie deficit you can maintain
And yes, this might mean your weight comes down more slowly.
But if you’re getting stronger, maintaining muscle, performing well AND gradually losing body fat… slower doesn’t mean worse.
Weight-loss medications can be a genuinely useful tool for some people and there’s no judgement here for using them. They can make maintaining a calorie deficit easier, particularly by reducing appetite and food intake.
But they’re a tool, not the definition of successful fat loss.
As a PT, I’m far more interested in asking:
What do you actually want your body to be able to DO while you’re losing fat?
Because if your answer is lift heavy, run, have energy, keep my muscle and still enjoy a meal out…
Your goal isn’t simply “weigh less.”
And I think there are a LOT more people in that camp than social media currently makes it seem 👀💪😂
