Thread: In what order does the body lose weight?

I hope this isn't a dumb question, but how does the body lose weight? Say you are in really good shape, but have some extra fat in the ab region and want to be able to see your abs. Now obviously you can't lose just that fat, but if you go on a calorie deficit and all other things remain equal, will the body start using fat stores for the extra energy it needs to offset the reduction of calories? Is there an order the body uses to lose weight, such as stored fat first, muscle second, anything else third?

I am just trying to get rid of my midsection area, like everyone else I presume, but don't want any of my upper body measurements to suffer from this. If they get smaller I want it to be from fat loss not from muscle loss. how do you know if you are only losing fat and not losing muscle as well during the process?

thanks for any responses...

Your measurements are going to suffer a little bit. You will lose some fat over the entire body. However, if you don't lose any, or very little, muscle mass, then the measurements are moot.

You're almost always going to lose some level of muscle in addition to fat when you cut. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this, however. If you are a sedentary person, they you are much more likely to lose muscle mass, as your body will see less of a reason to keep it around. If you do resistance training, then your body will strive to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Hormone levels also play a large role in this. If you're on all kinds of anabolics, then you are much less likely to lose muscle mass when you cut. If you have naturally high testosterone levels, then the same will hold true.

Just cut gradually, train hard, and eat right. That's all you can really do.