How can body fat percentage be reduced without fat loss?

Reducing body fat percentage without necessarily losing fat can effectively be achieved by increasing lean mass. Lean mass includes muscles, bones, and other non-fat tissues. When an individual increases their muscle mass through resistance training or strength training, the total body weight may rise due to the added muscle. However, because muscle is denser than fat, there can be a shift in body composition that leads to a decrease in body fat percentage.

For example, if a person weighs 150 pounds with 30 pounds of fat and 120 pounds of lean mass, their body fat percentage is 20%. If they gain 5 pounds of muscle and maintain the same amount of fat, their weight will be 155 pounds, but their fat percentage will decline to approximately 19.35% (30 pounds of fat divided by 155 total pounds). This illustrates how increasing lean mass can lower body fat percentage even if no fat is lost.

Other options mention strategies like decreasing water weight and fasting, which may lead to temporary fluctuations in weight, but they do not fundamentally change body composition in a sustainable way. Decreasing water weight, for example, may result in a lower total weight but does not indicate a real reduction in fat or lean mass. Similarly, fasting may result