Myths About Losing Fat

Fat Targeting Exercise -Of all myths about losing fat, this is the one I hate the most because so many companies use this myth to convince uninformed people to spend millions of dollars on their useless machines. Just turn on the TV late at night and you are sure see a commercial about some product such as an "Ab Machine."

So how can you get rid of the unwanted fat on your stomach, hips, thighs, or chest? Through Cardio and a healthy diet!  The body decides how it will distribute the fat over your body, all you can do to get rid of love-handles or large thighs is to reduce your total body fat by doing more aerobic/cardio exercise and by eating less.  It is not possible to do spot-removal of fat. The myth that you can remove fat in focused areas by doing special exercises is not new. Its just not possible to focus fat removal on a particular area, surgery is the only way to do spot-removal of fat deposits. Doing a set of crunches doesn't burn the fat around the stomach. However, walking for 60 minutes burns the fat throughout the entire body, including the stomach. Also, following a proper nutrition plan helps reduce the fat around the stomach and throughout the entire body.

Starvation Diets Are The Best Way To Lose Fat-Following a starvation diet usually results in a long term gain in fat. In the beginning of the diet, some fat is lost, but as soon as the person goes back to their regular diet, most of the fat is gained back.

In some cases, more fat is gained than lost following a starvation diet, as a result of a slowdown of the metabolism. Also, during a starvation diet, plenty of muscle is lost and energy is greatly decreased, making it quite difficult to train.

All Calories Are Created Equal-When following a bulking diet or trying to count calories, most trainees consume any kind of food in high quantities, whether healthy or unhealthy, just so to pile up the calories and gain weight. They don't realize that most unhealthy foods contain empty calories and have minimal nutritional value. Also, the large quantities of unhealthy food add mostly fat weight instead of muscle, and can lead to many problems, such as heart disease.

Supplements Can Replace A Good Diet-Supplements can never replace a good diet. They are made to add to a good diet, not replace it. The body prefers whole foods and they are actually absorbed better than supplements. Combining a good diet with supplements is recommended and will provide the best results.

Eating Any Food At Night Is Bad-This is also another myth that annoys the hell out of me and that I hear from many people. It is important to eat at night before going to sleep, so the body has the needed nutrients throughout the long sleeping period. Usully when you sleep your body will burn about 50 calories per hour. Eating high fat foods is definitely bad and should be completely avoided. However, consuming protein-rich foods that contain a slight bit of fat and foods with complex carbs is highly recommended, as it helps the body recover and restore its energy reserves. 

As I can remember more myths and misconceptions I will periodically post more!