Unfortunately these days, a few weight loss and exercise myths abound on the internet and in the media. The intention of this article is to give you the information you need, so that you can spot the myths a mile off and avoid falling for the false claims perpetuated by the latest weight loss or exercise gurus!
1. “Spot Reduction” Myth
The first weight loss and exercise myth we are going to tackle is: that it’s possible to lose fat stores from specific areas of the body by exercising a particular set of muscles – normally close to the area of the body you wish to lose fat. If this was the case it would be really simple to lose excess belly fat! As we all know this isn’t the case!
Any fat loss will always happen over the entire body and cannot be localised!
Of course genetics and hormones will have an impact. Men tend to build fat in the abdominal upper body region; women in their hips, butt, thighs and lower abdominal regions.
2. “You do (don’t) need to Exercise for Weight Loss” Myth
Yes that’s confusing! This exercise and weight loss myth is two fold. : You need to exercise to lose weight; you don’t need to exercise to lose weight.
Both of these statements are partially true.
In other words, it is true that you can lose weight just by dieting. However, losing weight without any exercise isn’t optimal either because you lose muscle mass. Therefore, losing weight using only exercise or only diet is not optimal.
In order to lose weight you need to have a calorific deficit. In other words, you must burn more calories than you are taking in.
Additionally, as weight is made up of both fat and muscles, it’s important that you only lose fat not muscle!
That’s the problem with a diet-only approach! Over time you will lose weight but this will be a combination of fat and muscle. As muscle is efficient at burning calories this strategy is, in the long term, self defeating and even harmful!
To see the best possible results you want to follow a good diet and workout regime ( particularly involving strength training in order to build up muscle mass and your ability to burn calories even when resting).
3. “Do More and More Cardio for Weight Loss” Myth
Exercise and Weight Loss Myth number 3 is that to lose weight you should do more and more cardio. Now, cardio can be a good tool to lose weight but doing more and more of it won’t result in more fat loss.
In fact, doing too much cardio can wear you out quickly and lead to higher stress and cortisol levels.
Indeed, if you are doing strength training, too much cardio can also damage your muscle building efforts as muscles need oxygen.
Additionally, what can often happen, is that when your’e doing lots of cardio, you justify to yourself eating more. This means that all the calories you burnt off with the cardio, you have now replaced, and more, with the extra calorie intake from the food. Result? Weight gain!
4. “No Pain – No Gain” Myth
Another myth that is perpetuated is: “No pain – No gain”. In other words, the harder and longer your workouts are, the more effective they are. Now, of course, exercise requires effort, and to reach your optimal heart rate for weight loss you will need to reach your intensity limits.
However, excessive exercise is a recipe for disaster and may lead to injury. Therefore, exercise must be sustainable in order to be successful.
Rest and recovery are an important component of any exercise program.
5. “Exercise will turn Fat into Muscle” Myth
Fat is nature’s way of storing excess energy for use when needed later. You cannot transform fat into muscle because they are two different kinds of tissue. Muscle is active tissue and burns calories around the clock – even when you are sleeping – like a car engine idling in neutral. When you move, though, you consume more calories; just like a car consumes more fuel when moving.
Another similar myth, is that muscles will turn into fat when you stop working out! Both muscle and fat can only be lost or gained separately. You can however replace fat with muscle tissue creating the illusion of turning fat into muscle!
6. “If Women Lift Weights they’ll become Bulky” Myth
Many women believe that they will build muscles like crazy by doing strength training and end up looking like body builders!
The reason why this is not the case, is that the average women has a lot less lower testosterone levels than a man therefore their ability to build muscle will always be lower. Building muscle takes time.
By the way, the female body builders you see on TV are usually taking growth enhancing hormones which their bodies do not produce naturally.
What DOES Work for Weight Loss?!
What is the solution?
It’s good to know which exercise and weight loss myths to avoid because we don’t want to waste time and money. However, we still need to know what to do to lose weight.
Basically, what ladies need to lose weight is a combination of three things:
- A healthy diet and a plan to restrict calories.
- A regular exercise program that combines strength training and cardio.
- Motivation and support for the above two!
At Ladies First Fitness we offer you all of this in an environment especially designed for women that is both motivational and supportive with our unique 30 minute workout.
To find out more, click the button to book a FREE fitness consultation or call us on 023 92 520025
