It’s important to be well-informed about fitness and nutrition when you’re trying to reach your health and fitness goals, but there are a lot of well-known and generally accepted myths out there that can end up providing you with the wrong information. I hope that by giving you the correct information about these myths you can better speed towards your goals.
MYTH #1: Crunches will give you a flat 6-pack stomach
You can do all the crunches in the world, but unless you clean up your diet, you’ll never flatten those abs and see that six pack you’re working so hard on. The saying, “abs are made in the kitchen” is absolutely true!
MYTH #2: If you’re a woman and lift heavy weights, you’ll get bulky and look like a bodybuilder
It takes a lot of work and an extremely particular plan to become a bodybuilder. You will not get bulky because your body doesn’t contain enough testosterone naturally to take on that kind of look. I can’t stress enough how important lifting heavy weight is. You’ll become a tighter, smaller, and more shapely fat-burning package.
MYTH #3: You can spot-reduce fat
You cannot choose where your fat comes off – just like you can’t choose where it appears when it builds up. Your genetics will mostly determine how your body reacts to fat, and unfortunately, the place you want it to come off first is often the place it comes off last.
MYTH #4: Skipping meals or cutting calories helps you lose more weight
If you’re planning on skipping meals or going below 1200 calories, your body will do the exact opposite you want it to. Your body is extremely smart and will notice, causing it to turn on starvation mode. It will slow your metabolism, hold on to fat, and actually eat away at muscle.
MYTH #5: Carbs make you fat
The right kind of carbs are essential for energy. It’s important not to scarf down simple carbs all day long (reach for complex carbs and earlier in the day when you need the energy), but carbs in and of themselves don’t make you fat.
MYTH #6: As long as you exercise, you can eat anything you want
Eating clean and exercise go together and they always will. They feed and fuel each other. One without the other always results in disappointment. As they say, “You cannot out-exercise a poor diet.”
MYTH #7: The more you exercise, the better your results will be
Overtraining can result in plateaus, stress, exhaustion, sickness, and injury. Your body needs rest. Rest allows your body to recover, making it stronger and better able to tackle your next workout. All the really good stuff happens while you’re resting….PROGRESS!
MYTH #8: A fat free diet is the best diet
Your body needs fat. There are 2 kinds of fat in the body: essential fat and visceral fat. In order to maintain the essential fat it’s important to consume some healthy fats daily. A few examples are oils, nuts, avocados, and fish.
MYTH #9: Supplements can replace a clean balanced diet
The word “supplements” says it all…they supplement. I think it’s important to eat whole foods whenever you can and make sure that’s the main source for your nutrition. There are some really great supplements out there, though, you can use and add to your nutrition plan, optimize your nutrition plan, and fill in any gaps in your diet. Just make sure you do your research, read your labels, or speak with a nutrition professional for help.
MYTH #10: A calorie is a calorie is a calorie
Not all calories are created equal. You could eat a handful of candy for 200 calories or a dish of nonfat Greek yogurt topped with fresh berries and sprinkled with walnuts for 200 calories. Which do you think is going to do more for your body and help aid in weight loss? The dish of yogurt, right?
Yours in Health,
Tanya
Tri Fitness Blog 