Top 5 Fat Burning Myths
1. Spot Reducing. When your body fat percentage is high, you usually have a few areas you’d rather do without. Sometimes your body will store fat in the arms or midsection and your first thought is to target those areas with specific exercises. Sit ups for the midsection, tricep extensions for the arms and squats for the legs. Unfortunately this wrong way to get rid of body fat. Body fat is energy that your body has stored when you ate too much. The only way to get rid of it is by eating less and forcing your body to burn it off. Sit ups will not burn fat in your midsection, tricep extensions will not burn fat in your arms and squats won’t burn fat in your thighs. To improve a certain area, you need to lose weight all over. Spot reducing isn’t possible.
2. Treadmill’s Fat Burning Zone. Most cardio equipment (treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, stair masters) has a special fat burning program that promises to tone you up. The way these programs work is by keeping your heart rate at a lower target zone. When you’re working less, your body tends to get more of its energy from fat which sounds good. Unfortunately, it also burns less calories when you aren’t working as hard. Avoid these programs and work as hard as you possibly can. Losing body fat is about burning the most calories. Concentrate on burning the most calories rather than the most fat. Fat burning zones won’t give you the best results.
3. Weightlifting is a Waste of Time. When most people think of getting a more toned appearance, they automatically start running, biking and swimming. Those exercises are great ways to burn calories but weightlifting isn’t a complete waste of time. Since weightlifting will help you build muscle, it will also help you speed up your metabolism. Muscle tissue burns calories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The more you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be which means you’ll burn more calories even when you’re not exercising.
4. Eating Fat Makes You Fat. Though the fat in food and fat stored in your body go by the same name, eating one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other. The only thing that causes excess fat storage is eating too many calories. It makes no difference if those excess calories come from protein, carbs or fat. If you eat more than you burn, you will get fat. Simply avoiding fat won’t get rid of the fat stored in your body. To get rid of fat, you need to cut your overall calorie intake.
5. Certain Foods. There is no such thing as a fat burning miracle food. All food pretty much works the same way in the body as it relates to energy balance. There is no food you can eat that will speed up your metabolism or cause your fat tissue to melt away. If you eat low calorie foods to reduce your overall intake, you will lose weight and fat.
