6 Fat Burning Myths
Let’s bust some fat burning myths! If you are trying to figure out the fastest way to burn fat, you know myths are one of the biggest obstacles to your success. There’s a number of myths that surround fat loss, and have done so for decades. Debunking these and learning the truth is a key to optimizing your time and efforts to get lean. With that said, there’s no reason to wait, so let’s jump right in!
Myth # 1 – Low-Intensity Exercise Burns The Most Fat
It is true that the body will burn a high percentage of fat when you perform lower intensity exercise. However, using higher intensity exercise such as HIIT demands more energy and therefore will burn more calories and subsequently, more fat. Not only will you burn more calories during the exercise itself, you will continue burning calories for quite a while after you’re done. This is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC for short. It allows you to burn fat for hours after you’ve left the gym. Low-intensity training doesn’t do that. (1)
The takeaway here is that higher intensity cardio exercise is huge when you’re trying to burn fat. Combined with proper eating, the right supplements, and added muscle from resistance training, cardio can help you turn into a fat-burning machine.
Myth # 2 – Lift Weights Only After You Lose Unwanted Bodyfat
There are a few modern diets that push this theory, and you might hear this from a few misguided dieting “authorities”. Resistance exercise enhances the fat-burning process by increasing muscle mass. Skeletal muscle is the single largest organ system in humans, accounting for about 40% of our body weight. More muscle requires more calories to maintain it, which ultimately means you burn more fat.
The bottom line is if you want to be lean, you need to lift weights. Maintaining and especially adding muscle is the only way to permanently increase your metabolic rate.
Myth # 3 – Low Carb Means Low Calories
Grocery-store shelves are lined with low carb foods. Low carb doesn’t mean these foods are low calorie. Often, low carb might mean high fat and high sodium. Without even realizing it, you could be consuming more calories than are appropriate for fat loss. To make matters worse, most people read low carb on the label, then go ahead and eat large quantities of what they think is a healthy food choice and end up gaining fat.
Myth # 4 – Going On A Diet Burns Fat
One of the worst mistakes you can make to burn body fat is to go on a diet. Why? One reason is that to go on a diet means you have to come off one. That usually means you end up returning to unhealthy eating habits.
Not to mention, when you diet your metabolic rate slows. That means the ability of your body to burn fat is completely derailed. It also means you might end up storing more body fat as a direct result of dieting, which often equates to starving yourself.
Instead, make healthy nutritional changes you can live with and eat your way to a lean body. Meal frequency and quality food choices are vital to the person who wants to lose fat. Eating 5-6 small meals per day can help keep your metabolic rate high and will help you maintain muscle mass.
Each meal should follow clean, healthy nutrition: high lean protein, low to moderate mainly complex carbs, and low-fat. No sugary junk foods and, above all, moderation. The following foods should act as a blueprint of a sound nutritional plan: low-fat sources of protein (egg whites, chicken breasts, turkey, fish, Greek yogurt, lean red meat), complex carbohydrates (brown rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole-grain breads), fruit in moderation, and plenty of vegetables. You will find fat tends to take care of itself.
As a general rule, divide your plate this way: 50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fat. Don’t neglect healthy fat as it plays a major role in optimal natural hormone function.
Myth # 5 – Fat-Burning Supplements Are A Waste Of Time
The key to choosing supplements that work lies in a few areas. First, understand they are meant to “supplement” your nutrition and training. There are no magic pills or potions. Second, learn to look past the type and focus on the ingredients. A supplement is worth your time if it uses full disclosure labeling and effectively dosed ingredients that are clinically studied. In addition, patented ingredients are a plus.
I suggest a few things for anyone spending serious time in the gym. First, a protein powder. Since protein should make up a large portion of your diet, it helps to have the convenience of a protein powder. I recommend Hi-Tech Precision Protein.
From there, I suggest the best selling thermogenic illpumpyouup.com has to offer – Hi-Tech Lipodrene. It’s a stimulant based thermogenic fat burner that will raise your metabolic rate, helping you to burn more fat, and it is very effective. Hey, there’s a reason it’s our best selling product.
Finally, especially if you’re adding weight training to your cardio, I advise a pre-workout. Since you’re taking Lipodrene, I advise a lower caffeine Pre, such as NutraBio Base Pre-Workout. This is an entry in the budget-minded “Basic” category, which offers streamlined ingredient profiles at a value price. At 200 mg caffeine per scoop, you have the flexibility to adjust your serving size based on how much caffeine you want. If you want more, use 2 scoops. Want less? Use a half scoop.
Myth # 6 – Spot Reduction
The idea of spot reduction has been around seemingly forever. It can be defined as “localized exercise thought to reduce fat stores in stubborn areas of the body”, such as the midsection, hips, or thighs. The theory is that if you exercise a specific muscle group, more fat will be burned from that area. As appealing as that sounds, increased exercise on one area of the body doesn’t mean you’ll burn more fat in that area.
How The Body Burns Fat
The way the body stores and mobilizes fat depends on genetics. Plus, it is more complex than the TV infomercials and hyped-up diet or supplement ads might want you to believe. Research suggests that exercise stimulates the mobilization of fatty acids via the body’s natural hormones delivered through the blood. These hormones then act on fat deposits throughout your entire body. There is no evidence that suggests that fatty acids are released to a greater degree from fat located directly over exercising muscles. (2)
Still skeptical? Let’s look at a study that clearly shows spot reduction does not work. In a landmark study in the field of exercise physiology in 1971, scientists examined subcutaneous fat stores in the right and left forearms of tennis players. They found that the girth of the test subject’s dominant arm was much larger than the non-dominant arm. However, the level of fat in both arms was the same. The stresses of tennis play caused the forearm muscles to grow, but despite serious work in that area, fat stores remained the same. (3)
Summary
At this point it should be clear that these myths are now history! Forget the fads and the hype. If fat loss is your goal you will have the most success following a program of solid nutrition as outlined, frequent cardio exercise as well as weight lifting, and the right supplements. Armed with this knowledge, get out there and lose that fat!
References:
- https://blog.nasm.org/certified-personal-trainer/myths-of-weight-management-you-have-to-exercise-at-a-low-intensity-to-burn-fat#:
- Mika, A., Macaluso, F., Barone, R., Di Felice, V., & Sledzinski, T. (2019). Effect of Exercise on Fatty Acid Metabolism and Adipokine Secretion in Adipose Tissue. Frontiers in physiology, 10, 26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00026
- https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-74-3-408#:~:text=subcutaneous%20fat%20at%20specific%20sites%20over%20the,and%20opposite%20forearms%20of%20female%20tennis%20players.