There is so much fat loss advice in the fitness world that it can be hard to know what information to trust and follow. There are a lot of so called fitness experts that give wrong guidance which not only gives you false hope, but also wastes your time and mental effort.
Below I have created a list of the 5 most common fat burning myths. Avoid including these in your exercise program and nutrition plan.
Myth # 1: Adding one pound of muscle will burn 50 extra calories each day
This myth seems reasonable and is probably why a lot of people believe it. Add one pound of muscle and you will boost your metabolism by 50 calories. But if you look at the bigger picture, this advice starts to fall apart.
Take a guy that puts on 25 pounds of muscle. Does his metabolism really increase by 1,250 calories? No. For an average guy, it would require his resting metabolic rate to increase from 2,500 to 3,750 calories per day. He wouldn’t be able to keep any of his muscle with a metabolism like that. He would have to eat a truck load of food per day.
Carry on with your weight training program, but don’t use this myth to cheat on your diet.
Myth # 2: You have to do cardio in the mornings to burn fat
I prefer to train in the morning for many reasons. The gym is less busy and it gets my training session out of the way. However when burning fat, it doesn’t matter what time of the day you train. You burn fat constantly for 24 hours.
As long as you exercise intensely, consistently and focus on high intensity workouts then you will increase your metabolism for many hours, even days after exercise. This is best done with high intensity interval training.
Myth # 3: You have to perform cardio for 20 minutes before you start burning fat
So if you’ve only been performing cardio for 19 minutes and 59 seconds then this myth suggests that you haven’t burnt any fat. What a load of rubbish!
You need to be more concerned about your 24 hour metabolism rather than how much fat or calories you have burned in your workout. Concentrate on intense weight training and high intensity interval training to boost your metabolism. I can’t stress this enough.
Myth # 4: You need to perform cardio in your fat burning zone
Although you might burn a larger total amount of calories as fat when you exercise in your fat burning zone, you actually burn a lower amount of calories overall because you are exercising at a lower intensity.
When you increase your workout intensity you end up burning more calories and therefore more fat. When training in the fat burning zone you don’t traumatise your muscles as you are working at a low intensity and therefore burn less calories post-workout. However high-intensity interval training increases your resting metabolic rate and you burn far more calories after training.
Myth # 5: Drinking ice cold water will help burn more calories and fat
The myth that if you drink 8 glasses of ice cold water you will lose an extra 70 calories per day is a load of rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day should be part of your diet. However the temperature of the water won’t have any effect on your weight loss.
Myth # 6: Eating negative calorie foods will help you lose weight
According to experts, eating negative calorie food requires more energy to digest than it does to eat. Bananas are a negative calorie food for example. So this theory suggests that if I only eat bananas then I will starve myself to death. There is no such thing as negative calorie food.
Myth # 7: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
Instead of getting caught up in all the commotion of fat loss, just use your common sense. Reaching your fitness goals is going to take a lot of time and effort. Work hard and be consistent with your exercise and diet program, and you will achieve the results that you desire.
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