Fat Myths!

 

In this article I would like address some common fat and exercising myths people carry with them when they start a fitness program. It is crucial that we get educated and based our fitness regime on scientific data and not on false theories that may hurt achieving our fitness goals.

 

        I.           This is a question I am often being asked: “Which is the best abdominal exercise to burn fat?” -There is no such a thing as an onsite fat burning or commonly known as “spot reduction”. When we workout we exercise our muscles, our body fat is situated on top and is made of a completely different layer.  When necessary our body uses this layer of fat as a source of energy to supplement its energy requirements.  It doesn’t correlate to a specific exercise but to a general process that occurs within the body.  Furthermore, we don’t really know from which areas the fat will be depleted.  It is mostly contributed to genetic and biologic factors.

The only way to shed this layer of fat is to create a repetitive daily calorie deficit where the body is burning more calories than is consuming. Other than changing our nutrition habits exercising and building muscles help a lot by increasing our daily energy expenditure (Basal Metabolic Rate). In fact it is estimated that for each pound of muscle we add to our body we burn an additional 50 calories per day.  So, assuming that our current weight is at equilibrium, by adding 10 pounds of muscles we will approximately burn one pound of fat per week, pretty awesome when you think about it and that’s without restricting our daily calorie intake.

 

      II.          This one I get at least once a day by women “I want to tone up but don’t want to get bulky” - it is near to impossible for women to get bulky (muscles wise). Women carry only fraction of the testosterone levels that men do so as long as you keep a sound nutrition and have no hormonal imbalance you will not get bulky. On the contrary it is best for women to use weights and even heavy weights.  The more muscles you pack the faster your metabolism will get, you will lose fat rapidly and get that toned body you have always wished for.

 

    III.          “When you stop exercising your muscles will turn into fat” – this cannot be any further from the truth. A muscle consists of almost 75% water it does not turn into fat. When we stop exercising our muscles atrophy little by little. The reason why many of us get flabby is because we don’t adjust our daily calorie intake. When we exercise our energy needs are significantly higher and thus we need to consume more calories per day. When we stop exercising, our lean body mass slowly declines and we no longer need the same amount of calories per day. The secret is to reduce our daily calorie intake so it will be at par with the new, reduced, energy demands. The end result will be a thinner, less toned body composition but not a fat one.             

 

                         

For a free fitness evaluation including a complete body composition analysis please email to Joe_w@fit1on1.com or call 917.533.2661