Fat vs. Fiction

Fat vs. Fiction
Photos by CM Photography

Most of the questions I hear as a trainer revolve around one thing, you guessed it, “How do I lose weight?”
Coincidentally, the people who ask me these questions are the same people who have tried numerous diets and exercise programs all promising fantastic results. My goal today is to clear up some of the myths about losing weight, especially when it comes to body fat.

Myth #1 Carbohydrates make people fat.

Truth #1 Consuming too much of anything whether it’s fat, protein, carbohydrates, or even alcohol will make you fat. Most snack foods have a very high concentration of simple carbohydrates or sugars, which provide little to no sustenance and often lead to overeating. Eating a combination of protein, carbohydrates (especially fiber), and fats will fill you up longer than carbohydrates alone.

Myth #2 Aerobics or “cardio” is the best way to lose weight.

Truth #2 Burning more calories than you consume is the best way to lose weight. While aerobic activity helps you burn calories, it doesn’t increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR) like weight resistance training does. Our RMR makes up the majority of the calories we burn in one day, unless you happen to be an ultra endurance athlete. Resistance training boosts our RMR by increasing our muscle mass. Weight training not only burns calories while doing it, but also has a residual effect of helping burn more calories 24/7.

Myth #3 You must train in the “Fat Burning Zone” to lose body fat.

Truth #3 We burn a combination of carbohydrates and fats all day long. The “Fat Burning Zone” is when the percentage of calories used from fat is higher than that of carbohydrates. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are burning more fat calories overall. As the intensity of an activity rises, our use of carbohydrates increases, while our use of fat remains the same. Only the percentage of calories burned from fat goes down. In addition, higher intensity exercise increases EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption) after the workout. This is commonly referred to as the “After Burn” of exercise, when metabolism is elevated following completion of a workout.

Myth #4 Working out on an empty stomach helps burn more body fat.

Truth #4 Although the percentage of calories burned from fat will be higher, working out on an empty stomach usually shortens the duration and limits the intensity of exercise you can perform that workout. The best policy is to eat a small snack or meal 1 to 2 hours before exercise. Eating a small amount of calories before exercise, especially early in the morning, will help ensure you don’t fatigue prematurely during your workout.

Myth #5 Weight training turns fat into muscle.

Truth #5 Fat is fat and muscle is muscle. Over time, when we weight train, we build muscle and it increases our metabolism. If we don’t increase the amount of calories we eat after building the muscle, we may burn off the fat for energy to support the muscle. Sometimes people believe their fat turns to muscle because they appear smaller even though they weigh the same. Muscle is very dense, so a pound of muscle appears smaller than a pound of fat.

Myth #6 You can exercise specific areas of your body to burn off the fat located there.

Truth #6 Working out a specific area of your body will increase muscle activity in that area, but won’t necessarily reduce body fat there. Body fat typically comes off in just the opposite order it comes on. Although you can’t target areas to burn off body fat, usually you can predict where you will lose it first, last, etc. If the last place you noticed a little more chub was your abs, then as you start to lose body fat that will most likely be the place you notice shrinking first. Likewise, the first place you put on body fat is often the last place you are able to burn off the unsightly nuisance.

Mark Brandenburg is a fitness professional with a B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science from Iowa State University.
He serves the greater Twin Cities area as a personal trainer and fitness consultant. For more information about the services Mark has to offer go to www.fitandfitted.com or call (651) 366-1988