Today I want to start to dispel some of the many myths that are prevalent in the world of fitness. If you have any questions regarding myths then feel free to contact me directly and I will answer them as well. I will start with a few myths today and then revisit the subject with more myths at a later date.
Eating a low fat diet will help you lose fat or help you keep from getting fat. This is a myth that is very common and followed by many. The body actually needs fat in the diet. A minimum of 10% of our daily intake needs to be fat. If we don’t get enough fat which tends to happen in a low fat diet then our body does not function at an optimum level. Eating too little fat in our diet will not help us to reduce stored body fat. Activity and more precisely aerobic exercise is the thing we need to burn off stored body fat.
Carbs make me fat, or eating no carbs will help me lose weight or get skinny. Carbs are the primary energy source and need to be consumed in order for us to properly create energy. If you do not eat carbs then you are depriving your body of the ability to create energy and it will turn to a less efficient method. This method is the burning of protein. Protein will be used as a fuel source in times of emergencies (starvation). The protein is taken from muscle mass so essentially you are using muscle to be burned for energy. This will cause a drastic loss in total body weight. However all we did was decrease our muscle mass. This is never a good or healthy thing to do. Carbs also don’t make you fat. It is the eating of too many calories in the form of carbs that will make you fat. But the eating of too much protein or fat will also make you fat in that you will also store these excess calories as fat.
Fast food makes me fat. Fast food is fully of saturated fat and preservatives and yes it is not good for you. It is not the healthiest choice of food to eat to optimally fuel our bodies. But eating fast food in and of itself will not make us fat. Eating too many calories daily is what will make us fat. Fast food menus tend to have foods high in caloric value and it is the daily overeating of calories that lead to us storing these excess calories as body fat. If we burn off the calories we consume in the form of fast food then we will not store any calories as body fat. With all this said, avoid fast or fried foods as they simply are not a healthy option and lead to an over consumption of calories.
Not Eating or starving yourself will help you get the body you want because it is the only way to lose weight. Every day we have a minimum number of calories we need to consume to keep our body running. We call this our total daily need (TDN). Our TDN is the required amount of calories our body burns everyday to beat our heart, keep our muscle tone, digest our food, etc. If we eat too few calories then our body goes into what is known as “starvation mode”. We slow down the body in order to decrease the burning of calories and at the same time we turn to muscle as a fuel source since muscle is highly calorically expensive, it requires the most calories daily. We burn muscle and preserve body fat. This is the exact opposite of what we want. We want to burn fat and maintain muscle mass. Avoiding ‘starvation mode” is what we need to do in order to be healthy.
These are just a few of the many myths and falsehoods that are out there. In the coming weeks I will answer and discuss more myths and give you the straight answers into what is true and what is false.
Anyone in the San Diego area is welcome to drop in at our studio at 2949 Garnet Ave. 3rd floor, Pacific Beach, CA. We would love to put you through our workout. Please feel free to call or email Spencer Aiken,CSCS (951) 296-7993 email:spencer@truefitness.biz
Article written by Spencer Aiken, CSCS, CEO, TrueFitness
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