The truth about FITNESS MYTHS in 3 minutes

Have you tried skipping dinner once in your life? Or eliminate sweets from your diet? Get ready to learn the truth as we debunk these fitness myths!

Fitness Myth #1: Don’t eat after 6:00 p.m

If you eat a slice of pizza at 17:59, it has 400 kcal, but at 18:01 it has 2500 kcal?!?

Of course not, your body doesn’t know what time it is, so stop starving yourself and skipping dinner, it doesn’t matter if you have a late dinner as long as that meal fits into your daily needs.

Fitness Myth #2: You’ll get huge if you lift weights

Most women think that lifting weights will make them have a masculine physique, but this is impossible because they lack testosterone (a hormone that affects muscle growth). Don’t be fooled by images of female bodybuilding competitors, as those with masculine physiques generally use steroids to improve their shape and increase muscle mass.

Fitness Myth #3: Ab exercises melt away belly fat

Activating the muscles below a specific fat region does not affect that fat layer at all. This is one of the most common fitness myths and a requirement of every client who hires a personal trainer. The body doesn’t burn fat where you want it to, but gradually all around, and the most critical part is usually the last to go because it has the most fat compared to other parts.

Fitness Myth #4: Whole-grain products do not make you fat

To make this clear, whole grains are good because they have more fiber, vitamins, and minerals, making them healthier and slower to raise blood sugar (essential for diabetics).

However, they also have an energy value, usually the same as refined foods (white bread vs. whole grain bread), so you can’t eat more of them than you need, otherwise the excess energy (kcal) will be stored as fat.

Fitness Myth #5: You can eat as much fruit as you want

Fruit is healthy and full of vitamins and fiber, but it has a certain energy value (mainly carbohydrates), and it is possible to exceed the limit with intake, which leads to an increase in body weight due to excess energy.

We’re halfway through the most common fitness myths. The truth about the following is astonishing.

Fitness Myth #6: Bacon is bad

Bacon is notorious mainly for its saturated fat content, which is responsible for an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, it contains an equal amount of monounsaturated fats (the healthier kind), which makes it balanced. Since there are 3 desirable types of fat (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated), we recommend getting each for 1/3 of your daily fat needs.

Fitness Myth #7: You shouldn’t eat more than 3 eggs a week

This myth appeared after the discovery of cholesterol in eggs.

However, at that time, the different types of cholesterol (good HDL and bad LDL) were not known. Eggs raise good cholesterol and do not affect LDL. So feel free to eat eggs every day.

Fitness Myth #8: Cardio is enough to get you in shape

When you see fitness models shaped like Greek gods, rest assured that it’s not just cardio.

Cardio (walking or brisk walking) is good for burning fat, but it will not create enough tone and muscle mass. This is because of the different muscle fibers in us. There are two general types of fibers, one is slow twitch which gives us endurance (for example distance running) and has a lower volume of mass and the other is fast twitch which gives us power (sprinting and lifting heavy weights for example) and has more mass.

So if you want a tighter and bigger butt or biceps, get off the treadmill and lift weights to hit the fast-twitch fibers with more growth potential.

Fitness Myth #9: You can eat as much as you want as long as you train

How long does it take you to eat a 100g chocolate bar packed with 550 kcal? 10 minutes? Less?

1 km walk (10 minutes) burns 50-70 kcal depending on your body weight (women burn less on average). So, women need to walk almost 2 hours to burn off the calories from the chocolate they ate in 10 minutes, and men need about 1.5 hours.

ARE YOU READY TO RACE THE SPOON?

Fitness Myth #10: You have to cut out sweets to lose weight

You don’t need to eliminate anything from your diet unless you are diabetic or have a specific food intolerance or disease.

As long as you are healthy, you can choose to eat 50g of cookies instead of 100g of whole-grain bread. If your goal is to lose weight, what is important is to expend more energy than you eat.

With weight loss, the first problem we have to deal with is the amount of energy, after that pay attention to the nutritional value of your food. Once you’ve taken control of your portions, get into the habit of choosing whole grains, fruits, and vegetables over empty calories with no micronutrients.