Myth Busters: Dispelling Fat Burning Myths

Occasionally, I have some free time and sit down to watch the show Myth Busters. I think it is interesting to either prove or disprove some widely held beliefs. There have been and continue to be many widely held beliefs in the weight loss or fat loss industry. However, many of these beliefs have been dispelled by scientific studies. They should then be placed in the category of myth. Below are some of the more common myths for burning fat.

If it fits your schedule better by all means exercise in the morning. Outside of that there is no real benefit. The thought process is that is you exercise on an empty stomach that you will begin to use fat as your main source of fuel quicker since your glycogen stores are somewhat depleted from not having eaten in quite a few hours. Essentially, it doesn't matter that much. Rather than worrying about the time that you exercise you should spend more time thinking about the type of exercise you will be doing. Science has proven that there is a difference there.

This myth is propagated every time and new ridiculous ab gadget comes out. Doing sit ups or crunches or any of the gadget tools will not burn any more fat than doing bicep curls. You cannot spot burn fat. I would love it if you could but it is not possible. So don't buy any of the new gadgets from the latest fitness infomercial that you see on TV.

Don't pay attention to all those ideal fat burning zones that you see on treadmills and elliptical machines. This idea is based on faulty research from years ago back to the aerobic/cardio craze. The idea of a fat burning zone is derived from the idea that we want to put ourselves where we are burning the greatest percentage of fat calories. Although, there might be an zone where a greater percentage of fat calories are burned you are short changing yourself in the long run. I will explain this better in the next myth.

This myth is tied directly to the one above. It was thought that moderate exercise with a slightly elevated heart rate put us in a great fat burning zone. It is true that as a percentage of your calories you will burn a higher percentage of fat calories when you are jogging as opposed to when you are sprinting. However, when you are sprinting you are burning many more calories altogether and as a result more fat calories. You actually burn an even higher percentage of fat calories when you are walking versus when you are jogging. And if you carry that idea out to is end conclusion you arrive at the understanding that I burn a higher percentage of fat calories sitting on my couch then I do when I am jogging. This is a true fact, but you are not burning hardly any calories at all. It is not important the percentage of fat calories that you are burning. What is important is how many fat calories are you burning. Those are two different things.

This is one of my favorites. This actually may be slightly true but the difference between drinking a glass or ice cold water versus a glass of room temperature water is so negligible that it will never make a difference in your weight. I hope your were counting on this. I believe that drinking water is a great thing and it may even help your lose weight but not because of its temperature. The only way that water will help you lose weight is by giving you a full feeling.

All forms of exercise burn fat. Some burn fat at a higher level than others but they all burn fat. Jogging may burn more fat initially than weight training but weight training will add muscle which will in turn raise your metabolism. This will cause you to burn fat at a higher rate. Resistance training is a must for any fat burning program.

Make sure you understand what is myth and what is fact. It could make the difference between losing weight and remaining stuck in a rut.