By Nick Nilsson
Author of Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss
These five fat-loss lies have been around for years and believing them could be making YOUR fat-loss program a lot less effective.
Time to blast them out of the water and get your fat-burning back on track.
Fat-Loss Myth #1 - Diets Don't Work
Diets actually quite often DO work (even the Hollywood South Beach Crab Taco Cookie Diet). It's just what happens AFTER the diet finishes that's the problem. The metabolism has been slowed down by prolonged low caloric intake without proper training. And then when the person goes back to their "normal" eating, they go back to their NORMAL eating...the eating that added the extra fat in the first place.
I look at a "diet" as a tool and it's a tool that can be used short-term for a specific purpose.
The LIFESTYLE is what you do when you're not on a specific diet and THAT is where people generally go wrong and then blame the diet.
Fat-Loss Myth #2 - Eating Very Low-Calorie is Bad For Fat Loss
Another outright myth...eating very low calories (and even complete fasting) can be very GOOD for fat loss. It creates a much bigger caloric deficit, which in turn forces the body to rely on stored fat for energy.
The trick here is that you don't want to eat very low-calorie like that for LONG...never more than a few days. When you eat very low-calorie for long stretches, THAT is when you run into trouble with metabolic slowdown.
A few days here and there can be a nice kick-start to get fat-loss moving again...just don't fall in love with the results of a few days and keep doing it too long.
Fat-Loss Myth #3 - "I Want To Get Toned"
NO training is going to get you "toned" because that doesn't exist. Getting "toned" simply means building muscle and burning fat. You can't tone a muscle any more than you can paint a cloud. You have to build the muscle to have it and you have burn the fat so you can see it.
"Toning," to me, is simply a way of describing ineffective training. It's a person picking up a weight that is not challenging to their muscles and lifting it just enough to completely avoid any discomfort.
And then they wonder why they're not "toned up" and quit doing anything altogether because they didn't see any results.
So that's my public service announcement for the day. Don't tone...LIFT. And be proud of the muscle you have...it's what gives your body actual SHAPE and what makes you look like a healthy human being.
Fat-Loss Myth #4 - High-Rep Light Weight Training is the Best Training Style to Burn Fat
Here's the thing...light weight, high-rep training CAN be effective for burning fat while preserving muscle IF you do it correctly. If you flail around and don't push yourself, you won't see results.
In my experience, the BEST training style for fat-loss is a mix of heavier training, to preserve mass and strength, and lighter, high-rep training that focuses on Lactic Acid accumulation.
When Lactic Acid accumulates in the body, this changes the acidity (the pH) in the bloodstream. Your body reacts to this by secreting Growth Hormone, which is a potent fat-burning and muscle-preserving hormone.
The key to achieving THAT result is that you have to push yourself. This isn't light-weight EASY high-rep training that accomplishes nothing. This is HARD light-weight, high-rep training that burns while you're doing it, prolongs that burn then makes you end your sets because you can't hold onto the weight any longer.
THAT is effective high-rep training for fat loss.
Fat-Loss Myth #5 - To Lose Fat You Have to Totally Deprive Yourself of the Foods You Love
Totally wrong. You DO have to CONTROL yourself and not let food control you, but the LAST thing you want to have in your head while you're dieting is that you'll never be able to eat the foods you love again.
Because when you starting thinking about that, that is ALL you will be thinking about.
And that is where the concept of the "cheat meal" or "free meal" comes in. When you're on a fat-loss program, you actually SHOULD have a cheat meal where you eat those foods that you LOVE to eat but are probably terrible for you. The key is that you PLAN when you eat these foods - you don't ever let it happen by accident.
A planned cheat is light-years different than giving in to a craving and blowing your diet. A planned cheat puts YOU in control of your food intake.
And the cool thing is, when you've been on a restricted eating plan for awhile, that cheat meal will actually SPUR fat loss. I ALWAYS include cheat meals in every fat-loss program I write. You need it mentally and you benefit tremendously from it physically.
When it comes right down to it, knowledge is power. The more you know about effective fat-loss, the more effective your fat-loss programs will be.
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