Marketers who are trying to sell you a product often spout myths about fat burning. They want you to believe their product will help you lose weight by boosting your metabolism. In fact, myths about fat burning abound. Just do this, and you’ll burn more fat and get leaner. Have you heard that before? If only it were that simple! Now let’s bust some common myths about fat burning.
Myth #1: Drinking Water Boosts Fat Loss
Water is necessary for every function in the body, and it’s important to drink enough of it, especially if you work out. Staying hydrated helps maintain electrolyte and fluid balance in your body and is essential for every chemical reaction that keeps your body operating, but here’s a wake-up call. Drinking water doesn’t significantly boost fat loss. It’s true that if you drink a cup of cold water, your body must expend energy to heat the water up, but the additional calories it burns to do this are small.
Drinking water may have some weight control benefits though. Some people mistake thirst for hunger and eat. So, they grab a snack when drinking something would have been satisfying. So, it’s smart to drink a glass of water and reassess your hunger before munching down on a snack.
Myth #2: You Can Spot Burn Fat
The myth still prevails that it’s possible to spot reduce fat from certain areas of your body through exercise. If that were the case, everyone who did endless sit-ups and crunches would have six-pack abs. However, you can’t selectively remove fat from areas of your body through exercise. If you lose inches in an area, it’s because you changed your diet and increased your energy expenditure through exercise, and you lost body fat everywhere. For example, you can’t remove fat from your abdomen with abdominal crunches alone, even though the exercise targets your abs.
The take-home message? Crunches alone don’t burn enough calories to remove tummy fat. They’ll strengthen your ab muscles, but if you have a thick layer of fat covering your abs, you won’t see the muscle. Losing body fat is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise, and you’ll shed the fat everywhere, not in one spot.
Myth #3: Certain Foods Boost Your Metabolic Rate
The idea that certain foods boost resting metabolic rate is partially true, but from a practical standpoint, not significant. You’ve probably read about fat-burning teas and was told that certain foods will boost your metabolic rate and you’ll lose more body fat. It’s true that certain foods, like green tea and capsaicin (the active ingredient in chili peppers), modestly boost resting metabolic rate, but the effect is short-lived.
For example, one study found that drinking several glasses of green tea each day boosts metabolism. However, a study found that the additional burn was equivalent to 70 to 100 more calories per day. It counts, but it’s not a huge boost in fat burning. To get the benefits, you should brew your own green tea at home, since bottled green tea contains much lower quantities of catechin antioxidants, the component that along with caffeine, explains the metabolism-boosting perks.
Myth #4: Stay Away from Fat to Lose Fat
In the past, fat got an unfair rap. It was the era of fat-free and low-fat everything, and people bought into it believing avoiding fat was the key to weight loss. It’s true that fat has more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates, but it’s refined carbohydrates that do the most damage to your waistline. When you eat junk food, sugar, and refined carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises more, and your pancreas must pump out more insulin. That insulin hangs around and makes it almost impossible for your body to burn fat as fuel. It also makes it easier for your body to store fat.
Choose healthier fat sources, like monounsaturated fats from nuts, olive oil, avocado, and seeds, in place of refined carbohydrates. Make your carbohydrate choices fiber-rich ones, like fruits and vegetables. Doing this will tame your insulin level and make it easier for your body to burn fat.
Myth #5: Cardio is the Key to Burning Fat and Getting Leaner
Cardio is a calorie burner and should be part of your exercise program. Although strength training burns fewer calories while you’re doing it, lifting intensely leads to greater afterburn. A greater afterburn means your body must expend more energy to restore homeostasis or return to baseline. This includes restoring a normal blood pH, lowering body temperature, removing metabolic waste products, and restoring healthy oxygen levels. So, your body expends more energy after an intense strength-training workout, and you burn more fat.
Strength training has another advantage. Cardio isn’t a selective fat burner; you burn both fat and muscle tissue, especially if you do prolonged periods of moderate-intensity cardio and don’t consume enough calories. What’s your goal? Weight loss or fat loss? Strength training helps build and preserve muscle, so the weight you lose through exercise is more fat than muscle. Remember, body composition matters for health and aesthetics too.
The Bottom Line
Banish these myths from your brain and focus on smart, sustainable ways to burn fat and get leaner. There are no shortcuts to getting to your ideal body weight, so don’t buy into the quick-fix mentality. It won’t get you very far.
References:
- Galgani JE, Ravussin E. Effect of dihydrocapsiate on resting metabolic rate in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Nov;92(5):1089-93. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2010.30036. Epub 2010 Sep 8. PMID: 20826626; PMCID: PMC2954444.
- “Pairing Cardio and Weight Training for Maximum Fat Loss.” 30 Apr. 2020, verywellfit.com/cardio-and-weight-training-and-fat-loss-3498325.
- “7 Foods That Naturally Speed Up Your Metabolism | SELF.” 13 Jul. 2011, self.com/story/foods-that-naturally-speed-up.
- National Institutes of Health. “Low-fat diet compared to low-carb diet”
- org. “We’ve heard that eating negative-calorie foods might be a good diet strategy. But what exactly are they?”
- “Top 12 Biggest Myths About Weight Loss – Healthline.” 03 Jul. 2019, healthline.com/nutrition/top-12-biggest-myths-about-weight-loss.
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