Health Facts

There are many common misconceptions about women's fitness. Here are some of them:

I will burn more fat if I exercise longer at a lower intensity.
Although lower intensity workouts utilize a greater percentage of energy from fat, a greater total amount of fat calories are typically burned during higher intensity workouts. The faster you walk, for example, the more calories you use per minute. However, high intensity exercise is difficult to sustain if you are just beginning or returning to exercise, so you may not exercise very long at this level. It is safer and more practical to start at lower intensity and increase gradually as your fitness level improves.

No pain, no gain. If I’m not sore the next day, I didn’t work hard enough.
Soreness can result from tiny tears in muscle tissue and may indicate overuse. You must listen to your body and respect the pain. If a part of your body is hurting, you should not ignore it. Discontinue the activity.

All fat is bad.
Our bodies need a certain amount of fat for vital functioning. It helps slow the aging process and satisfies hunger for long periods of time. The key is to replace the unhealthy fats in your diet with healthy fats such as those found in olive or canola oil!

I can burn fat from specific regions of the body by exercising those areas.
Contrary to popular belief, spot reduction is not possible. When you exercise, your body utilizes energy produced by metabolizing fat from all regions of the body not just the specific muscles involved in the exercise.

A calorie is a calorie, whether it comes from a bowl of ice cream or a stalk of celery.
Calories consumed from fatty foods are far more likely to cause weight gain than those consumed from carbohydrates. Your body uses less energy to process and store dietary fat than to process dietary carbohydrates.

Starving myself is the best way to lose weight.
Starving yourself is the quickest way to get your body to lower its metabolic rate (which can account for 60-70% of all calories burned). If calories are drastically reduced, muscle loss and health problems may arise. Remember, you should consume no less than 1200 to 1500 calories per day, depending on your body weight.

All I need is aerobics.

• Weight training combined with cardiovascular exercise delivers 3 times the fat loss than cardio alone.
• Cardiovascular exercise often neglects upper body bone density and fails to develop significant muscle strength.
• Four pounds of muscle consumes as many calories in one day as that burned in a one-mile run.
• After age 35, inactive people lose a half pound of muscle each year and gain 1.5 pounds of fat.

I Should avoid strength training when trying to lose weight because I will bulk up.
Most exercise experts believe that cardiovascular exercise and strength training are both valuable for maintaining a healthy weight. Strength training helps maintain muscle mass, which in turn burns calories and helps decrease body fat percentage.

If I stop working out, my muscles will turn to flab.
Muscle and fat are two distinct components of the human body. One cannot be transformed into the other. It only appears that way as decreased activity leads your body to simultaneously lose hand-earned muscle mass and gain excess body fat. However, all is not lost! If you’ve achieved a healthy fitness level in the past, it’ll take you less effort to get back there than the first time.

Exercise is the only sure way to lose weight.
Weight fluctuations are impacted by many factors, including dietary intake, exercise and genetics. Though adjustments in any single factor can deliver positive health benefits, weight is most efficiently lost using a balanced combination of both diet and exercise. But remember, regular physical activity is the cornerstone of successful long-term management.