Myths about burning fat
IT’S that time of year when many are trying, and some are failing to live up to their New Years’ resolution of losing weight. Many of these resolutions probably include being more physically active in striving for this goal. But first, there are some common misconceptions about exercise and weight loss that need to be addressed.
Myth 1: Exercise is the best way to lose weight:
While there is plenty of evidence showing that people can lose weight by being physically active, it is also one of the hardest ways to achieve it.
Our energy balance is mostly determined by what we eat and our metabolic rate. Our energy balance is determined only to a small extent by how active we are. That means losing weight just by exercise requires hard work.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends accumulating 250 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week for weight loss. That is twice the amount of physical activity recommended for good health (30 minutes on most days), and most Australians don’t even manage that. The best way to lose weight is through combining a nutritious, low-calorie diet with regular physical activity.
Myth 2: You can t be fit if you re fat:
Inactive people of healthy weight may look good, but this isn’t necessarily the case. When you re not active you have a higher risk of heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, some cancers, depression and anxiety. Several studies have demonstrated the association between premature death and obesity, and that obesity disappears when fitness is taken into account (although another study disputes this).
This means you can still be metabolically healthy while being overweight, but only if you’re regularly active. Of course, people who are fit and are of normal weight have the best health outcomes. Myth 3: No pain, no gain As mentioned earlier, if you want to lose weight by exercising, you will need to do a lot of it. But while physical activity of a moderate intensity is recommended, guidelines do not say activity needs to be of vigorous intensity.
Moderate intensity physical activity such as brisk walking or riding a bicycle at a moderate pace makes you breathe harder but you should still be able to carry on a conversation. This is unlike vigorous physical activity such as running that will make you sweat profusely regardless of the weather conditions.
Moderate intensity physical activity is not painful and does not include excessive suffering to meet your goals. A study of weight loss in groups with higher intensity and lower volumes of activity compared to groups of lower intensity and higher volumes of activity did not find significant differences.
Myth 4: Only resistance training will help you lose weight:
Resistance or strength training is good for you for several reasons. It increases functional capacity (the ability to perform tasks safely and independently) and lean body mass, and prevents falls and osteoporosis. But the main idea for promoting it to lose weight is that muscle mass needs more energy than fat mass, even when at rest. Therefore, the more muscular you are, the higher your metabolic rate, which makes it easier to expend the energy you’re taking on board.
However, building muscle mass takes a serious effort, and you need to keep doing resistance training or significant loss of muscle mass will occur within weeks.
More importantly, though, aerobic or endurance training is also good to help you lose weight. A recent study demonstrated that endurance training was more effective in producing weight loss compared to resistance training. It’s also likely that many people will get more enjoyment out of a brisk walk than a session of weight-lifting. So the most important thing is to pick and stick to an exercise routine you enjoy.
To help you get started on your journey to a more active and potentially leaner lifestyle, you can visit to sign up for free physical activity programs.