Revealed! The five fat burning myths that cost you hours of wasted time and effort

Revealed! The five fat burning myths that cost you hours of wasted time and effort.

Myth #1: You need to exercise for 20 minutes or more to burn fat


Back in 1999 when I was studying full-time at university, and working both a full-time
and a part-time job, one of the big challenges I faced was making the time to exercise.


When I started university, I often failed to make it to the gym at all, even for just 20 or
30 minutes. And even if I did manage to summon the enthusiasm to train, by the time I'd
finished changing and warming up, it was almost time to leave again.


However, after several weeks of moaning and complaining to anyone who would
listen that it was now "impossible" for me to do any exercise at all, I decided to do
something about it. My plan was to cut each workout in half. Driving to work in the
morning, I'd stop at the gym and get the first half done. On the way back home at night,
I'd do the second half.


However, a few people I spoke with told me that this idea was ‘silly’ and ‘wouldn't
work.’ “Your body doesn't start burning fat until you've been exercising for at least 20
minutes,” they told me. I was warned that I “wouldn't lose any fat at all” unless I did at
least 45 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise.


It's true that your body relies more on carbohydrate and less on fat during the early
stages of exercise. It's also true that your body uses more fat and less carbohydrate the
longer you spend exercising. But this ignores what happens to your metabolism after
exercise, when the number of fat calories burned tends to go up.


To lose fat, you need to create a calorie deficit—to consistently burn more calories
than you consume. And it doesn't make a great deal of difference whether those calories
are burned in one long workout or several shorter ones.


Some evidence for this comes from research carried out at the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine 1. For the study, a group of overweight women was assigned to one
of two groups. Group one performed a single bout of exercise lasting 20-40 minutes.
Group two did the same amount of exercise, but it was split into several smaller bouts
lasting just 10 minutes.


And the result?


Twenty weeks later, the women who split their workouts into shorter bouts had lost 20
pounds, compared to just 14 pounds in the single-bout group. The reason for the extra
weight loss is simply that women in group two did more exercise (and thus burned more
calories) than women in group one, possibly because they found it easier to fit shorter
workouts into their day.


Research published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition shows similar
results 3. There were no significant differences in weight loss with three 10-minute bouts
of exercise per day compared with two 15-minute bouts or one 30-minute bout.


Changes in body composition weren't reported in this study, so we don't know how
much of the lost weight came from muscle and how much came from fat. I'm guessing
that the women lost some muscle, which is fairly common with aerobic-only exercise
programs. When you're losing weight, it's important to do some kind of resistance
training to help preserve lean muscle.


Fat is stored energy. To lose it, you have to use more energy (calories) than you get
from your diet. And it doesn't really matter whether you burn those calories in one long
workout or several shorter ones. As these studies (and my own experience) show, both
approaches work.


Myth #2: One-pound of muscle burns 50-100 calories per day


You've probably read similar claims that muscle "burns calories around the clock just
to maintain itself, even while you are sleeping or sitting at a desk." The idea is that for
every pound of new muscle, your body will burn an extra 60 calories per day. Add five
pounds of new muscle and you will automatically burn an additional 31 pounds of fat in a
year... or so the theory goes, anyway.


When you gain muscle, your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories your body
burns at rest) does go up. But, this increase is a lot less than the 50-100 calorie figure
you'll often see written.


And fat is not simply a "dead" tissue. It secretes proteins such as leptin and cytokines,
which can affect your metabolism 4. According to some estimates, fat has a daily
metabolic rate of two calories per pound per day, with muscle clocking in at just six
calories per pound 5.


In other words, losing two pounds of fat and replacing it with two pounds of muscle
will increase your resting metabolic rate by just eight calories per day.


What's more, unless they're very overfat, or just starting an exercise program, very few
people gain a lot of muscle and lose a lot of fat at the same time. Your body just isn't that
great at doing both things at once. That's why I recommend you focus on one of two
goals when you're trying to get in shape—building muscle while minimizing fat gain, or,
losing fat while preserving muscle.


Resistance exercise improves body composition in several different ways. Firstly, with
a properly designed weight-training program, you'll burn more calories and more fat in
the hours after exercise, although it's my opinion that the light-weight, high-repetition
"toning" workouts most people do have only a minor impact on post-exercise
metabolism.


Second, if you don't do some kind of resistance exercise while you're dieting, a lot of
the weight you lose will come from muscle rather than fat.
 If you are fortunate enough to gain a significant amount of muscle while you're losing
fat, the impact of the extra muscle on your resting metabolic rate will be small, and
certainly won't amount to 10,000 extra calories a month.


Myth #3: Weight training is just too time-consuming


Many people point to a lack of time as the reason why they can't stick to a regular
exercise routine. That's why books such as 8 Minutes in the Morning or The Slow Burn
Fitness Revolution have become so popular. They promise to help you get in shape in less
time and with less effort.


One simple way to cut down on the time you spend in the gym is to increase the
density of your workout. Workout density is a measure of the amount of work performed
in a specific time period. Don't worry if it sounds too complicated. Increasing workout
density is actually quite easy when you use supersets.


Most weight-training routines require that you perform one set of a given exercise, rest
for a minute or two, then return to the same exercise. And it's this rest period between sets
that takes up a lot of time.


With supersets, you move quickly from one exercise to another, with little or no rest
between. In other words, rather than resting between sets, you perform an exercise for
another muscle group.


Depending on who you talk to, you might also hear supersets called compound sets or
staggered sets. They're all variations on the same theme.


Supersets usually involve several sets of two exercises for opposing muscle groups,
such as the biceps curl and triceps dip. A compound set is a superset for the same muscle
group (such as two back-to-back exercises for your biceps).
 With staggered sets, you do an exercise for one muscle group and then, with little or
no rest, perform an exercise for a muscle group (usually a smaller one) in a different part
of the body. As an example, you might alternate squats with dumbbell curls.


One of the main benefits of a weight-training routine that includes supersets is that it
raises your metabolic rate in the hours after exercise. Studies also show a shift in
substrate oxidation, which means that you're also burning more fat.


Some evidence for this comes from a study by researchers Kristin Osterberg and
Christopher Melby 6. A group of seven young women (aged 22-35 years), all of whom
were physically active and lifted weights 3-4 times a week in addition to regular
cardiovascular exercise, took part in the study.


They reported to the laboratory at Colorado State University early in the morning. At
1.30pm they began the workout, starting with 10-15 repetitions of the bench press.
Without resting, they went straight to the bent over row. Each superset was followed by
2-3 minutes of rest. They repeated the process four more times, before moving to the next
set of exercises. In total, the workout lasted 100 minutes.


The routine included several compound exercises, such as the bench press, bent-over
row and overhead press. The women also trained hard, with the last two sets of each
exercise taken to the point of muscular failure.


Measurements taken 16 hours later show the rate of fat burning had increased by over
50%. Resting metabolic rate was also up by about 4%. In other words, the women were
burning more calories and more fat.


If you find it hard to fit weight-training into your day, try increasing the density of
your workout by using supersets or staggered sets. It's a very simple way to boost your
metabolic rate and burn fat faster without spending longer in the gym.
Myth #4: Cardio and resistance exercise is the best way to lose fat


I'm a big fan of any workout routine that combines cardiovascular (e.g. cycling,
walking or sprinting) and resistance exercise (e.g. weight-training). That's why the
headline about cardio and weights not being the best way to lose fat might have come as a
surprise.


Part of the reason I wrote it was to get your attention. But I also wanted to emphasize
the fact that exercise is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to burning fat and
building muscle.


Before I explain exactly what I mean, here are two examples to illustrate my point.


STUDY #1: In this study, conducted at Penn State University, a group of women took
part in a 12-week program of diet and exercise 7. The women were assigned to one of
four groups:


• Group 1 served as a control group, and did nothing.
• Group 2 followed a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.
• Group 3 combined the same diet with regular aerobic exercise.
• Group 4 followed the same diet, but added aerobic and resistance exercise


As you might imagine, all three groups lost weight. However, the loss of fat was
greatest in the women who combined a low-calorie diet with aerobic exercise. In fact, the
women who trained with weights actually lost 3.7 pounds of muscle.


STUDY #2: The trial, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, tracked a group
of 31 women during a six-month exercise program 8.


At the beginning and end of the study, body fat levels were measured using a
sophisticated technique called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA for short). The
program consisted of 90 minutes of exercise (weight-training, running and military drills)
five days each week.


Despite the fact that the women exercised for more than seven hours each week for six
months, they lost only 5.7 pounds of fat. That's just 0.2 pounds per week.


What do both of these studies have in common?


None of the women in either trial was following a decent diet.


In study one, total calorie intake was too low (7 calories per pound of body weight).
What's more, 70% of those calories came from carbohydrate, leaving just 15% for fat and
15% for protein. It's no surprise they lost so much muscle.


In study two, the women were not told to change their diet, and could eat what they
wanted.


If you want to lose fat, then exercise alone—be it weight-training, cycling, Pilates, or
the so-called "core-stability" workouts that seem so popular at the moment—won't be
enough. You'll need to eat right too. If you want to make this the year when you finally
get the body you want, now's the time to take a closer look at your diet.


Myth #5: You can lose fat and build muscle at the same time


With very few exceptions, losing a lot of fat and gaining a lot of muscle at the same
time is very hard to do. That's because of the opposing demands these goals impose on
your body.


To build a lot of new muscle tissue, your body needs energy. In other words, you'll
need to overfeed—to consume more calories than you're burning each day. To lose fat,
you need to underfeed—to consume fewer calories than you burn.
 If you do try to do both things at once, your progress in either direction will be so
frustratingly slow that it won't be long before you feel like throwing in the towel.


It would be nice if the energy your body needs to build new muscle tissue came from
stored fat. But, when your body is in a predominantly catabolic state (which it will need
to be if you want to lose fat), gaining muscle is not its main priority.


Rather than trying to build a lot of muscle and lose a lot of fat at the same time, you'll
get better results by splitting your training goals into several phases, and working on one
after the other. I suggest that you focus on one of two goals—building muscle while
minimizing fat gain, or, losing fat while preserving muscle.


It's far more realistic to expect to lose 10 pounds of fat while gaining a pound or two
of muscle, or to gain five pounds of muscle while adding a couple of pounds of fat.
Losing 10 pounds of fat at the same time as replacing it with 10 pounds of muscle is the
exception and not the rule.


There are several different methods you can use to decide how long to spend on each
goal. One approach is to track your body fat percentage.


Let's say that you start out at 10% body fat. In this case, you might decide to bulk up
until you reach 12%. Then, you switch gears and enter the fat-loss phase of your program
until you're back to 10% again.


If fat loss is a priority, you can take the opposite approach and start by losing fat until
you're down to 7-8% body fat. Then, you change focus and start gaining weight until
you're back to 10% again.


This type of eating produces a "saw tooth" pattern of weight gain and weight loss, with
the end result (hopefully) that you'll end up with more muscle and less fat after several
cycles.
 The big problem with this approach is that most methods available to track body fat
levels are notoriously unreliable. I prefer to use more subjective (but, in my opinion,
more useful) ways to gauge my progress.


For instance, I know that it's time to start losing fat when my lower abs become hidden
under a layer of fat and I can't see them clearly. Conversely, when I start to feel irritable,
tired and de-motivated on a regular basis (which usually happens after an extended period
of dieting), and I'm happy with the way I look in the mirror, then I decide to focus on
gaining weight and building muscle.


If I need any extra help overcoming my natural tendency towards gluttony and sloth,
I'll book a session with a photographer to coincide with the end of a fat-loss phase.
Knowing that I'll look a complete fool if I show up for a photo shoot fat and out-of-shape
gives me the extra motivation I need to drag myself out of bed and to the gym when I
really don't feel like it. Maybe a little extra pressure to get in shape will help you too. Revealed! The five fat burning myths that cost you hours of wasted time and effort.