Fitness Friday: Misconceptions

FORT MYERS, Fla. – When you feel like you just can’t handle your weight anymore, you know there are two variables that you need to incorporate exercise and healthy eating. Wink News Fitness Expert Mike Drumm stopped by WINK News This Morning and shared the most common misconceptions about the role of exercise in fat loss and the fitness truths that will put your weight loss journey on the road to sure success.

Misconception – The term “Weight loss”

Really what you need to be focused on is ‘fat loss’ and people confuse the two because they’re concerned about the number on the scale. I really hate scales because they are just one of many measurements you should be using. For example, let’s say I put you on an exercise program, and you gain five pounds of muscle, and you lose five pounds of fat. According to the scale you had ZERO weight loss. According to your body composition, your reflection in the mirror, and your clothes you just made a 10-pound difference. So we need to be careful about weight loss vs. fat loss.

A mentor of mine, Jim Abrams uses the “Thermostat vs. Thermometer” analogy a lot. Are you going to be a thermometer and simply read results, or are you going to be a thermostat and control the temperature? When it comes to weight loss, ditch the scale and focus on what you can control. What you eat and that you Exercise!

Misconception – Lose Weight with Cardio

Yes, cardio works to lose weight, but so do a lot of other things in conjunction with that. So from a fat loss standpoint, cardio and resistance training together with a healthy diet work the best! Even resistance training by itself works well if you do it at an intensity sufficient enough.

Misconception – 1,000’s of Sit-Ups and Crunches will give you Abs

You can do all the exercise you want, but like I always say, “you can’t out exercise a bad diet.” And I’m not saying diet like you have to have major caloric restrictions, just pay attention to what you’re eating, clean it up. Stop relying on processed food and find foods you like that you can incorporate in controlled portions. You have to learn how to eat for the rest of your life, not just the next 30-days or however long your fad diet lasts. Then, if you’ve got your diet under control AND you combine it with exercise, you have a much better chance at significant fat loss that you can keep off.

Misconception – Thinking there’s a quick fix

You didn’t gain the weight overnight, and you’re not going to get stronger and skinnier overnight either. It takes time to reverse the effects of gaining weight, and it’s an issue of burning more calories than you take in for the most part. When it comes to weight loss there’s no quick fix, and most of the quick fixes don’t work for a long time. You just re-gain the weight. Cutting calories today will not necessarily show up on the scale at the end of the day or even by tomorrow. Weight fluctuations from day-to-day are due to water, not permanent weight loss.

Conclusion

Everyone is Different. There’s really no substitution for a healthy lifestyle and a progressive approach to get you in shape. While some people lose a lot of weight in the first few weeks, others might not lose any. Although this can be frustrating when you’re doing everything right, it’s not a reason to give up. Sometimes it just takes a little while longer to see the results of your hard work reflected on the scale. Remember, eating right and exercising regularly have positive impacts on your health in many other ways, such as more energy, less stress, better sleep, and reduced risk of many diseases. You’ll receive those benefits, regardless of the number on the scale.