Myth 1: Lifting weights makes women "bulky".
Women generally do not have enough testosterone to get bulky from standard lifting. Instead, it strengthens and tones muscles.
Myth 2: Eating many smaller meals throughout the day kick-starts your metabolism, allowing you to lose weight more quickly.
There’s no evidence to support the myth that eating more frequent, smaller meals helps you burn calories any faster than eating the usual two to three regular-sized meals each day.
In fact, the total calories burned is precisely the same regardless of how many meals you ate to consume the same number of calories.
Myth 3: Crunches are the secret to six-pack abs.
That’s because getting a toned abdomen requires the right balance of training, diet, sleep and reduced stress to burn the adipose (fat) tissue that overlies the muscle.
Muscle and fat are independent tissues, one does not convert to the other.
Further, the body does not "spot reduce", meaning targeting a particular area will not remove fat from that area.
Myth 4: Diet soda is better for you than regular soda.
People often think they are doing themselves a favour by drinking diet soda, thinking no sugar means no calories so they won't gain weight.
However, study after study has shown that artificial sweeteners lead to increased waist circumference.
Myth 5: Go for diet or fat-free foods.
Many packaged foods are marketed as diet, fat-free or low fat. It is often thought these foods are better for you and will prevent weight gain.
The reality is fats aren't the only things that make you gain weight and when the fat is removed, it is replaced by something else for flavour, usually an added chemical with no nutritional value that is potentially harmful to your metabolism.
Myth 6: Cardio is better than lifting weights for weight-loss.
Strength training builds muscle, which raises your resting metabolism, making it crucial for sustainable weight-loss.
Myth 7: Weight-loss is linear.
Weight-loss rarely happens at a consistent rate every day. The typical cycle is a fast initial weight-loss rate, dipping to a moderate then to a slow rate over time, so that programme modifications are often required.
