Unpopular Fitness Facts
With summer just around the corner, there is no escaping the adverts for fitness and ‘nutritional’ products that will help fast track you to your fitness goals. I don’t know about you, but my feed is filled with different fitness ‘facts’ that, I am not going to lie, are driving me around the bend. So, I thought what better way to kick start my blogs by starting with addressing some unpopular fitness truths…
Ab Exercises do not burn belly fat! The truth is that, aside from having surgery, we can not spot reduce or target fat loss anywhere in our body! Here is a very basic overview of the fat burning process to help explain why.
The fat we accumulate is stored in cells throughout the body as triglycerides. These act as an energy reserve if we were to run out of food or to access new energy. However, to access that fat energy the body needs to enter a process called adipocyte lipolysis (a mechanism the body goes through to break down stored fat) which is triggered when we are in a calorie deficit. Our stored fat then gets broken down into free fatty acids and glycerol and sent through the bloodstream to be converted into usable energy via the liver. This entire process happens automatically and isn’t governed or stimulated by the body part we choose to exercise. If you are in a calorie deficit, in most cases, you will lose body fat and we can’t control where this comes from.
Now don’t get me wrong, exercising will help. For example, ab exercises will help to build muscle so that once you lose your fat, you will be able to see muscle definition. Plus exercising will help you to be in a higher calorie deficit because you are moving!
You may have heard the saying ‘abs are made in the kitchen’ well this is partly true. Looking at your diet and ensuring you are in a small calorie deficit and hitting your macronutrients will mean that you will start to lose fat and see the abs you want.
My key message here is that it is really important to take a holistic approach when it comes to your health and fitness.
Carbs don’t make you gain weight, excess calories do! Outside of hormonal and medical issues, weight gain occurs from being in a calorie surplus (eating more calories than we burn).
Carbohydrates are ESSENTIAL. They get broken down into glucose which is the body’s primary fuel source and is essential for our brain and muscles.
Chemically, carbs are found in several forms however, the two main umbrellas are Simple and Complex.
Simple Carbs - are short chain sugars that provide short lasting energy spikes.
Complex Carbs - are long chain sugars that contain more nutrients, digest slower and provide long lasting energy to the body.
The two types of complex carbs are fibre and starch. These help to manage blood sugar levels, bowel movement and regularity as well as efficient energy storage and production.
Focusing on complex carbs will help you to:
Regulate your blood sugar levels
Support brain health
Improve digestion and gut health
Replenish your muscle glycogen and aids with quicker recovery
Manage your weight
Dieting doesn’t work - You will see so many ‘diet’ options particularly in the new year and on the run up to summer. Although ‘dieting’ will most likely help you lose a few pounds to begin with, more often than not these ‘diets’ are unsustainable and as soon as you stop ‘dieting’ or go off the rails the likelihood is that you are probably going to put all the weight that you lost back on… and more!
It really is more beneficial to look at what you are eating, keeping an eye on the calories and macronutrients to give yourself a varied diet and educate yourself on foods that will leave you feeling full and more energised. Once you do this you will gradually start making small life changes over a period of time which then become habits! Before long you will be leading a happier and healthier lifestyle!
The Takeaway - It can be really tempting to look for shortcuts, trust me I have tried them all to get immediate results. But I promise you that taking it slowly and making small life changes will win the race.
Your health and fitness needs to be treated as a lifelong journey. Over time you will get to know more about how your body works, the type of training that is effective for you, the foods and meal timings make you feel the best and schedule that motivates you to keep going.
So don’t rush! Keep learning, moving and remember that we are stronger together.