By James Staring, Fit to Last
Why do we want a big slice of cake instead of a fruit salad? Why do we sometimes fight to stay on the sofa when we know some exercise will be a better choice for us? Whether you’re looking to lose weight, improve your fitness levels or future-proof your health, sometimes it feels as though our bodies are against us rather than with us.
At Fit to Last, we meet people all the time who have been trying for years to lose weight and/or get fitter but who have failed with everything they’ve tried. Often this is because they have had misconceptions (myths) that have scuppered them. Believing these myths can really damage your efforts, so it’s important to be accurately informed, whether you are heading to the gym, tweaking your diet, or making any other health and fitness lifestyle changes.
We have found that dispelling those misconceptions is a good start to a successful outcome and wanted to share with you some common myths that might be hampering your healthy lifestyle.
Myth 1. The more you exercise, the fitter you’ll get
Common thinking is if you want to improve your fitness and you’re exercising already, all you need do is more of the same. However, for your fitness to improve, your body needs new challenges to adapt to. Doing the same workout repeatedly means your body won’t change.
For example, even if you are increasing your weights every week when resistance training, you’ll need to change the movements you’re doing every 4-6 weeks as well.
Myth 2. Calorie cutting equals fat loss
Calorie cutting is often the approach to losing body fat. But when you decrease your calorie intake too much or for too long, your body will hold onto body fat instead of losing it. This is because your body will view the decreased calorie intake as a limit of resources and will decrease your body’s metabolism to conserve energy.
Your body will also start using other resources for energy (i.e. muscle). This can lead to looking ‘skinny fat’, where you lose weight but also lose muscle tone.
The key to losing body fat is to avoid processed foods and to manage portion sizes. This way, you get the right quantities of protein, mixed fruit and vegetables, and healthy fats to lose body fat whilst retaining muscle mass.
For help managing portion sizes, there is a free guide available that will help you determine the right quantities of protein, fats, fruits, and vegetables you need to consume to lose body fat (no weighing involved!): https://fittolast.co.uk/the-portion-control-guide/
Myth 3. Lifting heavy weights makes you bulky
The idea that lifting heavy weights leads to bulging muscles has been a long-held myth. The reason it isn’t true is because big muscles can only be built when weight training is partnered with vastly increased calorie intake. Getting ‘bulky’ means gaining muscle and weight at the same time.
Gaining lean muscle means your weight may not increase but your body composition changes: i.e. your muscle increases while your body fat reduces. Gaining lean muscle means you won’t look bigger.
So, unless you’re adding an extra 2800plus calories a week alongside your weight training regime, all you’ll get from lifting weights is a lean, strong, healthy body.
Myth 4. To run faster, you need to run more often
If you go past any local park on a Saturday morning, you’ll see people hoping to run faster by repeating the same routine, hoping for a different result.
In fact, to run faster, you need to do two things:
- Increase capacity to push your cardiovascular system.
- Increase your strength to produce greater force with each running stride.
To increase capacity, you need to add interval training to your run programme. The point here is to run for short bursts of uncomfortably fast pace with sufficient recovery to maximise each interval effort.
To increase strength, add in resistance training to your running programme. Resistance training means specific exercises with some form of resistance to increase muscular strength, power, size or endurance. For example, squats, lunges, press ups and planks. By adding in full-body resistance training, you’ll improve your strength to generate more force when you run. You’ll also improve joint resilience and stability to help prevent injury.
The added benefit of improved stability is you’ll run more efficiently. You’ll get more out of your runs because your body will be more robust to hold you up when you become tired during your run.
If you add the two steps above to your current run programme, along with consistent practice, you’ll become a faster runner.
Myth 5. Carbs are the enemy
With the growing number of diets out there, the one common element among most of them is you need to eliminate something to accomplish the intended goal. And usually, the culprit to be eliminated or drastically reduced is carbs.
And, yes, some carbs are unhealthy. Things like cakes and biscuits. Ultra-processed carbs are unhealthy and should be avoided if possible. But, in small quantities, things like brown pasta, brown rice, and other wholemeal items have an important place in a healthy eating regime.
In addition to providing the daily energy you need to function, carbs are a necessary component to help you maintain lean muscle. When you work out, your body breaks down muscle tissue. When you recover from a workout, your body will build muscle tissue to repair and adapt muscle that has been broken down during the workout. When you build more muscle tissue than you break down, you get stronger.
According to a 2004 study quoted in the Journal of Applied Physiology (Børsheim, E., Cree, M. G., Tipton, K. D., Elliott, T. A., Aarsland, A., & Wolfe, R. R. (2004). Effect of carbohydrate intake on net muscle protein synthesis during recovery from resistance exercise: Journal of applied physiology), by consuming carbohydrates immediately following resistance training, you were more likely to retain more muscle after a workout than if you didn’t consume carbohydrates.
So, try and make sure you consume a small amount of unprocessed carbs after your workouts as part of your healthy eating plan.
Myth 6. Exercise is the key to changing your body
A common approach to changing your body is to start a fitness programme only.
But even if you worked out every day, if you don’t pay attention to your nutrition and your recovery, your results will be limited and short-term. It is healthy and consistent eating habits and effective sleep, not exercise alone, that will yield the largest changes to your body.
You have 168 hours in each week. Here’s a quick chart to illustrate the different time commitments of working out three times a week, eating and sleeping contribute toward the goals you want to achieve.
| Activity | Hours each week | % of Total Week (/168) |
| Exercise | 3 | 1.7% |
| Eating (Preparation and Eating) | 21 | 12.5% |
| Sleeping | 49 (7 hours each night) | 29.1% |
We’re not saying that exercise won’t help the process along. But, to change your body in a lasting way, preparing and eating healthy meals along with quality recovery through sleep, along with a progressive training programme, will always yield a better result than exercise alone.
Myth 7. Eating fats makes you fat
Dietary fats have long been the nutritional whipping boy when it comes to the causes of excess body fat.
There are some fats that really are bad, namely trans-fats. Trans fats can be found in deep-fried foods, as well as processed cakes and biscuits. These are the ones you want to avoid, and which can contribute to increased body fat, not to mention a host of other health conditions.
But good fats; like butter, nuts, olive oil and avocado; in balanced quantities will help you maintain a lean and healthy physique.
These good fats are responsible for helping your body produce hormones, as well as preventing heart disease, and managing blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Hormone production is essential because, when you work out, you’re putting pressure on your body to help illicit a small change. That small change is executed through hormones and this is why hormone production is so important.
Additionally, these fats taste really good! The small word of caution is to have these yummy items in small quantities, as they are very high in calories. But these small quantities are very satisfying, so a little bit will do very nicely!
Don’t leave good fats out of your diet – you’ve got far too much to gain from keeping them in!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
James Staring is the founder and lead fitness coach at Fit to Last Personal Trainers, which offers a high-end, all-inclusive fitness solution for those who’ve tried everything in the past; crash diets, exercise fads, regular gyms etc., all with little to no success or results. Fit to Last works in partnership with you to create a personalised programme of exercise, nutrition (no calorie counting or weighing) and small, simple lifestyle changes, to keep you on track to your goals, injury free and bursting with energy. See: www.fittolast.co.uk
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