Weight loss is one of the main reasons people begin a workout routine. However, there are many misconceptions about how to actually exercise for weight loss. In fact, fitness strategies appear to be one of the most confusing parts of health and wellness. Here, we explore five outdated myths about exercising for weight loss.
Solely Working Out Will Help You Lose Weight
There are so many benefits to your health that comes with adopting a fitness routine, so it is worthwhile whether or not you want to lose weight. However, thinking that you can lose weight simply by working out isn’t the case. You must maintain a calorie deficit in order to lose weight and working out alone will not accomplish that. Increasing your non-exercise activity can help. Move more during your day to break your sedentary lifestyle by walking or standing at your desk instead of sitting or park furthest away in the parking lot. All of this will help add to the number of calories you burn. Proper nutrition will also help.
You Burn More Fat the More You Sweat
People tend to think that if they’re not soaked in sweat after a workout that their time was wasted. That’s simply not true. Sweating is your body’s way of regulating temperature. If you exercise in an air-conditioned room, you burn just as many calories as you would in a warm room. Workouts that are slower paced that do not leave you drenched in sweat afterward, like lifting weights and walking on a treadmill uphill, are absolutely key to burn calories, help your body maintain lean muscle mass and keep a high metabolism.
You’ll Lose More Weight with More Exercise
In order to lose weight, it is not best to exercise more. After working out, your body needs time to rest in order to recover. Exercising breaks down muscle and giving them time to repair makes them stronger. As your muscles get stronger, you have more muscle mass and burn more calories daily. Too much exercise can also lead to producing an excess of cortisol. Cortisol can cause you to sleep less and eat more, which is counterintuitive to losing weight and exercising in the first place. Give your body one to two days every week in order to rest and recover.
Cardio is the Best Way to Lose Weight
It is true that you burn more calories in a cardio workout session than in a strength training session of the same timeframe. However, there is a factor called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. This means that you continue to burn calories even after you stop exercising. Strength training builds muscle and continues to burn calories after you are done with your workout. Cardio is still excellent. However, diversifying your fitness routing will help you lose more weight than cardio alone.
You Can Target the Areas Where You Want to Burn Fat
The simple truth is that you cannot target any specific area to burn fat. You burn more fat in relation to the active muscle tissue you have. That is why it is vital to train your whole body and not focus on a single muscle group, like your stomach or your thighs. Combining a whole-body fitness routine with a target-specific routine will yield greater results than solely targeting that specific muscle group.