One of the biggest issues with people wanting to achieve their health and fitness goals is the amount of misinformation out there. Compared to 10 years ago there is literally a billion times more information out on the internet made available to people looking for ways to improve their physique and health.
Founder of Clean Health Fitness Institute, Daine McDonald shares five myths to ignore for weight loss results.
Over the years I have educated thousands of personal trainers around the world on the correct ways to achieve long lasting results with their clients through the Clean Health Fitness Institute.
1. I want to lose weight so I will eat less food
Not to bore you with the technical details behind this which I have covered at greater length in this article, but the old ‘calories in versus calories out’ when it comes to fat loss is not exactly the right approach, as all too often it can lead to a myriad of health complications on top of your body actually holding onto fat instead of losing it.
In summary starving yourself of food is actually the same as starving your body of nutrients, in particular if you are training. Long-term calorie deprivation can lead to micro nutrient deficiencies, imbalanced hormonal output, muscle tissue break down and overall catabolism of the body.
Ideally you never want to go below a 20% caloric deficit if fat loss is your goal, this is enough to allow your body to lose body fat without compromising your metabolism and muscle wasting. Read the article above for more information on how to calculate that.
2. Carbs will make you fat
I can’t remember the amount of people whom I question when they sit down with me for an initial consult to discuss training tell me about how healthy they are eating doing ‘low carb’. The reality is low carbs can quite often mean that your calories are going to be too low, but that you are also missing out on vital nutrients that can be actually assisting your fat loss!
Whilst it is true that too much of anything can be bad, when it comes to carb intake and how much you should be having I teach the following to my students and clients which is to base it of your somatic body type. So what exactly does that mean? Well your somatic body type is a reflection of the type of body you have:
1. Are you long and lean? If so you are what is known as an ectomorph
2. Are you naturally muscly and broad shouldered? If so you are what is known as a mesomorph
3. Do you find it hard to lose fat on the lower body and present overall with a pear shape? If so you are what is known as a mesomorph
Therefore, I give the following recommendations:
1. Ectomorphs generally are carb sensitive. So up to 70% of calories in extreme cases can work for some people. For the average Joe 40-60% of total caloric intake can come in from carbs and actually assist in fat loss and building lean muscle tissue. So think a high carb meal plan here.
2. Mesomorphs generally can handle a decent amount of carbs depending on how fat they are. So anywhere between 30-50% of total calories can come from carbs. So think a moderate carb meal plan here with periods of low carb.
3. Endomoprhs generally need to stay away from carbs. These people are generally insulin resistant and do not deal well with carbs. No more than 100gm per day of carbs for this group and in many cases keeping it around 50gm if severely overweight is recommended.
3. Training heavy makes me too bulky
Whenever I hear this I often refer people on to one of my clients, professional bikini model and Australian record holding raw powerlifter Lauren Simpson whom you can also find on Instagram. Lauren is 57kg, lean, feminine and lifts more than most males!
The reality is, poor nutrition will ultimately influence your weight gain more than training. If you eat poorly and train heavy yes you will put on weight, so a combination of muscle and fat, which can lead to a bulky look. Comparatively eating correctly can allow you to one your physique whilst adding on quality lean muscle, which is going to positively influence your metabolism and overall look.
4. Cardio is the best method of training for fat loss
Cardio is great for overall health and obviously it does have some fat loss benefits, however the reality is when it comes to optimising your fat loss results it is merely an accessory to strength training.
Why? Well let’s look at some key points:
1. Your lean body mass (LBM) plays a crucial part in optimising your resting metabolic rate, otherwise known as RMR. You build up your LBM through strength training, not cardio.
2. Strength training has a more favourable hormonal output for putting your body into an anabolic (Growth promoting and fat loss inducing) rather than a catabolic (Fat storing, muscle wasting) state.
3. Generally speaking strength training when done in a controlled and logical manner is better on your joints and body then the repetitive nature associated with long bouts of steady state cardiovascular activity. So in terms of training longevity especially as we get over our 50’s it is the far safer choice!
5. I don’t need an off day
Nothing could be further from the truth, unless of course you are training for the Olympics or at a national level in a sport in which case you may need to train that much! The reality is your body does need to recover from all the training that you do, with lifestyle stress, poor nutrition and inadequate sleep, training every day on top of that can actually be detrimental to your health.
So in short their needs to be some ‘ying’ to your ‘yang’, 1-2 days of recovery per week is optimal even for seasoned athletes. So think quality not quantity when it comes to your weekly workout regimen!
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