We often make things a lot harder for ourselves when we give in to health and fitness myths. I read an article about a woman who did crunches hanging upside down because she believed it would make her body stretch and look longer and leaner. I'm sure all she got from that exercise was a headache and a red face. Similarly, I used to eat ice cream standing up because I heard that when you eat standing, you burn more calories. While I couldn't find any data to back up that one, I did decode some of the most popular health and fitness myths with the help of MSN's Health and Fitness Web site and some experiences of my own.
1. Feeling sore after exercise means you lost weight.
Actually, soreness is basically fatigue in your muscles. When you have a tough workout and have done numerous reps of an exercise, the burn you feel is the blood getting squeezed with your muscles. It doesn't reduce the amount of fat around the muscles. To do that, one must combine regular exercise with healthy eating.
2. Not eating after exercising will help you lose more weight.
While it's not advised to eat a huge meal right after you exercise, you need to refuel with a 200-calorie snack about 30 minutes after you work out and a full-size meal about two hours after. When you don't eat, your body conserves food as fat, which is harder to burn off.
3. Once you find a fitness routine you like, you should do it all the time.
Variety is the spice of life, and changing your workout routine every six to eight weeks will help you to avoid a fitness plateau if you're trying to lose weight. Your body will conform to the routine and will no longer be challenged. Mixing it up makes your workouts more interesting and will give you better results.
4. Being a vegetarian means you'll be thin.
Vegetarians don't just eat salads all the time. While some of the vegetarians I know became vegetarians because they wanted to lose weight, they found it was actually harder to maintain their weight. You need the protein found in meat to help stabilize your metabolism and give you energy to exercise. Also, foods like chicken and turkey often have fewer calories than some vegetarian dishes. Whether you are a carnivore or a herbivore, it all comes down to balance and moderation.
5. You'll be happier once you lose 5 pounds.
Once you start that attitude, it's very difficult to stop it. After losing 5 pounds, you want to lose five more, and then you'd be happy if you lost five more after that - it becomes a mess. Also, thinking that way just sets you up for disappointment. What if you don't lose 5 pounds? Is your life over? Be confident in your size now. Feel good about yourself, eat healthy and work out because it makes you feel good, not because you want to live up to someone else's standards.
You can test your own fitness myth savvy with The Fitness Myth Quiz on About.com. If you have other myths that you want busted, e-mail me at healthandfitness@theeagleonline.com. Feel free to send questions, comments and ideas my way.
