Myth Buster, Busted

Image by Scott Webb

There is a trend online to uncover the greatest myths in the health and fitness industry. Whilst it is great to uncover any misleading information, sometimes the information itself can become, misleading!

So let’s take a brief look at some of two of the top busted myths and then, well … bust them.

The more you sweat the more you burn.  This is a common thought amongst the fitness set.  Although exposed as a myth due to a few facts such as, if you return home after your regular afternoon run and you are drenched in sweat it doesn’t mean you have burned more calories than yesterday.  Sweating is a biological response which cools your skin and regulates internal body temperature so the reason for your sweat could be down to the weather or a hot gym even your physiology.  

Ok, whilst this is, of course true it doesn’t exactly make the initial statement a myth. It all depends on you, your environment and what you know about your regular routine.  If you are running at a low pace on a really hot day then yes, you will sweat more and burn no more fat than on a cooler day.  However if you are bringing your A Game, running at a high pace on a cool day and drenched in sweat then it is fair to say you are burning more fat.  It all depends on the conditions around you.  So don’t write it off, just be sensible when assessing it.

If you want to lose weight you have to eat healthily. The myth of healthy eating to lose weight is covered in this post from AreTheyOnSteroids.com where, using science they proved you could indeed eat a diet of purely junk food and lose weight, providing you had a calorific deficet.  

The article mentioned above does go on to sort of intentionally bust itself.  Yes, providing you eat less calories of junk food than your body needs to survive (Eg, 1500 calories of junk food when you require 2000 calories per day) then you can indeed lose weight eating purely junk.  However this will be horrendous for your health putting pressure on your heart and will also bring your mood to an all time low and depression is a well known chum of fat storing.  Not to mention the fact that you can get 1500 calories out of a fast food chain breakfast! This myth busted fact is certainly not going to stand up in our court.

There are loads of facts and myths and myth busted facts published online and in print every day.  Use your brain when it comes to believing what you read and do lots of research on the health benefits as well as the fitness benefits.  What works for some will not work for others.  Find a happy balance that makes sense to you and stick to it.  Just make sure you follow the basics.  Keep active, eat well and above all stay hydrated.