If you've ever known someone who seemed to do everything right but couldn't lose weight, you may have known someone who fell for common misconceptions about diet and exercise. Having the right facts about calorie burning and exercise can make a huge difference when it comes to weight loss and conditioning.
Low-Carbohydrates Diets Are Best
While a low-carbohydrate diet can take off excess water weight rapidly, in the long run, it is no more effective than low-fat diets with a balance of carbohydrates and protein. Furthermore, low-carbohydrate diets force the body to use lean muscle mass for energy--a recipe for disaster, since muscle gives your body a more compact look and burns fat. Eat a diet that gets at least 50 percent of its calories from carbohydrates, advises the Department of Athletics and Recreation at Northwestern University. Just avoid the refined carbohydrates found in white rice, doughnuts and the like and eat complex carbohydrates from vegetables and whole grains.
Exercise Allows You to Eat Whatever You Want
Spend an hour doing vigorous exercise and you may feel entitled to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet. After all, you've earned it. Be careful, though, or you'll waste all of your calorie-burning hard work. While you may burn 800 calories during an hour of jogging, you can easily consume that much and more in a post-workout meal if you don't watch your calories. A double hamburger with cheese and fries can set you back more than 1,200 calories.
Salads Are Healthy
Salads are healthy when they provide generous helpings of raw vegetables, a small amount of lean protein and a sprinkle of healthy olive oil. However, most salads don't fit this bill. Salads, especially those that are commercially prepared, are likely to contain fatty meats, cheese and plenty of high-fat dressing. They may also have nuts, eggs and dried fruit, which, while healthy, are high in calories. Ultimately, a salad can have just as many calories and fat as the aforementioned double cheeseburger with fries, if not more.
Cardiovascular Exercises Burns More Fat than Resistance Training
When it comes to burning fat, most people look to cardiovascular exercise, and rightly so, as it can burn a significant amount of calories. Resistance training often gets overlooked at a method to burn fat, however, and this can be a mistake for individuals who want to maximize their fat burn. After resistance training, your body will continue burning fat for as long as 48 hours, a phenomena referred to as "afterburn." Afterburn is caused by excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, according to certified strength and conditioning specialist Todd Durkin.
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