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Top 10 biggest fat loss lies


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By Tom Venuto

If you've ever walked into a health food store and asked for information about supplements...

If you've ever read any one of the many popular bodybuilding or fitness magazines...

If you've ever read the latest best-selling diet book...

If you've ever watched late night TV and listened to a diet or fitness guru preach about an amazing new diet, exercise machine or supplement...

If you've ever surfed the web for information about diet, nutrition or training...

If you've ever done ANY of these things, then chances are...

YOU'VE BEEN LIED TO, MY FRIEND!

Are you shocked? Surprised? Outraged? If so, then join the club - you're not alone. Honest information about nutrition and fat loss is harder to come by than ever before, and nearly everyone has been mislead at one time or another.

To successfully navigate through this bog of misinformation, you're going to have to become a very shrewd and discriminating consumer. The purpose of this article is to help you do just that.

There are three reasons why it's so hard to find truthful information these days:

1) Money (Greed). Weight loss is a 30 billion-dollar a year industry. With this kind of money at stake, unscrupulous marketers will tell you anything - even outright lies - to get you to buy their products and to further their financial interests.

2) Information overload. Now that we're in the information age, lack of information is not a problem anymore. The problem these days is too much information. Fitness and diet "guru's" preach about their "latest breakthroughs" on TV infomercials 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hundreds, even thousands of diet and exercise books fill bookstore shelves. Dozens of magazines clutter the newsstands every month. And to top it all off, the explosion of the Internet is adding to this "info-quagmire" at an exponential rate.

3) Conflicting advice. Even industry professionals such as registered dieticians, research scientists, MD's, Phd's, and certified trainers, give a tremendous amount of contradictory advice. There are a lot of opinions out there and everyone seems to tell us something different.

This has left a lot of people frustrated, disillusioned, and thoroughly confused. It's hard to know whom or what to believe anymore.

I want to do something about that. I want to do something that almost no one else has the guts to do: That is, to tell the complete, unadulterated truth.

So, without further ado, here they are; the top 10 biggest fat loss lies - exposed!

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Fat Loss Lie #1: You need supplements to lose fat.

Supplements are not necessary to lose body fat. Exercise and nutrition are the only things you need to lose fat permanently. Some supplements can help speed up the process a little, but not nearly as much as you may have been lead to believe.

Supplements are only responsible for a small fraction of the results you achieve. Based on 19 years of experience, I believe that 95-97% of your results will come from good training and good nutrition. If most of your results come from diet and training, doesn't it make more sense to maximize the 95-97% first?

FOCUS ON YOUR DIET AND TRAINING PROGRAMS FIRST!

Believe it or not, advanced trainees, competitive bodybuilders or athletes will probably benefit more from using supplements than beginners. High level athletes are more likely to have "maxed" out their training and diet programs.

Once you've reached a high level of development from intelligent, intense, methodical training and quality nutrition, then progress always comes more slowly. At this point, every little bit extra counts - that's when supplements are most useful.

In world class athletics, competitions can be won or lost by hundredths of a second, a tenth of a point, a fraction of a pound, or a single judge's opinion. The extra 3-5% that supplements may provide could be the difference between winning and losing.

Now let's look at the average beginner or intermediate who hasn't perfected their diet and training yet: They're still eating junk foods and skipping meals. They're not even working out, or at least not consistently. And what do they do FIRST? You guessed it; they immediately run out searching for a "shortcut!"

It's a shame that so many people are looking for easy ways instead of making the effort to learn how to eat and train better. Achievement expert Brian Tracy once said, “Superior people never wish it were easier, they wish they were better!â€

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I know.. the irony of that struck me, too.

There's a few things in here I don't agree with completely. I'm also dubious as to whether cardio is completely necessary for fat loss. OK, it may help, but so would constant jiggling throughout the day, too (my foot's twitching as I type this :P). Yes, cardio may boost your metabolism, but doesn't weight training do that too? Yes, it may burn more calories while you're doing it, but weight training keeps on burning for days afterwards as your body tries to repair itself. But I'm not a big fan of cardio anyway, so I'm biased...

Overall though, I thought it provided some pretty good points - once you skip past the melodramatic intro! :D

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  • 3 months later...

One more lie, You will lose muscle by running, and also you must keep your heart rate down below 65% of your maximum h.r. All lies in my opinion.

I have been running for I dont really want to say this, but 30 years. If you could not put on muscle when running then I wouldnt of been able to.

The important factor is separating your workouts. I never run before a weights workout or after a weight workout but I run nearly every single day. My runs are always followed by 1-2 meals before weight training or after weight training after I have had a meal. My lean mass stays up while contest dieting and running, and my fat mass decreases without any drastic changes to my nutritional plan.

And then next point, why would I want to spend 1 hour in a stuffy gym cardio room when I can get outdoors and burn double the calories running outdoors in half the time. I think that being very fit is part and parcel of being a bodybuilder. We have all seen the bodybuilders who get puffed bending down to do up their laces - and I know they want to get big, but they should still be healthy. So I think everybody should do cardio..

Mu running is for my own general fitness as well as for calorie control. Cardio is not just a diet tool that is used 12 weeks prior to a show. If more people kept their cardio up year round, then they wouldnt have to do such severe 12 week diets.

The slow but long(fat burning range) cardio session craze was promoted hugely by gym owners and managers. The theory behind it was good, but basically it is kept on so as the general public can go to a gym, not work too hard and sweat too heavy, therefore they do not dread the thought of making it into the gym at least 2-3 times per week. Actually they quite like it cos eveyone in the cardio room is still looking pretty good and pretty much how they did when they went in.

I believe in using the long and slow theory for a certain clientele or for new comers during their breaking in period, or very overweight/low or high blood pressure clients etc, but to see somebody at the gym who has been a member for 3 months who have not gotten past level 2 at 50RPM's on a cross trainer breaks my heart.

I say bring in cardio interval training, and teach people to beat their calories burnt or distances recorded every single week instead of watchin the 7 television screens in front of them. Or go for a run, if you are eating correctly, you wont burn muscle.......... But for certain people, cardio is definately not necessary for gaining the competition body. Gosh I am envious of those people.

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I really enjoy running. I used to run 2 - 3 times a week for about half an hour at a decent pace. But I found I lost a bit of leg mass from it. Not sure what it was but I've since switched to 30min brisk walks 2 - 3 times a week.

With my running my heart rate was definitely right up there. When I walk, I really sweat it out but obviously my heart rate doesn't get up as high.

Which is better?

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Hi Marcus, you shouldnt lose muscle mass unless you are not taking in anough calories. You will of course lose muscle if you have trained for 1.5hours then did your /runwalk but basically it should be just as if you were training 2 x per day. You need food and recovery time inbetween. Im not saying everybody should run, what I am saying is that alot of people are being told they should not run. And if running is your choice, then do it, but do it smart.

Also if you have your body fat done properly, not just jumping on body fat testing scales, but you do need to know your lean mass and fat mass. You will soon find out if you are losing muscle or not. Alot of people, especially guys, can lose fat, but then they think they are smaller.

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Just a side note, although if you do keep your calories high enough and run then you wont directly lose muscle mass, it will, over a long period of time, train your body to lean more toward protein synthesis of slow twitch muscle fibers as well as teaching your CNS to promote endurance in the muscles used rather than explosive strength.

Your not born with an exact ratio of slow and fast twitch fibres that remain constant throughout your life, traing will affect which type of fibre is synthesized.

While this isnt important to some people, it is to others. A powersquater for example would rarely run since his goal is explosive strength.

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I do lose lean body mass when I do cardio, and wqhen I do cardio it is road running, but I lose far more fat but it is an exchange I am ok with, I think cardio ie running is the best way to lose fat, if your diet sus'd.

If your diet is good then a simple calorie deficit is enough to lose weight without doing cardio at all. I think for bodybuilders cardio should be kept to a minimum, used only for cardiovascular health etc, not as the mainstay of losing bodyfat. Diet is a big key in bodybuilding.

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After bulking I can get to 20% bodyfat, and when bulking I will eat everything in sight. Getting down fron 20% takes more than just diet, I need cardio to do it, just me though I guess. oh btw I am not a competing bb. I just bb to be bigger than everyone else :pfft:

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After bulking I can get to 20% bodyfat, and when bulking I will eat everything in sight. Getting down fron 20% takes more than just diet, I need cardio to do it, just me though I guess. oh btw I am not a competing bb. I just bb to be bigger than everyone else :pfft:

A 'junk' bulk will probably take longer to lose the fat because there will likely be a higher ratio of fat to muscle gain. The reason i say keep cardio to a minimum is if you make your calorie deficit to big then more of the precious muscle you earned will be lost too, trust me its happened to me before.

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Im not saying you should sit on your arse all day and just have a calorie deficit and the fat will melt away, but for bodybuilders their weight training regime and a calorie deficit is usually enough to lose weight whilst keeping muscle catabolism to a minimum. You would be surprised how much energy is used in an intense weight training session. This needs to be taken into account when calculating your 'calorie budget'.

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I hear ya. I have heard this time and again, however when I cut , I like to have the fat down in 8 weeks tops, maybe it is the fact that my bulking is not "clean." To get the fat off I need to pound the street a bit. I have recently been around the 110 kg mark cut to my satisfaction I am below the ton.

running and the resultant slight muscle loss I can live with :)

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  • 4 months later...

Ive heard that running isnt that great for ya bones , It apparently can cause hairline fractures on hard grounds :think: I suppose its a lot of weight to hit the ground at once, So I walk 6kmh for an hr at a grade 8.0 & am able to lower my heat rate to 106bpm if I concontrat , on a warm down that is

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Running isnt all that good for your bones, especially not good for your knees, cartlidge etc. I guess thats why eliptical machines are comming in alot more now

A friend of mine in South Africa is a podiatrist - he says running keeps his business going because so many of the clients he sees are runners with overuse injuries.

Some people are just not meant to pound the pavement, especially at high bodyweights and eventually it takes it's toll. If you have to run, I reckon you should do it on grass if you can and make sure your shoes are just right.

I used to really enjoy running but that was when I weighed 80kg. At 100kg+ I'll stick with the crosstrainer.

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Crikey I like the posts that I'm reading. If only it was so easy to lose fat.

Come on guys and girls - you need to burn calories through some form of cardio to burn fat, not just through your diet.

Don't fool yourselves that you can just get by with weight training. And if you go by the theory that cardio is bad for you i.e. running is bad for your bones (which it is, but it's not the only form of cardio there is), you'll forever be Mr Stay Puffed.

If you are bulking so much that you are eating everything in sight then you will need to take a better a look at your diet at some point to help cut up.

Is cardio completely necessary for fat loss?

Cardio should be kept to a minimum for bodybuilders. Cardio shouldn't be a mainstay of losing bodyfat?

?????????

These are questions that shouldn't really require an answer.

Unfortunately your body type doesn't suddenly differ to every other human once you decide that you are a BB. You can tweak your diet all you want, and add in all sorts of fat burning "supplements" but you're still going to need to do some sort of cardio - even if it is just powerwalking. Sure, cardio shouldn't be a big focus and depending on how tight you are with your diet you may not need to do too much, But if you are following a traditional mass gaining diet it'll be hard to burn off the fat without it. If you're strictly after mass and strength i.e. powerlifting, then you can get away without it, but a BB will always sadly have to do some form of cardio.

If you honestly think you can get by without cardio I challenge you to 12 months of bodybuilding without any form of cardio - that includes running, walking, jogging and whatever else helps you burn more than 6 calories a minute (if you weigh 80kg you'll burn at least 1 calorie/min while you're asleep - standing might scrape your through at around 3 cals/min - golf should get you around 6/min).

To compare results show some before and after shots over 12 months with no cardio. I'll compare with some before and after shots with me after 12 months of BB with cardio, along with a breakdown of the diet.

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I love it when someone lays down a challenge, this will be interesting. This could descend into a 'How much can you bench?' competition. Maybe ya'll should get the NZBB virtual challenge thingy going, with some proper rules!

Come on Flex, get those genetics of yours cranking again....if you can get back to the heady days of New Years 98/99, i'll put my money behind you!

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Fat Can definitely be lost WITHOUT cardio.

I swear Im a living attestment to that.

At the start of January 2004 I weighed 100 kgs. By the Dec 2004 I weighed 75 kgs.

Cardio performed: none.

For the first 5 months of the year I just changed my diet. For the following 7 months I performed weight workouts ( along with changed diet).

Yes I knew nothing about diet. I gained no muscle size. But I did gain strenght and lost a fair bit of fat.

I had to pretty much change my whole wadrobe. I still have the clothes, pictures and Workout Log to prove it mate.

This is NOT to say you dont need cardio or you shouldnt perform cardio.

Just that It Can be done without cardio.

Best,

V.V.

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As far as BB is concerned, if you want to get ripped you have to do cardio or some form of exercise.

If you genrally just want to lose weight without worrying about what the weight is - reduce calories.

If you want to burn fat - you need to burn calories - either through cardio or exercise. Yeah you can elevate your metabolism through weight training, and if you train at a high enough intensity with a monstrous amount of sets you'll burn some calories. There are also some genetic freaks who never do cardio (Serge Nubret) but unless you're genetically gifted, or on stacks of drugs, chances are you'll need to do some form of exercise to help reveal your abs.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Agreed Flex,

I didnt think of it in the BB context at first. No way on earth can you end up ripped n cut for a show without cardio .

lifting huuuuuuge weights and dieting alone has worked just fine for some. dorian yates comes to mind. then again, they tend to use slightly different supplements from the average guy lol

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