Youth Incorporated Magazine

Fitness and going to the gym has been all the rage across the country and the world, naturally because a hefty amount of population goes to the gym, there are bound to be some misconceptions and myths that have become a part of our life. Some of them are mitigated by the fitness industry to sell supplements and some propagated by everyday gym dudes who make claims that aren’t backed by science. Let’s take a look at a few of them and bust some myths!

1. Carbs Such As Rice and Roti make you fat

This is the number one claim put forth by the gym going population saying that carbs give you a belly or makes you fat, however, this cannot be further from the truth. Carbohydrates are one of the macros of our diet and generally, 55% of your energy should come from them. Our body requires a certain amount of calories to maintain our weight. If we exceed that maintenance calorie level we are bound to gain weight and if we don’t eat as many calories, we will lose weight. For example, If our calorie maintenance level is 2000, we will lose weight over a period of time by eating 1800 calories and gain weight over a period of time by eating 2200 calories.

Nevertheless, we will gain weight by consuming Protein, Lipids or the other macros too, if they exceed our maintenance calories.

2. Reducing Fat in a Particular Body Part is Possible

You might have heard this while you were working out – “Do a 100 crunches everyday, and you will lose belly fat.” Unfortunately, what those 100 crunches will do is build the muscle mass in the core, but fat is lost by a caloric deficit itself. Spot reduction in any particular body part like belly, glutes, jaw isn’t possible. You’ll lose body fat throughout your body and some stubborn areas will retain more fat than the others, spot reduction is, therefore, a myth.

3. You need supplements to make an Impressive Physique

This lie is sold to you by supplement and fitness companies to attain a healthy and fit physique. Supplements are essentially what they’re called, they supplement a healthy diet and exercise regimen. Your whole food diet, however, is necessary for a healthy lifestyle and if you hit your macros and micros in your diet, there is no need for supplements. Avoid supplements especially if you’re under 18 years of age, and get your nutrients from whole foods.

We’ve come to a time where people, especially young people are enthusiastic about building their physique. However to pursue that we sometimes listen to information that is convenient to us and is wrong scientifically. We then propagate this information further and that’s how a Myth is formed. Let’s follow the time-tested scientific methods and information to get healthy results on our training and diet and not fall into this endless loop of myths!