fitness myths BUSTED!

myth #1: if you do ab exercises, you will lose belly fat
truth: the only way to lose belly fat is to achieve overall fat loss, which is (to put it simply) expending more calories than you consume. Eating at a caloric deficit and also exercising is THE ONLY way to lose belly fat.

myth #2: you will lose weight as long as the food you eat is healthy

truth: if I were to rate on a scale of 1-10 the importance of the quality of your food, it would be a 7. The rating of the amount of food you eat would be a 10. Yes, eating healthier and eating more nutritional foods aids in weight loss because it has micronutrients, fiber, and is less calorically dense (lower in calories). But at the end of the day, if you are not eating less than your maintenance calories, you won't lose weight. The same rule applies to weight gain... you can still get fat eating chicken and broccoli!

myth #3: foods that you think are healthy but actually aren't
1. fruit juice-essentially equivalent to a soda, the actual nutritional content was sucked out of it when the fruit was processed. consider this a sugar bomb... stick to real fruit or blend your own smoothies.
2. protein bars-many protein bars are glorified candy bars. pay attention to sugar content (stay under 10g), protein to carb ratio (keep the protein and carbs within 10g of each other) and check the fat if you are counting macros. protein bars that I recommend are ThinkThin bars, Quest bars, Pure Protein bars, Power Crunch bars, and (as an indulgence) Larry and Lenny's muscle brownie and complete cookie.... YUM.

I hope that busting a couple myths helped you. Bust a few more if you would like, or add me for healthy recipes, motivation, and advice. I'm free to help!