How Many Carbs Should You Eat To Lose Weight?

 by Charlie Seltzer

There is no simple answer to this question – in fact, the amount of carbs you need to lose fat is likely going to be different than the amount of carbs your coworker, training partner, best friend or whomever, needs to lose fat.

Two people can have identical body compositions and activity levels, yet due to individual metabolic variations, one may be able to eat twice as many carbs as the other and still lose fat. This, naturally, can be very frustrating for some people. The only way to know for sure the proper amount of carbs you should eat to lose fat is to experiment and find what works best for you. Still, there are some general rules and guidelines that can at least give you a starting point from which to work.

How Many Carbohydrates Does The Body Need To Survive?

The answer to this question, on a strictly physiologic level, is zero. The body can manufacture glucose from other substances, and although the brain’s preferred fuel is glucose, it can use ketones(the by-products of fatty acid breakdown produced in very low insulin states) when no glucose is available. However, from a practical and performance standpoint, zero carbohydrate nutrition plans are not ideal for the vast majority of people. If you are interested in this kind of diet, there are countless books and articles about them, though I do not recommend following a ketogenic diet.

Carbs Versus Calories

Some people believe that it is not calories, but carbohydrates, and your hormonal response to their ingestion (i.e. insulin release), that are responsible for weight gain. They argue that if insulin levels are kept low then fat storage is impossible regardless of the amount of calories consumed. Others believe that a calorie is a calorie and the laws of thermodynamics dictate that if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.

I think that there is some truth to both arguments and they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Fat loss can be different from “weight loss.” It is theoretically possible to eat fewer calories than you burn but lose muscle tissue and gain body fat, as it is possible (though very difficult) to eat more calories than you burn, gain muscle but lose fat.

As a practical matter, however, it may not matter. What works for you, works for you. If you can get away with stuffing your face with protein and fat without regard for total calories, maintain a low body fat percentage, feel well and have optimal biochemistry (low CRP, high HDL, low triglycerides, etc.), then more power to you. Most people, however, will find that calories must be controlled to lose fat. (Note: oftentimes, people who go on low carb diets attribute their weight loss to the lack of carbs when in fact it is the total calorie reduction that occurs with carb restriction that is responsible for the weight loss. These people would likely lose the same amount of fat with a modest reduction in carbs and fat, feel better while they are doing it, and have a better chance of keeping it off in the long run.)

Additionally, people generally feel better with at least some carbohydrate in their diets. The body uses stored sugar to fuel high intensity exercise, which should form the foundation of any fat loss exercise plan, so carbohydrates = improved exercise performance.

What Are The Different Types Of Carbohydrates I Can Eat?

Certain sources of carbohydrates are better at blunting hunger than others. Vegetables and many fruits, with high water and fiber content, contribute to feeling full without providing significant amounts of calories. Other foods, specifically processed carbs like white bread, pasta and sugary candy and cereals pack a strong calorie punch and will likely leave you feeling hungry soon after eating them. Again, though, there is a huge amount of variability from person to person and you must experiment to see which carbs you react well to and which you’d do well avoiding.

How Many Carbs Should I Eat To Lose Weight: Suggestions

If you have diabetes, insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome, you will likely feel better eating a more moderate carbohydrate, higher (healthy) fat and protein diet. Because you feel better you will be more likely to stick with it in the long run. If you feel better eating higher amounts of carbs and are still able to lose body fat (and control blood sugar), then by all means do so. Below are some very general guidelines for fat loss, but remember that everyone is different and certain “carb-sensitive” people may need to severely limit carbs in order to lose fat. In addition, the amount of protein and fat in your diet will also influence the amount of carbs you should be eating per day. Use these are starting points and adjust based on your response:

• Sedentary individuals with insulin resistance: 50-150 grams per day
• Otherwise healthy people looking to lose fat who engage in high intensity exercise:1-3 grams per pound of body weight (along with 1-2 grams of protein per pound of body weight and 30-40 grams of healthy fat per day)

I recommend starting at the upper end and carefully tracking your intake. If your weight is not coming down appropriately (1-2 pounds per week), then begin reducing your carb intake until it does. Again though, if you feel sluggish or tired eating that much (or that little) carbohydrate, then adjust accordingly.

Most importantly, use common sense, work with someone who knows what they are talking about, and listen to your body.

Medically reviewed by Oladapo Babatunde, MD

Comments:
Under 50g net carbs and tight control of protein intack to about 15-25% of total calories can be enough to send someone into ketosis. (The 15-25% varies because some bodies require more protein to function optimally. With others a small amount of protein is required, going over this means excess can be converted to glucose which contributes to blood sugar rise.)

All diets that aim at controlling carbs are to aimed at controlling insulin output. (Even diets that recommend low GI are just to slow the rate of glucose entering the bloodstream therefore limit insulin increase.)

Without insulin we would die. Cells can not absorb energy producing macronutrients effectively without it and consequently they starve despite eating plenty of foods (macronutrients are passed out of the body in the urine).

Insulin is a double edged sword in that it shunts nutrients into muscles as well as fat. So if you have an excess of macro nutrients it can be easily shunted into fat cells. (You have an almost unlimited capacity to store fat but have a limited muscle capacity.)

When Your Weight Fluctuates: What’s Normal and What’s Not

Stop hating the scale and beating yourself up, and head off potentially permanent weight gain
By Jessica Smith

Although you know a number is just a number, it's hard not to worry when you see the scale jump a pound or two overnight or—worse—during the same day. But take a deep breath: Most weight fluctuations are normal.

Since most of us can’t eat enough in a day or two to actually gain 5 or 10 pounds, if you notice a dramatic increase on the scale, chances are it's due to water, says Anita Petruzzelli, M.D., doctor for BodyLogicMD.

“Eating, drinking, urinating, having a bowel movement, and exercise can all impact your body's water composition and therefore weight," she says. For example, high-carb and high-salt foods can cause water retention and a boost in poundage, while exercise can lead to temporary water and weight loss.

So don't get too excited—or freaked—if you weigh yourself after a meal or workout. “Weight gain due to water fluctuation should normalize in a day or two when you resume exercising and eating a healthy diet that's low in salt, refined carbs, and simple sugars," Dr. Petruzzelli says.

However, if those extra pounds keep showing up on the scale after you’ve returned to your regular routine for about a week, it may be time to make some adjustments to your lifestyle. Five is the magic number, according to Joseph Colella, M.D., a bariatric surgeon at Magee Women's Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Most people can recover five pounds rather quickly with minor tweaks to their calorie intake and physical activity.”

And if the scale shows a seven-pound jump for longer than a day or two, more aggressive measures may be called for, such as eliminating alcohol. "Alcohol stimulates your appetite and wrecks your self control regarding the amount of food that you consume," Dr. Colella explains.

The Best Way To Weigh
Despite the fluctuations, you can use a scale to your advantage to track and meet your weight goals.

If you want to drop just a few pounds, jump on every day. "That will give you a regular barometer and, over time, a trend line that you can use to reflect back on what you ate and what you weighed,” Dr. Colella says.

When you're aiming to lose more weight, though, daily check-ins can make or break your whole day. Avoid the unnecessary stress by checking in once a week, he recommends, and keeping tabs on what you are eating.

However often you face the scale, be consistent. Dr. Petruzelli suggests weighing yourself naked first thing in the morning after using the bathroom and always using the same scale.

And don’t forget to use other methods of progress measurement, especially if your weight-loss goal is more than a few pounds, since not all positive changes can be recorded by a scale. Regularly having your body composition checked can determine your body’s exact fat, muscle, and water content, and the way your clothing fits can also be helpful, Dr. Petruzelli says. If your clothes fit or are too loose but the scale says you've gained weight, the gain is probably muscle, she explains.

The Bottom Line
Weight fluctuation is normal, but if the scale rises five or more pounds for longer than a day or two, chances are it’s more than simply water weight and it’s time to make some adjustments.

WHICH IS BETTER? TRX VS. WEIGHTLIFTING

by Laird Harrison

TRX vs. weightlifting: which is better?

I came here to the American College of Sports Medicine’s Annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, hoping to get answers to such questions. This is the premiere wonkfest for exercise experts, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Researchers here presented the only head-to-head comparison I have been able to find of the two approaches. The results? Each approach seems to have its advantages, and neither one is clearly superior.

TRX Suspension Training

For some years now,  suspension training — a system of ropes allowing users to lift their body weight in various configurations — has become increasingly popular.  TRX is probably the best-known and most widely marketed version of suspension training.

(Strictly speaking, it is a form of weightlifting, since you lift your body weight.  But for the purposes of this article I’m using “weightlifting” to mean pumping iron.)

In theory TRX might be more effective for preventing sports injuries than lifting weights on machines because it is more “functional;” it exercises groups of muscles rather than isolating individual ones.

So researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin wanted to compare TRX vs. weightlifting (what they’d called “traditional resistance training.”)

For their purposes, traditional resistance training meant bench presses, back squat, lunges, YTW benches, single leg/stiff leg dead lift, triceps extension, plank pose, hamstring curl, and isometric side hold.

The TRX exercises were suspension versions of the chest press, lunge, two-arm row, squat, YTW, single leg/stiff leg dead lift, triceps extension, hamstring curl, front plank and isometric side hold with pallof press.

The TRX vs. Weightlifting Face Off

The researchers began by taking various measurements of the bodies of 54 adults. Then they asked these volunteers to lift the maximum weight they could for five repetitions on a bench press, five repetitions in a squat and so on to measure the strength of various muscle groups.

Next they randomly assigned half the volunteers to do TRX workouts and half to do traditional resistance training for seven weeks. They compared the difference between younger folks, (19 to 25 years old) and older folks (44 to 65 years old). And finally they performed the same measurements again to see if one group got bigger changes in strength than the other.

They answer depended on which body part they looked at, and the age of the participants. Here are some examples:

Percent Improvement in Strength

	Lower Body	Abdominal Flexor	Back Extensor	Side Bridge Left	Side Bridge Right
Younger Adults: TRX	13.1	80.5	31.1	6.1	15.1
Younger Adults: Traditional Weightlifting	26.5	52.9	9.4	26.1	15.6
Older Adults: TRX	29.3	13.6	66.1	32.2	16.4
Older Adults: Traditional Weightlifing	27.5	-2.3	61.7	20.4	20.9

Overall, the TRX group did better by a few more of the strength measures than the traditional resistance training group.

You have to take these results with a grain of salt, though. First, there’s no such things as one “traditional” resistance training program. Everyone does different things in a weight room. Changing the number of reps in one program or the other might shift the results.

Then of course you have to bear in mind the caveats that always apply: this is only one study, and a fairly small one, so it’s not definitive.

But I’m inclined to agree with the researchers who wrote that TRX “could prove useful to individuals looking for more training options to gain both core endurance and muscular strength simultaneously and [enhance] the diversity of exercise choices.”

Diversity is important in overcoming boredom, which is one of the biggest reasons people give up their exercise regimens. If hanging from straps helps with that, I’m all for it.

Comments:
It is very likely the TRX training stimulates muscle fibres from many different angles thus is a much more effective way to strengthen muscles. In addition muscles are likely to be stretched in the starting position so the range of motion is a little greater.

With older people generally experiencing the greatest improvement it is likely older people are less active therefore have lost the most strength. With some training that strength built up much faster. This rapid increase in strength is not likely to be seen in old people that have continued to strength train. Continued training means strength loss is very minor or no strength has been lost.

TRX is a different method of training and relies on whether you like it or not. More options are always better than fewer options.

How Muscles Get Big

The science behind muscle soreness and building muscle mass.

Article By: Leanna Carpenter

We’ve always said that combining an active lifestyle with healthy eating makes you more likely to lose weight and keep it off. So now you’re thinking about hitting the gym and maybe even building up some muscle. Well, we’ve enlisted two fitness experts to help you understand how muscles get big. And believe it or not, it’s by carefully overworking them. We said carefully. So read on to find out how.

Though it may seem a little counterintuitive, Michael Moses, a team doctor for the Marine Corps Marathon, the Washington Redskins and the Washington Wizards cheerleaders, helps explain the process.

“When muscles are overloaded during weight lifting, little tears are made in the muscle itself,” he says. “This microtrauma may sound harmful but is in fact the natural response of your muscles when they experience work. The muscle repairs these tears when you're resting, and this helps muscles grow in size and strength.”

So when you lift weights, you’re actually slightly damaging your muscles by allowing them to lift more weight than they would in normal daily life.

And that damage is why you wake up sore the next day. To think of it in simple terms, you’re nursing an injury, and the pain is telling you no más. Some guys who work out say the muscle soreness is actually worse the second day after working out. This pain is caused by minute tears in the fibers of the connective tissues in your body—the ligaments that connect bones to other bones, and the tendons that connect muscles to bones.

“This is known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and researchers think it could be caused by microscopic tears in the muscles fibers following a bout of exercise,” says Michael Wood, CSCS, a nationally recognized personal trainer.

“Muscles become sore after training because of the microscopic tear. This kind of soreness is OK and might even feel worse two to three days after the workout but will go away,” says Moses.

While soreness after working out is normal, it illustrates the need to get enough rest between workouts because your muscles need ample time to get stronger, bigger and firmer. Not resting each body part for at least two days can set you up for an injury.

So when you’re doing an exercise that actually hurts you on a minor level, you need to take measures so that you’re doing controlled damage to your body. This means warming up before lifting weights. “The main benefit to warming up is injury prevention because blood will be pumping to an area, lowering the chance of a muscle pull or joint injury,” Moses says. 

While you may be sore for a couple of days after working certain muscles, there are other things you can do to help stimulate muscle-building. The first: Eat something. “There is about a 60-minute time frame after you work out when your body can most benefit from a decent meal — and don't be afraid of carbs,” Moses says.

Wood says eating within 30 minutes can be even more beneficial, suggesting a balanced meal with carbs and protein. “You should focus on post-workout nutrition and proper recovery,” he says. “Once the muscle has been overloaded, it is then necessary to focus on the nutritional component followed by adequate sleep to ensure optimal results.”

By the same token, stretching the muscles after exercise will help with muscle recovery, as will sitting in the hot tub at your gym, if it has one. These activities lower the risk of injury after a workout by allowing the muscle to keep from tightening up.

Generally speaking, bigger muscle groups (legs, back and chest) will take longer to recover than smaller ones, and working out these larger muscle groups will also burn the most calories in your workout.

However, you should ask yourself why you’re working the muscles. Are you trying to build strength or athletic endurance? “The key is trying to find the right intensity (load) for weight lifting,” says Wood. “If you’re still very sore a few days following a workout, the load was most likely too heavy. Remember, heavier is not necessarily better.”

The rate at which your muscles recover can be influenced by your diet and sleep patterns. A good diet and a full night’s sleep (seven to eight hours) will help muscles recover. While everyone’s body is different, Moses says it’s relatively safe to work muscle groups twice per week to give ample recovery time. But even that is a loose guideline. You should always check with your doctor to make sure you’re not doing too much. 

When you decide to build muscle, Moses says it’s important to know when to say when. “You should exercise to the point of fatigue but not pain,” he says. If you notice any swelling or inflammation in your muscles or joints before or after lifting, Moses says to stop until things return to normal or check in with your doctor. And be sure to listen to your body. 

“Never ignore numbness or tingling,” Moses says. "Such sensations are often related to nerve compression, and these warning signs may indicate serious injury that should always be examined by a physician.”

Remember, even though you're making a decision to lift weights for health reasons, you don’t want to push your body too far. Building muscle, endurance and strength takes time. And just like weight loss, it’s best to do it slowly and safely. Lifting too much weight or not giving your muscles enough healing time can result in an injury and actually hinder your goals. Always listen to the messages your body is sending.

“To experience soreness in muscle is one thing, but to experience soreness in joints, ligaments or tendons is another thing,” says Wood.

Reactive Hypoglycemia

Reactive hypoglycemia is a condition in which the body reacts to a perceived catastrophic drop in blood sugar. I say perceived because during an episode, the blood sugar readings may be in the normal range, but still "feel" like low blood sugar to the person having the reaction.

In my experience, hypoglycemia happens to most people when first beginning a low carb, ketogenic diet. It may be especially strong in people who have already developed insulin resistance or pre-diabetes from a chronic excess of carbohydrate intake.

Dr. Mary Vernon, a physician who treats metabolic syndrome and diabetes patients with a low carb diet, says there are actually two types of hypoglycemia that patients can experience.

Hypoglycemia, the first type, normally happens when most people who have been eating a high carb diet drastically reduce carbohydrate intake for the first time. This type happens during the first several weeks of carb reduction because the body has not had time to create the enzymes or metabolic state to burn internal fat stores for fuel. Basically there is a gap in the amount of carbohydrate available for fuel, and the process of accessing fat stores for fuel. The lack of fuel sources results in transient low blood sugar.

Reactive hypoglycemia, the second type, is more of an acute reaction to a very high carb meal. For instance, when a person eats 2 or 3 glazed donuts, there is a huge spike in blood sugar and insulin after such a meal. The insulin spike drives blood sugar very low afterwards.

How Reactive Hypoglycemia (or just plain Hypoglycemia) Happens

Insulin, a hormone, is secreted from the pancreas in response to eating food, especially foods high in carbohydrates. Its main job is to move the sugar your body makes from the food you eat into your cells so that this excess sugar can be broken down for energy or stored. Insulin is a very powerful hormone, and it acts very quickly. The amount of insulin your body secretes is closely tied to how much blood sugar is being created from food.

Eating a high carbohydrate diet over a long period of time will cause a chronic elevation of your blood sugar, which results in a chronic elevation of your insulin levels. High levels of insulin are associated with inflammation and obesity, mainly because when insulin levels are elevated, fat storage is increased, and burning stored fat for fuel is inhibited. It’s a sort of vicious circle - the more carbohydrate eaten, the higher the insulin, the less stored fat can be accessed to fuel the body, so more carbohydrate has to be eaten to provide fuel instead.

One of the benefits of eating a ketogenic diet is its ability to lower your average blood sugar and insulin levels, and allow the body to burn stored fat. However, when first starting the diet, your body might still be in high carbohydrate, high insulin mode.

As you lower your carbohydrate intake, you begin a process of retraining your body to burn stored fat instead of carbohydrates for fuel. Normally, it takes from 1-3 weeks for the body to adjust the new lower level of carbohydrate intake, and build the enzymes needed to burn stored fat.

Meanwhile, during this adjustment phase, your pancreas is still secreting enough insulin for the older, higher level of carbohydrate consumption. And remember, because insulin levels are high, the body is dependent on carbohydrate for fuel, since stored fat can't be accessed.

Your body hums along with less carb intake for a couple of days because it can tap into the stored carb (glycogen) in your liver and muscles. But eventually, the glycogen stores get low, more insulin is secreted than actually needed, and a couple of hours later, you have a severe episode of reactive hypoglycemia.

Your body perceives that your blood glucose is too low, and starts evasive tactics to get that sugar from somewhere. It pumps out adrenalin to tell the liver to break down some protein into glucose FAST and dump it in the blood stream.

The adrenalin causes the symptoms that are associated with reactive hypoglycemia:

• heart palpitations or fibrillation
• dizziness
• light-headedness
• sweating
• headaches
• nervousness
• irritability
• shaking and tremors
• flushing
• craving for sweets
• intense hunger
• nausea, vomiting
• panic attack
• numbness/coldness in the extremities
• fatigue and shakiness for hours afterwards

Generally, drinking or eating something that is high in carbohydrate, like orange juice or candy, relieves the majority of the symptoms after about 15 minutes. There may be some residual fatigue and shakiness for a time afterwards. (I've have episodes of reactive hypoglycemia so bad I was still shaky 6 hours later.)

In my experience, eating 1-2 glucose tablets are an easier and faster way to relieve the symptoms. When beginning a ketogenic diet, I highly recommend buying some glucose tablets or glucose drinks like the ones below and carrying them around with you. They are available at most discount stores in the diabetic supplies section.

In addition, my friend Luke, who loves rock climbing, swears by a product called SuperStarch by UCAN. He says it has helped him get past some hypoglycemic episodes when he started a keto diet. He says the product is marketed as a gluten free sports drink, and supplies sodium and potassium as well as carbohydrate to help with low blood sugar. He writes "It has really saved my bacon more than once and allows me to stay on my ketogenic diet with confidence."

I have never used Superstarch, but Dr. Peter Attia at the Eating Academy blog uses this product and he's pretty savvy about ketogenic diets and exercise.

How to Avoid Reactive Hypoglycemia

In the short term, when first starting a low carb diet, eating more frequently may help.

Long term, the best way to avoid reactive hypoglycemia is to permanently reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat on a daily basis.

This will eventually lower your daily blood sugar and circulating insulin. Once insulin returns to normal levels, your body can then access its fat stores, and quickly switch over to burning fat for fuel when you go without a meal or two.

During the first phases of eating a lower carb, ketogenic diet, it’s a good idea to make sure you eat every 3-4 hours. Until you can retrain your body to burn fat, don’t try to go for more than 4 hours without food.

Paradoxically, some people who experience chronic hypoglycemic reactions report that waiting 5-6 hours before the next meal actually helps reduce the reactions.

Be aware that mainstream physicians aren’t generally knowledgeable about this condition because it is rooted in nutritional causes. Doctors aren’t taught about the power of nutrition, and so he or she may minimize your concerns about it.

But if you having these reactions, it indicates you are becoming insulin resistant, and that can mean you are on a path to diabetes, even if your fasting blood sugar is normal.

You may have to reduce your carbohydrate consumption slowly over a longer period of time to minimize these reactions, but eventually, by continuing to consume a diet lower in high carb foods, you should be able to avoid reactive hypoglycemia completely.

Source

Comments:
Reactive Hypoglycemia seems to be a short term state where the body is not able to access its fat stores as efficiently as it should. Ideally, a shortfall in glucose as fuel should be very quickly matched by fat burning. But due to chronic high intakes of carbs the body has become very dependent on carb metabolism.

It may be possible to consume a lower amount of carbs a little at a time for instance reduce carb calories by 10% each week and replace these with fat calories to slowly build up the fat metabolising enzymes. I have found that when my glycogen stores are full I should not go over a certain range of carb consumption each meal as to not trigger a massive high in insulin production. Also, slowing that carb from entering the bloodstream helps a great deal with controlling the nasty symptoms associated with reactive hypoglycemia.

The steps I have taken include limiting carb consumption, picking lower GI carbs with more fibre, limiting dairy (some proteins in dairy seem to provoke a really strong insulin release), doing some strength training before a heavy meal (to make the muscles more able to absorb glucose) and drinking a couple of glasses of water with my meal to dilute the digestive enzymes (slow down the break down of the carbs) to be helpful. (Intermittent fasting seems to help to break the cycle faster - near bed time when hopefully if I do experience short term hypoglycemia I don't feel it).

The symptoms are strongly associated with excess adrenaline secretion which brings about a panicked state. Remaining calm helps as does gentle exercise and anything to calm the mind as your body gets used to burning fat and decreasing adrenaline secretion. This will take a number of weeks and more for very severe cases (people that have been very insulin resistant) or have type 2 diabetes).

It makes very good sense the brain would be affected because it is one of the organs that requires some carb to operate as it can not burn fat alone. (With a carb rich diet the brain has a strong reliance on carb but on a low carb diet the brain can slowly adapt to burn a much higher ratio of fat.) With the brain affected it can seem like real panic and have certain neurological symptoms that are more severe than they really are.

Many people that have been on a keto diet for months where the main fuel consumed is fat (carbs and protein are low and controlled) report they have very clear thinking as opposed to when they had a carb rich diet where they recall they had trouble concentrating when they missed meals. (Missing some meals should not have had such a dramatic affect unless we are very short of essential nutrients because even thin people can carry 100,000 C worth of stored fat on their bodies. Current government guidelines do not explain why this huge storage is there. Speculatively, it is likely humans have in history have had to rely on this huge tank of calories for perhaps days or weeks without eating much because food was not as plentiful or available as it is today.)

Everyone, is a little different so do what works well for you. But one thing is absolutely clear is the need to break out of the cycle.

25 MORE FITNESS MYTHS CRUSHED

by Pauline Nordin

If you're new to dieting and training, you might unknowingly get stuck reading fitness fiction. Bad advice can make hitting your goals next to impossible.

Health and fitness shouldn't be just a week-long fad. It should be a life-long pursuit. Each new gain should bring about a slew of new goals: If you lose 20 pounds, sign up for a 5K; if you reach a new squat PR, see what you can do about your deadlift. There's no end to how far you can take your fitness. The problem for most is just getting started.

As a beginner, you may fall prey to the inconsistencies and falsehoods spread by the uneducated and the untrained. (As if getting off the couch isn't hard enough!) The best way to go into the fitness world is through the doors of knowledge. If you learn a little before you start, you'll be much better equipped to deal with setbacks, plateaus, nutrition questions, and training debacles.

If you haven't already, check out the first 25 debunked fitness myths before you read the next 25. Although these myth-busting articles won't necessarily turn you into an Arnold look-alike, they will help you make smart choices and find real ways to meet your fitness objectives.

MYTH 26: I CAN SPOT-REDUCE MY PROBLEM AREAS

TRUTH: Spot-reduction is not possible unless you go for liposuction. Without such surgery, your body will draw fat from different regions at different rates depending on your genetic makeup.

If spot reduction was possible by training and diet, you'd seldom see women with lower-body fat deposits or men with big guts.

MYTH 27: A PROTEIN BAR IS A GOOD SUBSTITUTION FOR A MEAL

TRUTH: Nope. Protein bars are highly processed, unless you make them yourself. Highly processed food requires fewer calories to digest, so that benefit is diminished. I love protein bars, but I eat them as treats to be eaten instead of, say, a Snickers bar.

MYTH 28: MUSCLE DEFINITION COMES FROM LIFTING LIGHT WEIGHT FOR MANY REPS

TRUTH: Leanness and muscle definition come from having muscle mass and low body fat. If you train with light weights only, you just won't build muscle. If you don't have any muscle mass, you won't burn much fat. If you have low body fat coupled with small muscles, you'll have nothing to show off!

MYTH 29: CARBS ARE FOUND ONLY IN BREAD AND NOODLES

TRUTH: Wrong. You also find carbs in grains, starches, fruit, vegetables, dairy, nuts, and seeds.

MYTH 30: MY CALCIUM MUST COME FROM DAIRY

TRUTH: You can get calcium from vegan sources like broccoli and sesame seeds, but in order to get the recommended intake of elemental calcium, you need to eat plenty! Dietitians forget that you cannot consume one cup of sesame seeds per day on a fat-loss diet.

A cup of sesame seeds would provide 1400 mgs of calcium—but also 825 calories. Two pounds of broccoli would yield 426 mgs of calcium, but broccoli also contains oxalic acid which inhibits calcium absorption. Sea vegetables, like hijiki, contain arsenic in addition to the high calcium content.

Supplementation is a good idea, but you may need to take more than you think. Calcium carbonate is a source of calcium that has 40 percent elemental calcium, so when the label on the bottle reads: "1000 mgs per serving," it means you only get 400 mgs out of it.

Calcium citrate is 20 percent elemental, therefore 1000mgs of calcium citrate yields 200 mgs. Before you supp, make sure you know how much calcium you need and compare it to the label.

MYTH 31: IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE, YOUR DIET MUST CONSIST ONLY OF CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI

TRUTH: This is an old school bodybuilding mentality that came about due to lack of knowledge about nutrients and what they do for you. If you eat only 2-3 sources of food, you'll end up nutrient deficient. Plus who wants to eat chicken and broccoli all day?

MYTH 32: YOU CAN'T GAIN MUSCLE AFTER 40

TRUTH: Age does bring wear and tear, but at 40 you're still a training baby unless you've been a competitive professional athlete since you were a teenager. You can gain muscle despite hormonal deficiencies—it just may be a tad harder.

If you are over 40, you might want to go check your blood and run some saliva tests to rule out deficiencies. If you're deficient in some hormones, you may want to look into replacement therapy so you aren't at risk for heart disease or osteoporosis.

MYTH 33: THE MORE YOU SWEAT, THE MORE FAT YOU LOSE

TRUTH: Sweat has nothing to do with intensity; it's your body's way of getting rid of heat. Fat is oxidized inside your body, and it is not going to vaporize because you're sweating!

MYTH 34: AVOCADOS, PEANUT BUTTER, AND OILS ARE "CLEAN" AND CAN HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT

TRUTH: Healthy fats are an important part of your diet, but having even a 100 percent clean diet doesn't mean you'll lose weight. You can be overweight and eat nothing but "clean" food.

MYTH 35: FRUIT IS A HEALTHY SNACK THAT CAN'T MAKE YOU FAT

TRUTH: Humans eat food because it gives us nutrients and fuel, but any kind of food, no matter how healthy, can make you gain weight. Fruit has a lot of easily accessible carbs. When you provide your body with easily accessible carbs, you're basically telling it to stop burning body fat for fuel.

MYTH 36: YOGA WILL GET YOU RIPPED

TRUTH: Unless you're doing hot yoga, yoga doesn't burn many calories because it doesn't require much oxygen. It also doesn't stimulate muscle growth in the same way that weight training does. Most buff and ripped yoga bunnies weight train and practice yoga.

Sure, you can "get ripped" doing yoga if you don't eat—but you're not going to have a decent amount of muscle mass.

MYTH 37: DOING CARDIO BEFORE WEIGHTS WILL HELP YOU GET SHREDDED FASTER

TRUTH: If you run on a treadmill before you hit the weights, you'll be too fatigued to train as heavy as you can. You need muscle, not miles to burn fat.

MYTH 38: CAFFEINE HAS ONLY NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON THE BODY

TRUTH: The problems withcaffeine occur mostly because of overconsumption. But with moderate use, caffeine has many benefits beyond that of energy for athletic performance.

Do yourself a favor and check out PubMed to see some studies about the positive benefits of moderate caffeine consumption.

MYTH 39: BCAAS ARE THE SAME THING AS PROTEIN

TRUTH: Protein is a complex of several amino acids linked together. BCAAs are branched chain amino acids: L-leucine, iso-leucine and L-valine. These three amino acids are the most abundant type in muscle tissue. If you take BCAAs before and after you work out, you protect your muscles from breakdown.

However, BCAAs release insulin, which makes them anabolic just like carbs. Because they act like carbs, it's probably best not to take them before a low-intensity cardio workout—especially if you're trying to burn that last pound or two of body fat.

MYTH 40: CREATINE CAUSES MASSIVE WEIGHT GAIN

TRUTH: Creatine is found naturally in your body. Creatine's primary use is as an energy source. Creatine pulls water with it into the muscle cell, which can cause the cell to volumize. Volumized cells are healthy and, in super-jacked people, can actually make muscles look bigger.

The reason for the weight-gain myth is that most people combine a creatine supplement with carbs and other bulking food. Combined with sugar, creatine can cause subcutaneous water gain.

MYTH 41: HIGH-PROTEIN DIETS ARE BAD FOR YOUR KIDNEYS

TRUTH: Protein taxes the kidneys because they have to work harder to process it. Healthy people without a preexisting kidney condition are fine to eat a lot of protein as long as they drink a lot of water too.

MYTH 42: CLEANSE PRODUCTS WILL ONLY ENHANCE YOUR RESULTS

TRUTH: Medically, there's no reason to do a cleanse. Your body has natural ways of detoxifying. If you eat a healthy diet that includes a lot of vegetables. A cleanse is a waste of money.

MYTH 43: ALL PROTEIN POWDER IS THE SAME, SO IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH ONE I USE

TRUTH: There are many different types of protein: soy, casein, egg and whey (to name a few). Each of these protein powder types work a little differently, and each kind of protein has a different amount of carbs, fat, cholesterol, and calories.

Protein taste also varies depending on brand and type. Choose a protein that's right for your goals and price point.

MYTH 44: SOY IS A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO WHEY PROTEIN

TRUTH: Soy protein has a lower Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score than animal products. It's not as well-balanced in essential amino acids. It is an alternative. Whether it's a "great" alternative is up to you and depends on your goal.

MYTH 45: SOY IS THE ONLY PROTEIN YOU CAN USE IF YOU ARE A VEGETARIAN

TRUTH: Soy isn't the only option. You can have rice protein, hemp protein, and pea protein. There are plenty of options. You just need to do a little research.

MYTH 46: THE ONLY WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT IS BY CUTTING OUT ALL CARBS

TRUTH: The only way to lose the right amount of weight is by adopting a diet than supports your goal, training with weights, and doing some cardio. Your program should include all of these aspects long enough to see a difference. Diet, weights, and cardio—the holy trinity of fitness!

MYTH 47: ALL VEGETABLES ARE CREATED THE SAME, SO I CAN SWAP ANY VEGGIES I DON'T LIKE FOR ONES THAT I LOVE

TRUTH: Vegetables contain different amounts of calories. Some have 12 grams per 100 calories, others have 80 calories. You cannot swap broccoli for turnips without having to recalculate your calories.

MYTH 48: IF YOU AREN'T SORE THE NEXT DAY, YOUR WORKOUT WASN'T HARD ENOUGH

TRUTH: Soreness is inflammation and the chemical response to inflammation. The only yardstick by which you need to measure progress is that of your goal. There are Olympic athletes who haven't felt soreness in years. Judge your workout by what happens during that workout.

If you hit a PR, and you aren't sore the next day, it doesn't mean you didn't expend enough energy, it means your energy expenditure was just right. Judging your progress by a pain threshold is incorrect—you don't have to have soreness to gain muscle size or strength.

MYTH 49: IF YOU WANT TO GET IN SHAPE, YOU HAVE TO RUN FOR LONG DISTANCES

TRUTH: Your fitness success depends upon your goal. If you want to be able to run 10 miles without breaking a sweat, then yes, you'll have to run.

If your goal is fat loss or muscle gain, running for miles and miles may not be the best way to lose pounds. The more efficient your body becomes at running, the fewer calories you'll burn.

MYTH 50: BIG MUSCLES ARE STRONG MUSCLES

TRUTH: There's a difference between training your muscles to be big and training your muscles to be strong. For physique athletes, size and shape—not strength—is the ultimate goal. For athletes, strength for maximum effort is most important.

I'm not saying that big muscles aren't strong, but put a bodybuilder and an Olympic lifter in front of a loaded barbell and see who can clean the most weight. Either person is capable of being strong or built—it's all a matter of training for a specific goal.