It seems that for every fat loss fact that exists out there, there is a fat loss myth to counteract it. There’s no question that people are looking for a shortcut to losing fat and getting in shape and sometimes they are all too willing to believe things that simply aren’t true. These myths are pushed by weight loss gurus and fitness magazines often to try to help sell products or simply to generate interest. The problem is if you are someone who has ever believed one of these myths or still do currently they can undermine your fat loss success and leave you disappointed and disillusioned.

Here we’re going to take a look at four commonly held fat loss myths:

Spot reduction-spot reduction is a fat loss myth that we still commonly hear about all the time. When someone has a commercial for a particular product to help you tone and tighten your abs and they use examples of people who have used their products and flattened their belly they’re basically propagating this myth. While doing crunches can build muscles in your abdominals, it cannot help you lose fat in that area. To lose fat you have to lose it all over your body and there is no exercise that can allow you to lose fat from one part of the body versus another.

High rep weightlifting-this is another one that we hear about all the time, low reps for muscle, high reps for fat loss. Fat loss can occur with extended aerobic exercise and a sustained heart rate for 40 or more minutes. If you do arm curls for 40 minutes in a row then yes you might lose some fat. You might also lose the ability to use your arms for about a week. The high reps these people are usually talking about are in the 15 to 20 range and when considering the normal range for building muscle is about 8 to 12 you can see that these few extra reps will not do anything to burn fat. Low rep heavy weight sets that build muscle actually do more to burn fat over the long-term because the increased muscle on your body will help to speed up your metabolism.

Working out on an empty stomach-we’ve all heard that in order to lose fat you must get up first thing in the morning and work out on empty stomach. While it may be true to some degree that without the presence of a ready supply of recently digested food your body may choose to metabolize fat stores for energy, the reality is if you haven’t eaten recently your workout will suffer and your energy will be so depleted it is unlikely you will be able to perform at a high enough level to achieve your results.

Drinking cold water-some have touted drinking cold water as a proven fat loss tip. This one is just laughable. It is wise to get plenty of water into your system throughout the day and a commonly held rule of thumb of eight glasses could certainly be helpful to your overall metabolism but the temperature of the water would not matter one bit. Once the liquid hits your stomach weather it was room temperature or ice cold your body will normalize and regulate the temperature in about 30 seconds or so.

Be sure to use common sense and a good bit of research whenever you hear about a new tip for fat loss that seems a bit too good to be true. There are so many myths out there that it can be hard to tell fact from fantasy. Hopefully, dispelling these four fat loss myths here will help you stay on the right track so that you can achieve the fat loss goals you desire.