Top 5 Metabolism Myths — Dispelled!

You gotta fuel properly! Credit: CherryPoint, Flickr

Metabolism Myth #2: If I work out on an empty stomach, I’ll burn more fat.

While this myth does make sense from a scientific standpoint, logistically it doesn’t necessarily result in weight-loss. The science-y part of it is this: because you’re not eating, your muscles don’t have carbohydrates to use for energy (which is their first go-to), so they turn to fat as their fuel. But that’s probably fat located within your muscles, which really doesn’t do much for losing overall fat mass in your body. An extremely vigorous training regimen would be required to target your overall fat mass — which you likely wouldn’t achieve without eating a snack before, right? Without some type of substance you’d be fatigued and hungry, and your endurance would suffer, sabotaging the whole effort.