Often in the circle of friends, you see your WeChat step count far ahead, but your weight seems to be under a spell, showing no reduction at all.
Walking to lose fat, spot reduction, yoga sculpting, sweating for results…every day, you exercise hard, hoping to get slimmer. However, these seemingly effective exercise methods may not truly help you achieve your weight loss goals.
On this long weight loss journey, have you perhaps inadvertently fallen into some misconceptions?
Misconception 1: Believing that walking 10,000 steps can make you lose weight
If walking could easily help with weight loss, then for girls, shopping would simply be a perfect choice that combines entertainment and fitness.
The concept of “walking to lose weight” has attracted people of all ages, from older generations to young girls, all firmly believing in it. It seems like just walking around the neighborhood garden casually can offset the guilt of overeating at dinner, which sounds good. Unfortunately, most people have misconstrued the true essence of “walking to lose weight.”
Real fat-burning walking has strict standards: maintaining a straight posture, taking large strides, rapidly increasing speed, and having a long enough duration.
Measure your usual walking against these standards:
Head up, chest out, stomach in, using the hips to drive the body;
Speed reaching 2 kilometers in 20 minutes (middle-aged and elderly can extend to around 25 minutes);
Heart rate maintained between 120 to 180 times per minute (middle-aged or chronic patients, heart rate generally maintained between (170 – age) to (180 – age)).
Just casually strolling every day has very limited help for weight loss. To truly get slimmer, you need to try more intense exercise.
Misconception 2: Mistaking yoga stretching as a weight loss tool
Yoga indeed has many advantages, helping to focus the mind, relieve tension, and optimize posture.
But many friends eager to lose fat, without understanding its purpose, blindly start practicing yoga, possibly ending up being a “flexible but overweight person.”
Most yoga movements are relatively gentle and consume very little calories, making the fat loss effect not ideal. One hour of yoga stretching may not burn as many calories as a 10-minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
Weight loss is already tough, so it’s better to choose more effective exercise methods.
Misconception 3: Fantasizing about achieving spot fat reduction
Slimming the legs, waist, stomach…everyone has their own specific areas they want to slim down.
But the cruel truth is: there is no such thing as “spot reduction,” fat loss is systemic.
Those widely circulated spot reduction methods, such as using a hula hoop to slim the stomach, tiptoeing to slim the calves, etc., at most only exercise the local muscles, making specific areas look slightly better, but definitely cannot achieve “train where you want to slim down.”
As for those claiming to “slim calves” or “slim the stomach” local fat reduction secrets or weight loss products, they are baseless and should not be trusted.
Misconception 4: Thinking sweating during exercise means effective weight loss
Taking a photo dripping with sweat after working out seems to have become a standard way of proving “I’m working hard to lose weight.” Sweat has led weight-loss seekers to mistakenly think that the more they sweat, the closer they are to getting slimmer.
However, in reality, weight loss has nothing to do with how much you sweat. Sitting still in summer can also make you sweat, does that mean you automatically get slimmer?
The weight lost through sweating is just water, fat remains staunchly on the body, not budging.
Similarly, using plastic wrap or wearing sweat-wicking clothing during exercise exploits people’s misconceptions, but in reality, has no effect.
Weight loss is not about how much you sweat, but about persistently exercising.
After reading all this, do you feel a little discouraged?
Because weight loss and exercise are not easy tasks, there are so many rumors and unreliable products about “getting slim.” They actually capitalize on people’s desire to “take shortcuts.”
Is there a way to be lazy and still lose weight? Actually, there isn’t. However, today I will introduce you to a super powerful exercise method that you can practice anytime, anywhere, with excellent results. That is the legendary…
Burpee
Burpee translates to “squat thrust jump.”
This is widely recognized as an all-around, efficient fat-burning exercise. It doesn’t require a specific place or equipment, with one movement working out most of the body’s muscle groups, including the core, arms, chest, buttocks, and legs.
Especially suitable for those with limited exercise time or who are somewhat “lazy.”
So, how do you do it? As the name implies, “squat thrust jump” involves four movements: standing, lying down, push-up, and jumping.
Beginners can start with sets of 10, resting 30 seconds after each set. Those with some foundation can do sets of 20, with the same rest time after each set. As for how many sets to do, that depends on your own ability and goals.
Remember, life is in motion, getting slimmer is about persistence!
