Fitness Fibs. They’re a dime a dozen. If only they were all true, we’d be eating Big Macs in our svelte little black dresses without a care in the world!

Each of us has heard all sorts of things over the years that are simply not true as we attempt to become fit or maintain our weight.  I’ve rounded up some classics along with some assistance from a few of my Twitter followers.

Calories don’t count if you eat while you’re standing up
Sure thing, just be ready for how much bigger your butt’s gotten when you sit back down.

You’ll eat less if you use chopsticks
This one is actually true — until you learn how to eat with chopsticks, and then you can shovel it in as fast as you ever did with a fork! Besides, if this was true, would they need to sell this product in Japan?

Drinking ice cold water burns more calories because your body has to heat it up~@conhake
Um, no, not really. Okay, maybe a teensy calorie, but that teensy calorie doesn’t justify that jumbo chocolate chip cookie. And if this theory were correct, wouldn’t milkshakes be good for you?

Sex burns as many calories as a game of tennis ~ @danaseverance
Maybe Sting pulled this one off during his tantric years, but an average 150-pound person burns 72 calories serving up foreplay and 336 calories serving up forehands. And that’s assuming 40-minute sessions in each case. Which, let’s be honest, could be a big assumption for one of these two games involving love.

No Pain.  No Gain ~ @lwcavallucci
A classic. If your body hurts, you’re doing something wrong!  You’re only gain will be a wrenched back or torn muscle.  Please stop.

Don’t lift anything too heavy; you’ll look like a body builder! ~ @rosyblue
This one is directed to females. Lifting heavy weights will make you look like a body builder only if you’re taking steroids. Otherwise you’ll just look like a cool, svelte girl!

A pound of muscle burns 50 or more calories a day while at rest
This is one a lot of people buy into and @bodyforwife has done an excellent job debunking it.  For the details go here.  Suffice it to say, if you gain 20 pounds of muscle, you do NOT get to eat an extra 1,000 calories a day. But you DO get to look awesome!

Feel free to share other fitness myths you’ve heard over the years in the comments below.  Happy April Fool’s Day!

Lisa

Thanks to @lwcavallucci, @rosyblue, @danaseverance and @bodyforwife for contributing greatly to this post. Thanks especially to @wymer for suggesting the topic and injecting his great sense of humor into this post.  He is the co-author today!

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