The online world is both a blessing and a curse for those looking for information to help improve their health and fitness.

In order to help you sift through all the bullshit, we have compiled a list of the top 10 nutrition and fitness myths we’ve come across as coaches.

#1 - Carbs will make you fat

Since the dawn of the “Atkins Diet” and the “South Beach Diet”, carbohydrates have been vilified as a major contributor to fat gain.

Certain influencers have gone to great lengths to rail against the fat gaining evils of carbs to sell their trendy diets, detoxes and supplements.

Unfortunately, these claims had very little to do with science and a lot to do with padding their wallets.

In a year-long randomized clinical trial conducted by Dr. Christopher Gardner of Stanford University, over 600 participants were assigned to either a healthy low-fat diet or a healthy low-carb diet.

“At 12 months, the low-fat group had lost 11.7 lbs (5.3 kg) and the low-carb group 13.2 lbs (6.0 kg); this difference of 1.5 lbs over 12 months (0.125 lbs/month) is neither statistically significant nor clinically relevant. No significant weight-loss differences were seen between the low-fat and low-carb groups, and neither genetics nor insulin production could predict weight-loss success on either diet. There were also no significant differences between groups for most other health markers tested.”

This study showed that a consistent calorie deficit was the deciding factor in weight loss, whether that was achieved through a low-fat or a low-carb diet.

Where people run into trouble is when eating too many highly-processed foods, most of which happen to be carbs (think of chips, cookies, candy bars, french fries, frozen pizzas and so on).

TRUTH FIX: Focus on more smart carbs (fruits, veggies, whole grains, potatoes, etc) for your general health, and focus on calorie deficit for fat loss

#2 - Egg yolks are bad for you

One problem that consistently shows up in the media about nutrition is that there is often no delineation between terms like fat and cholesterol found in food and fat and cholesterol that exists in our bodies.

Because of this lack of clarity, the idea of the egg yolk as a healthy food has been thrown out like the proverbial baby with the bath water. Many people with high cholesterol (and even normal cholesterol levels) have needlessly avoided the many nutrients of eggs for fear of raising their cholesterol and their risk of heart disease. The truth is egg yolks seem to have no effect or can actually HELP cholesterol levels in most cases when a part of a healthy diet.

A number of randomized controlled trials have found no link between egg consumption and an increase in risk markers for heart disease, insulin sensitivity or blood glucose, both in healthy populations and among people with diabetes or high cholesterol.

TRUTH FIX: Whole eggs are a superfood! Eat egg yolks as part of a healthy diet, as they are rich in choline (important for brain health), iron, phosphorus, selenium, vitamins A, B12, B2 and B5, and contain all 9 essential amino acids!

#3 - Eating often will boost your metabolism (more smaller meals over fewer larger ones)

Have you ever tried eating 5-7 smaller meals a day to boost your metabolism?

Us too.

The idea is attractive, as it allows us to satisfy cravings more often. Unfortunately, the science doesn’t back up the argument that more frequent eating equals a higher metabolic rate that would lead to fat loss.

A meta-analysis on eating frequency by the British Journal of Nutrition showed no evidence that weight loss was affected by meal frequency, whether it be higher or lower.

Their conclusion states, “Any effects of the meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through the effects of the food intake side of the energy balance equation.”

TRUTH FIX: For fat loss, discover whatever meal frequency best allows you to maintain a calorie deficit.

#4 - You aren’t losing weight because your body is in “Starvation Mode”

The frustration of plateauing in a fat loss journey makes people highly susceptible to explanations that don’t require more self-awareness and more hard work.

This is where ideas like “Starvation Mode” are born.

You haven’t lost weight (notice I didn’t say body fat) in a while even though you feel like you’re doing everything right. Maybe you’ve entered “Starvation Mode”, the idea that you’ve damaged your metabolism by restricting too much and it’s now impossible to lose weight.

It is true that as your bodyweight gets lower, you will undergo metabolic changes because your body will have lower energy demands. However, this is not “metabolic damage” or “starvation mode”, but a natural adaptation associated with your body’s desire to keep you alive. The human body has no concept of the abundance of food most of us have in the modern world. To the body, a sustained calorie deficit and reduction in bodyweight are both signs of famine and it responds accordingly by storing and conserving calories.

So lower body weight = a more energy-efficient body.

TRUTH FIX: You are likely: being too impatient, unaware of how many calories you are actually consuming, or most likely, both. Take a longer view - focus on higher consistency with your nutrition and exercise/movement and stop putting timelines on your weight loss that are probably unrealistic.

#5 - You can burn “belly fat” or target other areas for fat loss

This is probably the one we get asked about the most.

For that reason, it is also one of the biggest revenue sources for exercise and supplement quackery.

Simply put, you cannot “target” body fat in just a specific part of your body. Everyone stores body fat deposits in different parts of their bodies. It’s one of the things that make our physical bodies unique.

A randomized study from The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research investigated the effects on abdominal fat. The study found “No significant effect of abdominal exercises on body weight, body fat percentage, android fat percentage, android fat, abdominal circumference, abdominal skinfold and suprailiac skinfold measurements.”

As much as we all would love it, there are no pills, shakes, detoxes, waist trainers, crunch machines or “one simple trick” fixes that will magically melt fat just specifically off our bellies or any other target area.

The only way to reduce body fat in an area of your body is to reduce your overall body fat.

TRUTH FIX: Focus on high (80% or higher) nutritional compliance in a calorie deficit to lose body fat and strength training to build muscle, which will achieve aesthetic changes to your body proportions over time.

#6 - Cardio is better for fat loss than resistance training

Cardio is great for your overall health and has a part to play in your fat loss journey.

But many make the mistake of spending all their gym time slaving away on the treadmill while never setting foot in the weight room in hopes of burning more fat.

“The most important part of any workout plan is to create a stimulus for your muscles. Lift weights.” says Dr. John Berardi, founder of Precision Nutrition, “Weight training impacts hormones and metabolism positively and also builds strength, structure and function that you can use for many years into the future.”

While cardio has a whole list of important health benefits for our bodies, it does not have the effect on body composition that most people think. It’s true you will lose weight in a calorie deficit while doing cardio alone, but without strength training, the pounds you will lose include lean mass as well. This loss of lean tissue will have a negative effect on how many calories you burn throughout the day, which is a much more important part of the fat loss puzzle than the calories you burn during an exercise session

TRUTH FIX: Supplement your strength training with cardio. If you are trying to lose body fat while maintaining muscle mass, perform 15-30 minutes of low-to-moderate intensity cardio after your session. If you are trying to gain muscle mass without gaining a lot of fat, perform 10-15 minutes of low-to-moderate intensity cardio after your session. You can also perform an additional 1-2, 20-30 minute sessions per week on off days, but listen to your body when you need rest and recovery.

#7 - You should eat first thing in the morning to kick start your metabolism

You’ve probably heard the popular saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Whether it’s from TV ads promoting breakfast cereals or the latest TikTok dropping on your feed - this common belief has been overhyped.

Studies have shown that preference makes a sizable difference among people who are looking to shed fat and lose weight. In one clinical trial, “women who did not otherwise consume breakfast were placed on a plan that required them to consume it and that group averaged a 2 pound weight gain over 4 weeks.”

Other studies have shown that skipping breakfast does not ultimately lead to a crash in metabolism nor does it lead to weight gain or weight loss. Eating breakfast has many benefits, but boosting your metabolism is likely not one of them.

TRUTH FIX: Find the meal timing that helps you maintain consistency. If breakfast is something you enjoy and have found works with your nutrition plan, focus on getting high protein and whole foods to compliment your goals.

#8 - Eating close to bedtime will cause you to store more fat

Another question we are asked a lot is, “If I get home late, should I skip dinner and just wait until my next meal so I don’t eat close to bedtime?”

We, too, used to believe this myth. “You’ll just store all those calories because you aren’t moving” we were told. Yes, studies have shown that people who consistently eat their meals around the same time and don’t partake in night-time snacking had minimal more weight loss compared to those that consistently ate close to bedtime. However, the reason for this small difference may not be what you would assume.

Night-time snacking is affected by our energy. At the end of the day, we are more susceptible to decision fatigue, leading us to snack more, typically on less healthy options. These options are often of the ultra-processed variety, which are heavy on the calories and chemically-designed to light up our brains for bingeing.

TRUTH FIX: The nutritional value of what you eat is what matters, not the time you eat it. If you find yourself making poor choices late at night, prep or have healthy snack options planned ahead of time.

#9 - You have to feel sore after a workout for it to be effective

“No pain, no gain”

“Feel the burn”

“Rise and grind”

We’ve all heard these archaic fitness mottos. Words designed to tweak us in the part of our brains that believe we need to punish ourselves to get the results we want.

Science, however, tends to disagree.

“All muscle soreness is a result of microscopic tears that take place through workouts, followed by swelling as part of the repair and rebuilding process,” says Chris McGrath of ACE Fitness, “but soreness does not necessarily equate with a cause and effect for the improvements. In fact, there is no scientific evidence that proves soreness gets better results.”

Not only does excessive soreness not equate to better results, but it has a negative effect on both exercise performance, exercise compliance and injury.

TRUTH FIX: Though some soreness can follow an effective workout, (especially after doing new movements) you shouldn’t use it as an indicator of how well your workouts are working.

#10 - You can “tone” your body with lighter weights

This has to be one of the hardest marketing lies to kill. It all started back in the era when brands looking to make money from the female demographic pitched things like step aerobics, using tiny, brightly colored dumbbells to achieve the ideal feminine body, which used words like “bulky” to scare women away from heavier weights that would unintentionally turn them into a She-warznegger (see what I did there?).

Meanwhile, many of these women who were mothers were catching, picking up and carrying 20-40 lbs of unwieldy weight known as their children on a daily basis without even thinking about it.

As famed strength coach Mark Rippetoe says, “There is no ‘firming or toning’. There is only stronger or weaker.”

“Tone” is not something achieved by light weight. What many consider to be “tone” is actually created by larger muscle bellies in proportion to the amount of body fat you carry. So in reality, avoiding those heavier weights in favor of light, colorful ones will actually keep you from getting the “tone” you want.

TRUTH FIX: Lift heavy.

It can be harder than ever to sort through all the nutrition and fitness misinformation these days. To help you make more informed decisions, we have compiled a list of resources that we have found to be reliable and well-vetted.