If you leave the gym drenched in sweat and completely exhausted, it may feel like you have had a highly effective workout. But sweating more or feeling sore after exercise does not necessarily mean you have burned more fat.<\/p>\n
Fitness trainer Chadoy Leon breaks down in his August 27 Instagram post some of the common misconceptions around workouts and fat loss<\/a>, pointing out that people often focus on how hard a workout feels instead of the habits that actually contribute to weight loss. (Also read: \u2018Your metabolism isn\u2019t broken\u2019: Fitness coach Raj Ganpath shares what science says about weight loss and lifestyle <\/a>)<\/p>\n Sweat is about temperature, not fat<\/p>\n \u201cSweat is your body cooling itself. A hot room, a sauna suit, a humid gym, all of it makes you sweat and burns nothing extra,\u201d Leon explained. The weight lost immediately after a particularly sweaty workout<\/a> is primarily water weight. Once you rehydrate and eat, that weight is replenished. Therefore, sweating more during a workout should not be treated as an indication of greater fat loss.<\/p>\n \u201cA session that leaves you destroyed burned a few hundred calories at best,\u201d Leon said. While exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, a workout does not have to leave you completely exhausted to be effective. Consistency and progressive improvement matter more than simply pushing yourself until you are completely drained.<\/p>\n Soreness isn\u2019t a measure of progress<\/p>\n Muscle soreness is another factor people often use to judge whether a workout was effective. However, Leon pointed out that soreness alone does not indicate muscle growth or a successful workout. \u201cYou can be sore from a bad warm-up and grow nothing. You can be not sore and grow plenty,\u201d he said. Progress can instead be tracked through improvements in strength, endurance, workout performance and body composition.<\/p>\n \u201cThe machine\u2019s calorie number is a guess \u2014 and a generous one. You didn\u2019t burn 700,\u201d Leon said. Calorie estimates on cardio machines can vary depending on factors such as body weight, fitness level and the machine\u2019s algorithm. They are better viewed as rough estimates rather than precise measurements.<\/p>\n A workout can be undone quickly<\/p>\n Leon also highlighted why relying solely on exercise to lose weight can be misleading. \u201cYou can undo any session in ten minutes. That\u2019s not a reason to skip it. It\u2019s a reason to stop treating exercise as the thing that decides your weight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n