Happy New Year! If you constantly struggle with your weight, starting a new year may be just the motivation you need in order to create a new you.

Following the correct advice is essential as there are far too many myths in the health and fitness world. I’d like to discuss four of them with you now and you can read 14 more health, fitness and nutrition myths from Focus Performance here.

Fat is bad for you

Foods with healthy fats include avocado, uncooked olive oil and nuts. Fat is needed in your diet, it has many benefits to the functions of the body. It helps with vitamin absorption and energy. Avoid trans fats and instead have a healthy balance of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats.

Crash diets work

This old chess nut. Avoid crash diets like the plague. Drink this disgusting green shake for four months and you’ll lose four stone. Who would really want to do that? You may get results but they won’t be sustained. Cutting essential nutrients out of your diet isn’t the way to go.

Completely cut out carbs to lose weight

Carbohydrates are an important part of your diet. They are your main source of energy and you wouldn’t function very well without them. If you don’t eat carbs your body will begin to use protein and fat for energy.

Sweating means you burn more calories

I very rarely sweat when I train to be honest. It depends on what exercise I’m doing and how my body reacts to the heat. When you sweat you don’t lose fat, just water. It’s our bodies way of cooling us down. Some people naturally sweat more than others so sometimes it has nothing to do with how many calories you burn.