In the wake of all the misinformation and pure myth that’s perpetrated on unsuspecting Internet info seekers, we’ve designed a quick n’ dirty quiz on the basics of fat loss. 

 

Give it a whirl and see how you do!

 

 

1. The best way to do cardio for fat loss is:

a. Run on the treadmill for 30 minutes 5 days a week.

b. Jump rope once a week for 3 rounds of 3 minutes.

c. Nothing; just be “active.”

d. Perform a cardio activity of your choice, high intensity style, looking to better your performance each time.

 

2. True or False: It is unwise to lift weights if you’re trying to lose fat because lifting weights will make you bigger and bulkier.

 

3. Which one is the best lunch if you’re trying to lose weight?

a. Caesar salad with a diet coke.

b. Turkey wrap with lettuce, tomato, low-fat mayo, and a bottle of water.

c. Lunch?  What lunch?

d. Sirloin with a side of green beans and chard and a glass of water with lemon.

 

4. How many hours a week should you exercise if you’re trying to lose weight?

a. Less than one per week.

b. One to three per week.

c. Three to five hours per week.

d. More than five hours per week.

 

5. True or False: Doing loads of abdominal work is the best way to reduce your waistline.

 

6. What’s the best way to prepare a serving of broccoli for your evening meal?

 

a. Nuke it and serve with a light rosemary-thyme dressing.

b. Steam it and serve with some butter or olive oil.

c. Sauté it in a low-fat garlic lemon sauce.

d. Boil it and season with salt, pepper, and vinegar (no oil).

 

7. What’s the best protein source for your post-workout meal?

a. Chicken breast with no skin.

b. Thinly-sliced roast beef.

c. Protein enriched soy milk.

d. Pre-mixed protein shake.

 

8. How many times a week should you lift weights for optimal fat loss results?

a. Two to three times a week.

b. Once a week or less.

c. At least 4 times a week.

d. You shouldn’t lift weights if trying to lose fat.

 

9. Which supplement is the most effective for fat loss?

a. Creatine

b. Hoodia

c. Trimspa, baby

d. Protein

 

10. How many meals should you have each day to create an ideal fat-burning environment?

a. Five to six.

b. Three.

c. Two or less.

d. Eat whenever you’re hungry.

 

11. The best way to measure your progress is:

a. Weigh yourself on a semi-regular basis.

b. Use a tape measure around your waist.

c. Monitor how your clothes fit.

d. Get yourself hydrostatic weighed at your local university’s sports lab.

 

12. Which exercise listed is the best one to do on a fat loss program?

a. Clean and jerk

b. Biceps curls

c. “The Hundred” (a Pilates ab exercise)

d. Deadlift

 

13. What’s the most important factor for continuing weight loss?

a. Consistency

b. Making sure you’re using the “right” program

c. Being active

d. Setting Big Hairy Audacious Goals

 

14. Which one of these foods is the WORST one to eat if your goal is fat loss?

a. French fries

b. Soda

c. Hamburger

d. Pizza

 

15. The best time to start on your fat loss program is:

a. Today

b. Yesterday

c. Tomorrow

d. “When I can find the time.”

 

 

And, now, for the answers…

 

1. D. If you’re going to do cardio to assist in your weight loss efforts, make sure you do it right – high-intensity cardio creates the greatest metabolic effect.  In other words, not only are you burning a sizable number of calories as a result of your efforts, you also burn a significant amount of calories after the activity is over, due to the fact that your “engine” continues to generate heat. 

 

Your efforts elevate your metabolic rate and keep it elevated, sometimes for several hours post-exercise, resulting in hundreds of additional calories burned.  The caveat: it’s gotta be sustained long enough to have a marked effect, and it’s gotta be intense enough to make you work.

 

2. FALSE. By lifting weights, you increase lean body mass (by putting on muscle).  This increased muscle is metabolically active, meaning it burns additional calories for you just sitting there on your body.  The classic studies on muscle and metabolism show that adding muscle significantly increases metabolic rate, resulting in more calories burned each and every day. 

 

Over time, a extra 100-200 calories burned can add up to big weight loss (if you increased your metabolic rate to burn just 100 extra calories a day, you’d end up losing the equivalent of 10 pounds a year! Not bad for doing nothing extra).

 

3. D. Meal A doesn’t have enough protein to fuel muscle repair, nor enough fat to provide satiety (fullness).  Meal B isn’t bad, but you’ll probably get hungry because of the lack of fat and because the wrap (however low in carbs it is) simulates insulin levels to rise, which in turn stimulates hunger. 

 

Meal C doesn’t exist.  Meal D is the only one that puts it all together – protein for muscle repair, fat for satiety, veggies for nutrient power, fiber, and pH balance, and a non-calorie containing drink.

 

4. B. Why only one to three hours of exercise?  More is not better in this case.  You need time to let your muscles repair and grow, because the gains from exercise come when you’re resting, not while you’re working out. 

 

One to three hours allows you to get in all the weight training and cardio you need to optimize your exercise response (assuming you aren’t standing around chatting in the gym). 

 

You also are going to do the lion’s share of work by eating properly, since it’s far easier to modify calorie intake through diet than it is to modify calorie output by exercising (it would take you TWO HOURS to run off the calories in one Starbucks Frappuccino).

 

5. FALSE.  Why? 1. Ab work burns very few calories. 2. There’s no such thing as “spot reduction” – you can’t selectively burn the fat from only one specific section of the body by working that section.  3. Ab work won’t stop you from eating the wrong things, unless you work your abs so hard that you’re too sore to even sit up at the dinner table.

 

6. B. Steaming preserves the most amount of nutrients and eating the broccoli with a little fat enables your body to absorb the greatest amount of those nutrients. 

 

Because the other forms of cooking listed involve much higher temperatures, vitamins are damaged during the cooking process, rendering them unusable.  The worst – microwaving your veggies, which has been shown to destroy up to 97% of the vegetable’s vitamins and minerals.

 

7. D. When talking quick absorption and utilization by the body, liquid beats solid hands down.  Make sure your protein source does not come from soy, as soy protein is not absorbed as completely as other forms of protein, and soy has possible estrogenic effects that can mute the anabolic (muscle-building) effect from the workout.

 

8. A. You need to lift weights to optimize your fat-burning efforts.  Added muscle tissue will burn additional calories while at rest, help to reshape your body, and burn calories due to the activity of weight training itself. 

 

While working out more frequently may help you build more muscle or improve your athletic performance, there’s been no science to show that anything more than two to three weight training workouts per week will enhance fat burning or accelerate fat loss. 

 

In fact, working out too frequently while on a fat loss diet may cause muscle loss, which would not help you towards your weight loss goals.

 

9. D. Creatine has been studied more than any other supplement in the last 5 years, and guess what, it works.  It just isn’t for weight loss, that’s all.  None of the commercially-available “Fat burners” or “fat blockers” have been shown in studies to contribute meaningfully to long-term fat loss. 

 

Only protein supplementation has been shown in studies to have a correlation to fat loss when used in conjunction with a sensible training and nutrition program.  It sure helps speed recovery.  Remember, however, that supplements are just that – supplements to an already solid exercise and nutrition plan.

 

10. A. Eating several smaller meals throughout the day reduces hunger, maintains a high metabolic rate, and provides you with ample opportunity to fuel your body with wholesome, nutritious fare.

 

11. A. While all the methods mentioned have relative merits and may be the best way for individuals, semi-regular weighing is the only one that is associated with long-term weight loss in studies. 

 

In fact, self-monitoring by weighing-in was one of the two major behaviors that maximized long-term weight loss in dieters (the other one? Exercise – big surprise).

 

12. D. Leave the power movements like clean and jerk to the athletes that have 16 weeks and a strength coach to learn them. 

 

Instead, focus on using exercises that use major muscle groups (multiple ones, to maximize muscle stimulation and calorie burn) and are relatively easy to learn.  For example, you can’t get much more elemental than the deadlift: pick something up off the ground without rounding your back – done.

 

13. A. Why do people succeed on Atkins, the Zone, Pritikin, Weight Watchers, South Beach, etc?  Why do people succeed with Body For Life, Oprah’s program, Pilates, yoga, etc?  Aren’t all of these programs radically different from one another?  Yes.  Do the folks who are most successful with their chosen program display monk-like focus and consistency? YES. 

 

While goal-setting is an important contributor to success, often Big Hairy Audacious Goals get relegated to the backseat as “pie-in-the-sky” dreams to tackle when “life calms down.”

 

14. B. All of these foods are counterproductive to consume on a fat loss program – they all contain too much sugar, too many calories, and too much unhealthy fat (well, soda doesn’t have fat – I stand corrected).  But soda is the worst of the bunch for one reason – you can consume more of it faster than any of the other foods on the list. 

 

I personally knew one guy back in college who could drain a 2 liter bottle in 3 chugs (and had the physique to show for it).  Forget that it’s all sugar, that it will raise insulin higher than the space shuttle Endeavor, or that it will stimulate your appetite for the other foods on the list. 

 

Actually, don’t forget those, just add them to the list of reasons to avoid soda like the plague if you’re trying to lose weight.

 

15. A. I’d even modify that answer to “right now, at this very moment, now get up from the computer and go do something.”  But I thought it would make the answer too obvious.

 

Okay, almost done!  Give yourself one point for each correct answer and see where you fall on the continuum of fat loss mastery:

 

0-1 correct: Detention Hall - I bet you were the kind of kid that shot spitballs at the substitute teacher from the back of the class.  Do me a favor and don’t spot anyone on the bench press, ok?

 

1-4 correct:  Freshman - It’s time to curl up with some remedial reading.  That’s ok; that’s why you’re reading this site, isn’t it?  I’d suggest learning the basics with these articles.  Also, if you haven't yet, sign up for our weekly newsletters, chock full of top notch fitness info. It also comes with our Special report "The Dark Side of Dieting- 21 Mistakes to Avoid" and a fat burning foods chart. Simple put your name and email below, or head here to read more about it.

4-8 correct:  Upperclassman - You know the basics, but it’s time to put that learning to good use.  Check out the ETF Wellness blog for some real-world application of these concepts and go take some action.

 

8-12 correct:  The Graduate - Nice try, but you’ve still got some learning (or unlearning) to do.  Hit up some advanced reading to fill in the gaps.

 

13 or above correct:  Fat Loss PhD - There are two possibilities here, either you read Black Book of Secrets, or you’re really Mike, Christopher, or me in disguise.  And since I’m sitting here typing this, I know it’s probably not me.  Either way, awesome job – now spread the good word.

 

Quizzes are great for testing your knowledge, but nothing works better than real-life application.  So the next time you’re in the gym, expect to see me waiting by the power rack, ready to administer your practical exam.

 

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.