Myth #1: Starving yourself is the best way to lose weight.

Reality: Starving yourself is the quickest way to get your body to downshift your metabolism, thereby bringing your weight loss efforts to a screeching halt.

Myth #2: To build a lean muscular body you need to train for hours virtually every day in the gym.

Reality: The ideal fat-burning, muscle-building workout session should last no more than 1 hour.

Myth #3: Moderate aerobic exercise is the best way to burn fat.

Reality: High intensity aerobic exercise combined with resistance training is the proven way to maximize fat loss.

Myth #4: To maximize fat loss, aerobic exercise should be performed at a consistent, moderate pace for an extended period of time.

Reality: To maximize your fat burning efforts, aerobic exercise should be varied, intense, and brief.

Myth #5: Stretching is a great way to warm up before resistance training . . . it reduces the risk of injury.

Reality: The latest studies suggest that stretching is not a good way to warm-up . . . it may actually decrease muscle contraction strength and increase the risk of injury. Light cardiovascular exercise may be the best way to warm-up.

Myth #6: Weight lifting makes women bulky.

Reality: This myth has been perpetuated by the fact that the women weight lifters we see on TV are bulky; but that's because they want to be! It takes a lot of effort for a woman's muscles to acquire bulk—special diets, particular exercises and focused attention on the goal of being a body builder. Women who work out normally using weights will in fact see their muscles become smoother and tighter, looking long and lean, not bulky or bunchy.

Myth #7: I have to do cardio first to lose some weight and then I will tone up with weights later.

Reality: You will burn more calories and have more of a physical change in your body if you incorporate cardio and resistance training at the beginning of your program.

Weight training boosts your metabolism. So even though you burn more calories doing 20 minutes of aerobic exercise versus 20 minutes of resistance training, the resistance training builds muscle that burns calories throughout the day.

Aerobic base training, meanwhile, improves your cardio respiratory system, which in turn helps you become more efficient at burning fat and recovering from resistance exercises. Aerobic base training is doing a cardio exercise like power walking, cycling or jogging for 20 to 30 minutes and gradually increasing the length of time and intensity as your body becomes accustomed to the exercise.

Myth #8: All of my muscle has turned to fat.

Reality: Muscle and fat are two different tissues. When you are not exercising, your muscles decrease in size and when you overeat, your excess calories pack away into your fat (adipose) tissue.

Myth #9: I need to be sweating a lot to know that I am working hard and losing weight.

Reality: Sweating is your body's cooling mechanism, and it just means that you are really hot and your body needs to cool off. The weight you lose from sweating is just water weight. You can lose more than 5 pounds of water weight if you are exercising in very hot or extremely hot conditions. Excess heat and water loss leaves you feeling exhausted and sluggish — and at risk for heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Water is needed to burn fat, so if you are exercising in very hot conditions, make sure you hydrate yourself and replenish your body. Don't be fooled! You are not burning extra fat. You are just losing precious water!

Check out more of my workout tips!