Less than two decades ago, coconut oil was pegged by media activists as one of the worst foods you could eat. In a surprising reversal, today coconut oil is promoted as a health food and even a fat loss “miracle.” On the internet, coconut oil has developed a cult following in alternative – natural health communities and it has started to get attention from the mainstream. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle readers are asking me about it and even public health organizations are taking another look and reconsidering positions on coconut oil and saturated fat. However, there are still major misconceptions and overblown claims being made about this tropical oil, so if you want to avoid wasting money, or making a big greasy nutrition mistake that could actually make you fatter, then read on.

For anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with all the posts here at Burn the Fat Blog, the team at Examine.com wrote our “most liked’ post ever a few months ago, in which they talked about the actual science behind 10 popular fat burners. They did a great job taking complex science and making it accessible to you, and so for an encore, I asked them to give us the straight skinny on saturated fats. Here’s what they have to say:

I was going to title this post, “The Scale Is a Liar” and that’s it. Then I saw that articles on this subject have already been written by the dozens. After skimming through them however, I was shocked to see how many of them were giving the wrong advice: “Throw away your scale!” The scale does lie to you in many ways you need to know about, but instead of throwing it out, there’s something you should do instead…

by Geoff Roberts

It would seem that most people feel a person’s metabolism is tied exclusively to that person’s ability to lose or gain fat tissue. However, this is not 100% accurate, as a persons metabolism is more closely related to his or her overall body weight than it is his or her body fat percentage. Body fat is dependent on several different factors, whereas body weight is based heavily on only two things, a person’s metabolic rate and simple energy balance.

by Mike Arnold

Like most individuals who are passionate about what they do, enthusiasm is generally not in short supply when it comes to weight training and the beginner. Frequently, the novice will invest a tremendous amount of energy in pursuit of his goals, often taking things to the extreme in the hope of developing his physique as quickly as possible. In a beginner’s mind, the more he does, the faster he will grow…or so he thinks. Unfortunately, in all but a very small percentage of cases, such as a plan of action is sure to result in not only a decline in muscle growth, but usually a complete cessation of progress altogether. In order to rectify this dilemma, the BB’r will frequently set out to train even harder by adding more exercises and/or sets to his program. Inevitably, he experiences more of the same…frustration.

by Geoff Roberts

In the world of bodybuilding, or life in general for that matter, few things are lied about as frequently as, or to the same extent as weight. Whether it is a fat person lowering their claimed weight, a skinny person and/or bodybuilder raising their claimed weight, or even a person lying about how much weight they can or did lift. The topic of weight tends to avoid the truth like IFBB Pro Jon Andersen avoiding carbohydrates. This is mentioned in bodybuilding circles now and then, most notably by Lonnie “The Swami” Teper, but it is rarely examined closely. When looking at some of the claimed body weights of different professional bodybuilders over the years, it becomes clear that the majority of our athletes may have larger noses than the woodcutter had originally intended.

by Geoff Roberts

The question, “Why do all the good supplements get taken off the shelf?” is one that I and anyone else who works in the supplement industry hears on a weekly basis. The answer to this question, for anyone heavily invested in this industry, should be easy to come by. However, for the average person who, devastatingly enough, gets their information from the media or any other “mainstream” source, the answer is not so clear.