Tag: body

When I was 23 years old, I sat in my OB-GYN’s office looking at black and white pictures of my insides. “See?” he said, gesturing to the round, straight-lined cysts showing up on ultrasound images of my ovaries. “Like a string of pearls.”

This was the main criterion used to diagnose me with polycystic ovary syndrome—aka polycystic ovarian syndrome, Stein-Leventhal syndrome, and PCOS—along with cystic acne that was in full bloom, a BMI that was nearly in the “overweight” range for my height, and a sprinkle of body hair in unexpected places.
My gynecologist also told me that my relatively short menstrual cycles were proof of this hormone condition, which is estimated to affect between 8 and 20 percent of reproductive-age women worldwide.
He wanted to put me on oral birth control, which I’d gotten off of in college because I felt like it was spiking my anxiety, and metformin, a prescription medication used to stabilize blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.
I was told that the former would prevent new testosterone-producing cysts from forming on my ovaries (something that could lead to more acne, body hair, and infertility down the road), and the latter would keep me from becoming insulin resistant.
I happened to be going through a particularly intense phase of eschewing traditional medical advice, and I said “no thank you” to both. After extensive personal research, I’d decided to try to treat the condition through diet and exercise—eating a whole-foods, lower-carb diet and trying to reduce my weight by 10 percent, which I’d read could help regulate cycles.
The double-edged sword of women’s (understandable) affinity for alternative medicine is that through the process, they may become more informed and empowered about their bodies—but they may also overestimate their ability to interpret scientific studies as laypeople and consequently forego essential medical advice.

Fortunately, this time, it looks like I was right to not listen to my doctor. The next year, living in Madrid, Spain, I went to an alternative-medicine OB-GYN, who took an ultrasound and said that I looked like I was about to ovulate (PCOSers supposedly don’t ovulate with regularity, if at all) and that she didn’t think my diagnosis was correct.
A few months ago—a full six years after my PCOS diagnosis—another ultrasound of my insides showed that my ovaries were not abnormally cystic. My new (mainstream) OB-GYN assures me that my short cycles are normal. (Though the average cycle length is 28 days, regular cycles can range anywhere from 21 to 35 days.) He also says I should be perfectly fertile if ever I decide to reproduce.
So, do I have PCOS?
My old gynecologist said yes, my current one says no, and I say probably not but honestly who really knows?
Whatever the case, PCOS is a real condition with real effects on those who suffer from it. Symptoms vary from woman to woman, and confusion abounds about how to diagnose it correctly. But we’ve compiled some information here that may be helpful to you if you think you or someone you care about may have PCOS.

Watch for these signs.

There are typically three telltale symptoms associated with PCOS, and according to Mayo Clinic, doctors will diagnose you with the condition if you have at least two of them: irregular periods, polycystic ovaries, and excess androgen.
“Infrequent, irregular or prolonged menstrual cycles are the most common sign of PCOS,” says Mayo Clinic. “For example, you might have fewer than nine periods a year, more than 35 days between periods and abnormally heavy periods.”

When a woman fails to ovulate during her monthly cycle, cysts can build up in her ovaries. While you might reasonably assume that polycystic ovaries would be a definite indicator of PCOS, this is not always the case. Not every woman who has cysts on her ovaries has PCOS, and not every woman with PCOS has cystic ovaries.
As for excess androgen, this is just another way of saying “too much testosterone.” Women who overproduce the hormone may experience symptoms including acne, male-pattern baldness, and excessive hair growth.
Let’s take a minute, though, to acknowledge that the standards for “excessive hair growth” are probably skewed. As you’ll recall, having some dark hairs in unusual places was enough to be considered suspect by my old gynecologist.

Listen to the stories of other “cysters.”

Because there’s so much confusion among both medical experts and patients surrounding this condition and how to diagnose and treat it, one of the best things you can do is get involved with a community of other women who are suffering from PCOS—or as they very charmingly call themselves, “soul cysters”—and learn from these personal accounts.

I recently reached out to women in my own social network who’ve been diagnosed with PCOS.
Here are their experiences, some of which have been edited slightly for space and clarity.
Krista shared her story:
I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 25. I had ovarian cysts since puberty but not other issues until I experienced a miscarriage at age 24. My cycle never returned after the miscarriage and we were unable to conceive (due to anovulation). I was sent to a fertility specialist … and after an ultrasound, hysterosalpingogram [x-ray of uterus and fallopian tubes], and a TON of lab work, I was diagnosed. Immediately I was given metformin to take twice daily, and I conceived our oldest living child the same month.
I started hormonal birth control at age 16 so any of the symptoms I may have had prior would have been masked by the hormones. I still have issues with hirsutism, hair thinning and loss, and acne at age 30. I am fortunate to not be insulin resistant and don’t have issues with weight gain. I am currently being treated daily with metformin and have no issues.
In Rachel’s case, PCOS is a family affair:
My sister also has it. Though I have ‘fat PCOS’ and she has ‘skinny PCOS.’ My sister is a urologist, and when I was still in college (19), she said I had the textbook description of it. The only issues I dealt with when I was younger were irregular/nonexistent periods and hirsutism. When I hit my mid-20s, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, so I was put on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
At 25, I had AWFUL cystic acne along my jaw and far cheek area close to my ear. I was put on spironolactone then and I also use a prescription topical retinoid cream called Tretinoin when necessary. I forgot to mention that I was first put on birth control at 17 after I went through a period of six months where I had no period, and then when they started again, I would bleed for a month straight. I’m currently on birth control, spironolactone, and I’m switching from Prozac to Trintellix.
My sister has irregular periods and hirsutism (hers is milder than mine). She was able to conceive after one round of Clomid and delivered my older nephew in 3/2014. She never had a period after delivering and did not go back on BC, so she had a surprise baby 20 months after my older nephew.
I’ve been told by a reproductive endocrinologist to not even try to get pregnant on my own (when that time comes) and that I should go straight to her. My current gen phys and the repro endo mentioned the name [polycystic ovary syndrome] needs to be changed because so many women don’t exhibit cysts (neither my sis nor I have cysts).
Kara first learned about PCOS in a magazine for teens:
I was about fifteen when I was diagnosed. I had a subscription to Seventeen magazine and read an article that said to see your doctor if you’d had your period for more than a couple of years and it still wasn’t regular (I’d had mine for about 4 by then).

Sure enough I had PCOS, in conjunction with insulin resistance (these two go hand in hand a lot). My doctor put me on metformin for the insulin resistance and a good diet and I lost 40 pounds in a year without trying.
She also put me on the pill to get the cysts to shrink (apparently the estrogen in the pills shrinks them). I had 1 large cyst (14 centimeters across) that the ultrasound tech couldn’t believe wasn’t causing me pain, and two other small ones if I recall. The large one turned out to be located on my fallopian tube, so it didn’t shrink like the ones on my ovaries did. Had surgery with general anesthesia at 15.5 years old to remove the large cyst and my doctor took 2 cups of fluid out of it.
This was right before band camp in high school and having to explain my medical condition to a bunch of teenage boys was interesting! But they were all very supportive (I played a traditionally male instrument in the band). I’m still on metformin and the pill 12 years later to manage insulin resistance and to prevent the cysts from forming.
Sometimes I worry about difficulties I may have if I ever want to get pregnant, and I think this is just another reason I’m leaning towards not having my own children. It’s amazing how many women have PCOS and don’t even realize it, so I’m thankful that Seventeen article was written all those years ago!
Tiffany has jumped through a number of hoops trying to get her PCOS under control:
I was diagnosed with PCOS almost 15 years ago. I would say that since I’ve been diagnosed with PCOS at age 14, things have been difficult. One of the main treatments for this condition is birth control pills. That was quite a process trying to find a pill that didn’t make me feel terrible. Another popular treatment for this condition is a medication called metformin. This medication would always make my stomach hurt so bad. It would always cause nausea as well.
In addition to side effects from the medication, the symptoms of PCOS can be devastating. I experienced issues with the excessive hair growth, particularly on my face. The hair growth got so bad that I was able to grow a decent beard in just over a week. The hair removal process is annoying and it can also become very expensive very quickly.
Also, at the age of 18, I was told that I would probably never be able to have children because of PCOS. That was kind of devastating. In retrospect, the doctors that I visited for treatment didn’t really know a lot about PCOS. In the last 6 months, I have obtained a new OB-GYN and she has enlightened me on PCOS. Some of the issues I have, like muscle and joint stiffness, hot flashes, and loss of appetite, stem from PCOS. After many many tests and a crazy medical adventure with blood clots, it’s hard to say whether or not I still suffer from PCOS.

Seek out second opinions.

Another reason I’d been suspect of my long-ago PCOS diagnosis was that I learned my gynecologist had also diagnosed one of my friends and both of her sisters with PCOS, despite all of us having different symptoms.
Though now I know that the symptoms can vary widely, at the time I wondered if this was some kind of faddish health hysteria—like vitamin D deficiency or gluten sensitivity—that would soon be debunked or a conspiracy wherein pharmaceutical companies were in cahoots with OB-GYNs to make more women take more prescriptions.
When it comes down to it, doctors simply still don’t have a good understanding of PCOS. But getting a PCOS diagnosis doesn’t mean you have to do whatever you’re told.

“Don’t just trust what the first doctor you see says without doing some research,” one PCOS sufferer, Sara Eaton, tells The Atlantic. “Find another woman with PCOS, go online to some of these support groups. Find a reproductive endocrinologist who knows what they’re doing. Talk to other cysters, read the articles, look for doctor recommendations. We have a syndrome that is so complicated and confusing, one of the best ways we can help ourselves is to be proactive and make sure we find the best and most knowledgeable caregivers available to us.”
When you’re not sure where to start, trust what the majority of scientific experts are saying—because science, however imperfect its conclusions, is the best hope we’ve got for figuring out the truth. Know all of your options. Weigh the costs and benefits.
Above all, keep on moving.

Vanessa Wasta of Johns Hopkins University asked Bert Vogelstein, co-director of the Ludwig Center at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, if there’s anything we can do to keep cancer from claiming our lives. Vogelstein’s response is worth repeating.

“Clearly, some types of the disease, such as lung cancer, are heavily influenced by environmental factors,” he said.
Maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding exposure to known carcinogens, like cigarette smoke, are critical for preventing deaths related to these types of cancer.
According to Vogelstein, approximately 40 percent of cancers can be prevented if people avoid environmental risk factors.
Oncologists, the doctors who specialize in treating, diagnosing, and preventing cancer, aren’t just medical experts. They’re also mortals and therefore as concerned as anyone with keeping their own cancer risks at an absolute minimum.

These are the things oncologists have shared that they do to make sure they don’t end up in the unenviable position of their patients.

1. The Breast Oncologist With Breast Cancer

Dr. Maris Weiss founded the website BreastCancer.org. She’s helped countless women win their own battles against breast cancer. And in April 2010, she found out she had the disease herself.

Weiss’ prognosis is excellent. She caught the tumor early. Still, she points to a few things that women can do to reduce their own risk. Genes are a small part of the big picture, she told NPR.
“The breast cancer genes only explain 5 to 10 percent of breast cancer cases today, and those are ancient, stable abnormalities,” she said. “They haven’t changed. But what has changed over the years … are changes in our outside environment and our body’s inside environment.

“So in terms of the inside environment, with obesity making extra inside hormones that can influence breast cell growth, it also triggers more insulin growth factor.” (Insulin-like growth factor is a protein that regulates the effects of growth hormones in our bodies.)
Weiss continued, “More women have not stopped smoking. They’ve started but they haven’t stopped as quickly as men have. We lead very stressful lives. We don’t sleep enough. We run ourselves ragged.”

Weiss seems to be telling us the best way to reduce the chance of breast cancer is controlling these environmental factors. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Take time to de-stress. Get plenty of sleep. That’s Weiss’ recipe for keeping cancer at bay.

2. The Surgical Oncologist from Miami

Dr. Omar Llaguna is a surgeon who specializes in oncology, meaning he actually goes in and removes tumors from patients’ bodies. He follows a strict diet to keep his own risk of cancer as low as possible.
“Clean eating can go a long way in managing your cancer risk,” Llaguna told Reader’s Digest.

“For me, this primarily means avoiding of processed foods and excessive sugar. In addition, I try to eat a diet high in protein, moderate in fat, and low in carbohydrates. But the key is to always avoid processed foods.”
Llaguna also has another cancer-fighting secret. He does CrossFit.
“I encourage all my patients to take charge of their health,” Llaguna told the CrossFit website.
“While we don’t choose to have cancer, we can choose how we live our lives and how we fight the disease. I talk about the positive effects of healthy eating and exercise on the immune system, as well as the sense of overall well being that can be achieved.

“I’ve encouraged many patients to try CrossFit, knowing that it will help them maintain their physical strength and stamina, something very important for those dealing with functional decline after a large operation, as well as post-operative chemotherapy and radiation therapy.”
So there you have it: exercise and healthy eating are the key. What’s so hard about that?

3. The Head of Medical Oncology

Dr. David Khayat is one of France’s foremost experts on cancer. He used to run the French National Cancer Institute, and today he’s in charge of the medical oncology department at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris.
Khayat published a book called The Anti-Cancer Diet that lays out his plan to remain cancer-free. As radio station WBUR reports, Khayat follows five essential rules to keep the risk of developing cancer low:
–Don’t smoke. Ever.
–Eat lots of different kinds of food. Remember that “eating certain potentially carcinogenic products too much and too often can be dangerous.”
–Speaking of diet, try steaming your vegetables. Experiment with stewing too. Get creative in the kitchen.

–Stick to local, organic, seasonal, pesticide-free food.
–Stay physically active. Create a healthy balance between the calories you eat and the calories you burn.
If you follow all five of these rules to the letter, Khayat says, you’ll keep your cancer risk low.

4. The Ex-NASA Engineer

Dr. Matthew McCurdy seems too good to be true. The Austin, Texas–based radiation oncologist started his career as a NASA engineer. He helped John Glenn return to Earth safely after his 1998 trip to space.

After that, McCurdy went on to get an MD from Baylor College of Medicine—and a PhD in bioengineering for good measure.
Today, McCurdy says he treats his patients at the Austin Cancer Center as if they were family. “I join my patients in the fight against cancer and provide hope,” he said on the Austin Cancer Center website. “I’ve managed the cancer care of my own family, and I believe in treating each patient as a member of mine.”
McCurdy’s anti-cancer tip is simple: He eats a Mediterranean diet.

“Multiple studies, including a recent randomized trial published in JAMA [the Journal of the American Medical Association], suggest that the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil can help prevent cancer,” he told Reader’s Digest.
“I try to follow this by eating a whole-foods plant-based diet that includes broccoli, turmeric, and garlic and limits refined sugar, refined carbohydrates, saturated animal fats, and toxic chemicals and pesticides.”

We’ll trust anyone who worked at NASA before becoming an award-winning oncologist.

5. The Artist

Dr. Diljeet K. Singh practices gynecologic oncology at a hospital in McLean, Virginia. When he’s not busy saving lives, though, he indulges in an artistic hobby.

“I paint several times a week, and I try to do it outdoors so I can spend some time in nature, which I also find stress-relieving,” Singh told Prevention magazine. Based on his own experience enjoying art, Singh suggests that his patients take pottery classes to keep their risk of cancer lower.
“It serves two purposes: It allows you to be creative, and it gives you a social outlet. One study in female breast cancer patients found that those who were the most creative had the most favorable prognoses. Other research shows that the more social support cancer patients have, the greater their chances of survival.

“Personally, I think the key to both is that they relieve stress, which causes cellular changes that increase cancer risk. My advice is to take time every day for something that allows you to express your creativity: journaling, cooking, gardening, decorating.”
Lots of oncologists warn their patients to watch stress and to find ways to live a more laid-back life. Dr. Amy Lee told Reader’s Digest that stress interferes with the immune system, which must “be in optimal condition to seek out and destroy cancer cells.”

Taken as a whole, this advice from leading oncologists suggests that we can best prevent cancer by living a happy, healthy life in the first place. Good things, the doctors say, lead to better.

“Boost Your Metabolism in 5 Steps!” “Don’t Let Your Metabolism Die With Your Workout.” “Burn, Baby, Burn What You Eat Faster!”
Do today’s hottest health and wellness headlines have you thinking that you need to be thinking (more) about your metabolism? Are you wondering what the heck metabolism actually is and why you need to be so concerned with it?

If your answer is yes, we’re here to help!
Your metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. It’s a two-part operation—a catabolic reaction and an anabolic reaction. The catabolic reaction breaks your food down so it can be digested and absorbed. The anabolic reaction happens when these broken-down pieces are used to rebuild and sustain your body’s tissues.
When people talk about how fast your metabolism is, they’re actually referring to your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the sum of your body’s catabolic and anabolic reactions. Your BMR is basically in charge of breaking food down but is also responsible for other functions like breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells.

Your metabolism can be fast or slow and more often than not is related to your weight. If you have a high metabolism, you burn energy quickly and typically have a leaner body, whereas if your metabolism is slow, your body typically has a higher percentage of fat.
But what makes your metabolism high or low?
A lot of things affect your metabolism, from your body size (the bigger you are, the more you burn), how much muscle vs. fat you have (the more muscle you have, the faster you burn), whether you’re male or female (men burn more quickly than women), and your age (the younger you are, the more you burn).

And, other factors aside, some people are just born with faster metabolisms and others with slower metabolisms.
When you have a faster metabolism, you may maintain a leaner look more easily, be more energetic, and be able to eat more (and less healthful) food without noticing much change on the scale.
Before you curse your bestie whose metabolism appears to be through the roof, there are things you can do to speed up your metabolism if that’s what you’re after. Of course, you can’t control your age or sex, but here are six easy ways to increase your body’s ability to burn.

1. Hit the weights.

The number one thing you can do to boost your metabolism is to increase the amount of muscle that you have. At rest, a pound of muscle burns about 10 calories a day, whereas fat burns two to three calories per pound, per day.

When you’re performing a hard workout, muscle burns even more, but unfortunately, as you age, the amount of muscle you have decreases every decade.
This is the main reason that your metabolism diminishes with age. The way to keep your muscle from diminishing—and your metabolism lifted—is to build that muscle back up.

How do you accomplish this? The best way is to strength train. Hitting the gym and opting to work with weights two to three days a week is the most effective and efficient way to build muscle.

2. Try HIIT training.

High-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, is a type of cardiovascular exercise distinguished by its alternating rounds of intense exercise followed by recovery periods. For example, you run as fast as you can for 30 seconds, and then rest for 60 seconds. This gets repeated a set number of times, inspiring a complete workout.

HIIT not only burns a huge number of calories during its exercise portions, but it also keeps your metabolism going even after you’re done. This is due to something known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC.
After an intense exercise session, oxygen consumption (which burns a lot of calories) stays high as your cells work to repair and restore your body. Regular cardio workouts can’t do this.
An article published in the Journal of Sports Sciences notes that exercise-intensity studies indicate higher EPOC values with HIIT as compared with low- to moderate-intensity, steady-paced cardiovascular training. And a study conducted at the University of Guelph in Canada showed that fat burning was significantly higher after as little as six weeks of interval training.

Try adding a few HIIT intervals to your cardio twice a week. Use a 1:2 workout to rest schedule. For example, exert yourself as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then rest for twice as long (60 seconds). Perform this for 5 to 10 intervals or however many you can tolerate.
(And try our at-home HIIT videos!)

3. Don’t starve yourself.

Eat less, and your body will burn more calories and be thinner, right? Not exactly—it’s a bit more complicated than that.

You see, your body is pretty smart, and it looks out for your well being. So if you eat too little (and not often enough), your body may suspect that it’s going to starve. In an effort to protect itself, it attempts to conserve energy and hold on to the calories you have consumed by slowing your metabolism.
Of course, this is exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. So how do you speed your metabolism up while still being mindful of calorie consumption? The answer is to give your body just enough of what it needs to feel safe and secure by eating small meals (aka grazing) throughout the day.

When you eat smaller meals as opposed to larger, heavier meals, your burning potential (along with your energy) is boosted throughout the day.

4. Keep a balance.

As you’re grazing, you want to pay attention to what you’re grazing on. Protein and fiber not only help keep your blood sugar stable, they require more energy to digest than refined carbs. A whole lot more!

Studies show that meals that have the same total caloric content but are composed of different ingredients are digested totally differently. In other words, a calorie is not just a calorie.
Clean, whole-food meals that include a lot of protein and fiber are digested much more slowly than meals of processed, simple carbohydrates. Almost twice as slowly, in fact.

What does this mean for you? Try to incorporate some type of protein and fiber into every meal you eat in order to keep your metabolism kicking.

5. Hydrate!

You need water in your body to fuel its everyday processes. And, surprise! Metabolism is one of those water-dependent processes.
If you don’t drink enough water, your body suffers, and your metabolism slows to compensate. Be sure to drink plenty of pure water—not coffee, tea, soda, or even juice—to keep your body well hydrated.

As a side note, it may be helpful for your metabolism to make sure the water you drink is cold. German scientists found that you can boost your burning up to 50 calories more a day by drinking cold, as opposed to warm, water. They believe that the added boost occurs when the body uses energy to warm the water up during digestion.

6. Get to sleep.

It may seem counterintuitive, but in order for your body to burn calories, it needs proper rest. According to University of Chicago researchers, 100 percent of the participants in a recent study of the impact of sleep deprivation on fat cells were unable to tolerate the metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation.

In fact, after just four days of sleep deprivation, the body’s ability to properly use insulin became disrupted.
Shockingly, the insulin sensitivity of participants’ fat cells dropped by more than 30 percent, a difference akin to the disparity between lean and obese participants, or non-diabetic and diabetic individuals prior to sleep deprivation.

When your insulin is disrupted, your metabolism goes haywire and fat ends up getting stored more often—and in all of the wrong places.
So, try to aim for seven or more hours of sleep per night.

What so-called health advice do you follow daily that is actually hocus-pocus?

Here are the top eight most common medical myths that you can officially ignore.

1. You lose most of your body heat through your head.

“Wear a hat—you’ll catch a cold!” says your mother as you sprint out of the house. The myth that heat is lost from the head more than any other part of the body is

Surprisingly, it turned out that participants who reported no knuckle-cracking behavior had slightly higher rates of arthritis (18.1 percent versus 21.5 percent) than those who admitted to cracking their knuckles.

Arthritis can be caused by normal wear and tear of the joints, an infection or injury, or an autoimmune disorder. But anxiety-ridden knuckle-crackers can rest easy knowing that their nervous habit is no more dangerous to their health than nail biting or foot tapping.

6. Sitting too close to the TV ruins your eyesight.

When television sets were first introduced, some color models emitted high amounts of radiation that could cause eye damage. This led experts to recommend that adults and children sit as far away as possible from screens. 

However, TV and computer monitor safety has been regulated since the ’60s.

So, even though sitting ridiculously close to a screen makes your eyes work harder, it won’t do any permanent damage to them.

Same goes for reading or doing work in the dark. The lack of light might result in eyestrain, but overall, ophthalmologists agree that it’s genetics and age that cause your eyesight to go, not your late-night reading habit.

7. Eating at night makes you fat.

Feeling guilty about your late-night snacking habit? Let us put your mind at ease! Studies show that it doesn’t matter what time of day that you eat as long as you maintain the appropriate calories eaten to calories burned ratio.

The secret of weight gain and weight loss lies in simple mathematics —you must burn as many calories as you eat in order to stay the same weight. If you eat more and exercise less, you’ll gain weight.

Conversely, if you eat less and exercise more, you’ll lose weight.

It doesn’t matter what time you eat your meals, although studies do show that those who snack at night, have a tendency to mindlessly eat with disregard for serving size. This may cause them to eat more than they realize. If you’re a nighttime snacker, keep your calories in check by pouring a serving size of your late-night meal and stowing the package away.

8. Sugar makes kids hyperactive.

Bad news for parents! Your child’s restless, unruly behavior can no longer be blamed on their high-sugar snacks.

Research studying how children reacted to diets containing different amounts of sugar found that no amount of sugar (artificial or natural) affected their behavior—not even in participants diagnosed with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder.

Where a noticeable response did occur was in the parents. 

When told that their children were given sugar (even if they hadn’t been), parents automatically believed their children were acting differently even though they were not.

If personal trainers had a dollar for every time a woman came into the gym saying she doesn’t want to lift weights because she’s afraid of getting bodybuilder muscles, none of them would have to get up at 4 a.m. to support themselves anymore.

The theory that working with dumbbells causes women to make incredible gains in muscle mass, giving them a “powerlifter look,” is a myth and does a disservice to women.

Weight training can do great things for the body. It strengthens bones, increases metabolism, and, yes, builds muscle.

But without the assistance of supplements, women are incapable of getting as big as male bodybuilders, because they don’t have the same testosterone coursing through their veins.

If this comes as a surprise to you, it’s in your best interest to consider these fitness myths to spare yourself from wasting any time—or worse, hurting your body.

Myth #1: The best time to work out is first thing in the morning.

We think a morning person originated this myth! In truth, there aren’t any studies to corroborate the idea that one time of the day is better than another for pursuing physical health and success.

Since consistency is key to exercise adherence, the best time of the day to work out is whatever time of day you’re actually going to do it.

Everyone has habits and patterns, and by trial and error, you’ll be able to figure out when you most enjoy working out and are best able to fit it in.

As a side note, studies have shown that people who work out in the morning tend to feel more energized and alert throughout the day.

Myth #2: Exercise is the best way to lose weight.

Although exercise can burn calories, increase your metabolism, and make your body look more toned and healthy, exercising alone isn’t the best way to lose weight. When you’re looking to make a significant change on the scale, you can’t assume that you can eat whatever you want and just “work it off” later.

Studies have shown that it’s not lack of exercise that causes people to be overweight; it’s unhealthy dietary habits. The first step toward reaching your weight loss goals is adhering to positive dietary change. Only after you’ve established a healthy diet can you expect exercise to boost your weight loss potential.

Some research does show that when exercise and diet are combined, people lose weight much faster than by dieting alone, and they keep it off more consistently. Still, research widely points to diet playing a much bigger role in weight loss than exercise does.

Myth #3: Sit-ups are the best exercise for your abs.

Ah, the dreaded sit-up—hated by every grade-schooler who was made to do as many as possible in a minute for the Presidential Fitness Test. Unfortunately, as hard as sit-ups may be, they don’t actually do a whole lot for your core other than leave it in pain.

Sit-ups are hard on your back and hip flexors, can pull on your lower back, and only target a few muscle groups in an isolated manner.

We know your high school gym teacher (and the president) thought sit-ups were the bomb, but there are other safer and more effective exercises that target your abs.

One in particular is the plank. This core winner engages a balanced set of muscles located around the front, back, and sides of your body and gives you a chance to stretch your back (or, more technically speaking, your posterior muscles).

Myth #4: Sports drinks are the best way to rehydrate after a workout.

We know you want this one to be true (because that blue electrolyte powder is just so tasty), but unfortunately, most sports drinks are filled with sugar and preservatives that don’t do much to refuel you—unless you’ve engaged in a seriously intense workout or been exercising for more than an hour, that is.

In short, refueling after a quick jog around the neighborhood or a pickup game of basketball requires nothing more than a nice tall glass of water.

Now, if you’ve committed yourself to the town’s 10k and are sweating like a wrestler in a rubber suit, experts say you’ve got to replace your electrolytes and refuel properly.

New studies show that the best way to do this is not just with carbs and electrolytes, but with a little protein in the mix as well.

A study conducted in Spain with 24 elite cyclists showed that after 60 minutes of physical activity, beverages that contained protein and carbohydrates were absorbed better and refueled the athletes more efficiently than carb–electrolyte combos alone.

So if you’re on your way to do a half marathon, pick up a sports drink that’s got some protein in it for after the race.

Myth #5: It takes two weeks to get out of shape.

If it takes forever to get in shape, it should take just as long to get out of shape, right?

Unfortunately, no.

The two-week rule that floats around some gyms and keeps not-so-motivated exercisers feeling confident their gains won’t go to waste if they ditch out for 14 days is, for the most part, wishful thinking.

On the whole, the old “use it or lose it” adage is accurate when it comes to exercise and the body.

A study of runners, rowers, and power athletes found that overall muscular strength can be maintained for as long as a month after an athlete stops their training activities but that their sport-specific skills went into decline around the two-week mark.

More specifically, slow-twitch muscle fibers in runners and fast-twitch fibers in powerlifters declined after 14 days.

And what about cardio? Well, those gains don’t fare as well when discipline goes by the wayside. Another study found that after just 12 days of inactivity, VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use) dropped by 7 percent, and endurance-associated enzymes in the blood decreased by 50 percent.

The moral of the story? Even though periodic rest is good for the body (and the soul), you may not want go more than a week without doing some sort of cardio, and you’ll want to get back to your strength training within a two-week timeframe.

Myth #6: Weightlifting turns fat into muscle.

“Transform your fat into muscle!” promises another fad fitness infomercial. As real (and exciting) as the actors make it sound, the reality is that you can’t turn fat into muscle.

Fat-to-muscle magic is impossible, because fat and muscle are two different types of tissues.

Fatty tissue is found between muscles and around internal organs like the heart and liver, whereas muscle tissue is found throughout the body.

Strength training builds the muscle that surrounds fat, but it doesn’t replace it. Muscle does, however, in an indirect way, use burned fat as energy to grow.

This is where the myth may have come from in the first place.

Diet and exercise create opportunities for fat to be broken down into fatty acids and glycerol, which are absorbed into your bloodstream then used by your muscles for energy.