So the quest to lose weight and keep it off continues, as you’ve tried every new diet on the market, only to find they don’t work. Or there’s temporary weight loss, just to quickly gain it back. So the never ending battle continues, one that you can’t seem to win. This sounds familiar and becomes extremely frustrating.
What many don’t have is the right information, this to successfully and permanently reach their weight loss goals. There’s plenty of diet misnomers out there that’s floating around, and the information available can become overwhelming. The first step towards weight loss success, is knowing fact from myth.
The path towards permanent weight loss and healthy living, can be achieved based on knowledge. To know if certain myths are true or not. If certain hype is merely just to sell a weight loss product, of if they actually work.
You’ll Lose Weight Skipping Meals
False. The thinking behind this is that if you consume fewer calories during the day, you’ll remain slim. The reality is that you’ll most likely end up consuming the same amount, if not more.
What skipping a meal does is lowers blood sugar, which makes you hungry, tempting you to binge eat.
You’ll end up eating too fast, usually making poor food choices. What eating several smaller meals per day does is helps you stabilize your blood sugar, which controls your appetite.
You Can Reduce Fat In Certain Areas Of The Body
False. If you dedicate yourself to 200 sit ups every day, it won’t get rid of that belly fat, as all fat is lost evenly throughout the body. You can’t just focus on one body part in the hopes to reduce that fatty area.
To help certain trouble spots, you need to focus yourself on overall fitness, which includes strength training, aerobic workouts, good nutrition, all which are known ways to reduce excess body fat.
Eating Late At Night Will Make You Fat
False. Your body can’t determine your weight based on what time you eat. All it cares about is how much you eat. So what’s important is determining how many calories that are coming in, versus how many calories are going out.
What you need is to find the right balance, this based on how much you’re eating and exercising. If you consume more calories than you burn, the extra calories left over will be stored as fat.
You Can Eat As Much Fat-Free Food As You Want
False. One calorie equals one calorie regardless. Although it’s a bit more complex, what needs to be realized is for every 3500 calories that you don’t burn off, you gain one pound of body fat.
It doesn’t matter if the 3500 calories are fat-free. All your body knows is that extra calories were consumed. Fat also makes you feel full. So if you don’t consume enough fat, you’ll find yourself constantly hungry, and will most likely end up consuming more calories.
Eating Less Than 1200 Calories Accelerates Weight Loss
False. It may have an opposite effect. Absorbing too few calories daily causes your body to adapt towards a minimal amount of food, which slows down your metabolism.
The body then thinks it’s “starving,” and will hold on to every bit of food that you consume, this to ensure survival. Then once you begin to eat normally, and because your calorie intake is now reduced, results in weight gain although you’re consuming less food.
Salads Are Excellent When Eating Out
False. Often, it’s better if you eat a burger. What most restaurant salads contain are high levels of calories, which are found in the dressing.
They also often add fatty toppings such as bacon bits and croutons. So if you’re going for a salad, make sure that you ask for the dressing on the side.
Lose And Maintain Weight Without Exercising
True. Weight loss comes down to intake and output. All that matters is burning more calories then you’re taking in, which adds up to losing weight. Exercising to burn these calories is just the fastest approach.
Studies show that a lifestyle of appropriate calorie intake and moderate exercise results in weight loss success, and the odds of keeping it off increases. Since exercising provides additional health benefits, there’s no reason to incorporate it.
You Need A Better Diet If You Only Lose One Pound A Week
False. Losing 1 or 2 pounds weekly is the ideal weight loss rate. If you’re losing more than that, then it most likely won’t be permanent weight loss, as you’ll just end up gaining it back.
If you lose weight too rapidly, then what you’re most likely losing is just water or lean mass, and not fat. So even if the weight scale shows weight loss, you won’t be or feel any healthier.
Don’t Need To Exercise Every Day
True. It’s not necessary to exercise every day of the week, although it’s ideal to get some type of fitness or physical activity on a daily basis.
It’s also important to give your body a break, some rest to recover and rebuild. For instance, what you don’t want is to lift weights every day, working on the same muscles.
What muscles need is rest. Daily cardio such as running every day can wear you down. Resting one day a week becomes beneficial.
Don’t Do Strength Training Until You Lose Weight
False. Strength training is an essential part of fitness, so everyone should include it in their weekly workout regime, regardless.
This whether if you’re wanting to lose weight, build muscle, or just maintain it. What adding muscle does is increases metabolism, which in turn helps you burn more calories, so it should be incorporated into your weight loss program.