Weight loss is a trending topic in today’s culture. Now that obesity rates have never been higher, everyone is looking for new, modern ways to lose weight.
To help with this, there are a variety of TV shows, diet plans, pills, and books to help you along the way.
However, with the amount of information readily available, it’s easy to become confused and targeted by people looking to scam you with their false products.
To help you sort out myths from facts, below, we discuss 10 of the most prominent weight loss myths that we can prove are false.
Weight Loss Diets Are Effective
The weight loss industry isn’t always on your side. In fact, many weight loss professionals try to influence you into thinking that diets actually work. However, this simply isn’t the case.
Studies have shown that dieting never works in the long run, an average of 85 percent of people actually end up gaining back their weight within a year, or less.
Not to mention, researchers have also found that people who diet are usually ones that gain more weight in the future, than people who don’t try dieting.
In truth, dieting is usually a factor that always comes before severe weight gain. The rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t think about weight loss as a time to start dieting. Instead, work on becoming a healthier and fitter version of yourself.
This means eating better, sleeping better, and exercising more. Dieting to limit your food consumptions just isn’t realistic for long-term application.
Move More, Eat Less
Body fat is just stored energy, called calories. To lose fat, you need more calories to leave your fat cells than what’s entering the cells themselves. To put it in better terms, if you burn off more calories than you eat, you can lose fat.
However, although it’s true, it’s not the best advice to give people who are suffering from serious weight gain. Doing so is similar to telling someone with depression to simply cheer up. People gain weight for biochemical and physiological reasons, many of whom are actually active.
Instead, you should work to steer into eating better food and living a healthier life. Simply moving more won’t fix fat problems.
All Calories Are Created Equal
Calories are a measure of energy but don’t have all the same energy content. Keeping this in mind, understand that different calorie sources have different effects on a person’s body, such as their weight.
This is because different types of foods have different effects on hunger and go through different metabolic pathways. A fat calorie, for example, is very different than a carb or protein calorie.
However, when you replace your fat and carbs with protein, you can increase your metabolism, influencing cravings, which can help you lose weight.
All Fat is Bad
Over the past few years, fat’s been getting a bad rap and is frowned upon. However, if you work on not overeating, fat won’t make you actually fat.
However, fat makes food taste great and is a necessary element for your body to consume. But there are both good and bad fats that you should be careful of.
Weight Loss is all in Your Mind
We’re sorry, but there’s no way you’re going to be able to “will” yourself to lose weight, it’s all about your genetics and lifestyle. It’s crucial that you work on healthy bodily changes and continuously become a fitter person.
Carbs Can Make You Fat
It is a known fact that human beings have been eating carbs for a long, long time. However, reducing your consumptions of carbs, such as sugar, can help you lose weight. But, you still need them to stay healthy.
This means eating less pasta and bread, and more beans and greens.
Supplements Are Necessary for Weight Loss
Weight loss supplements are almost never as effective as they claim to be. There are tons of different supplements out there that all claim to help people dramatically lose weight.
However, when looked at closer, they rarely work as they say they will. It is possible that people can lose weight while taking supplements but this is mainly due to the placebo effect.
People believe that these supplements will do what they claim, so they start to be more conscious of what they are eating. It has little to do with the pills at all.
That said, there are a few supplements out there that can help with weight loss. The most effective supplements can help you to lose a couple of pounds over the course of several months.
Weight Loss Is a Linear Process
Depending on when you measure your weight, you may get a different result. Everybody’s weight fluctuates during the day because of a few different factors.
You may see a different weight because of the time of day when you take the measurement, the amount of water you are retaining, and the types of foods that you ate recently.
Traditionally, healthy, long-term weight loss is marked by a consistent downward trend in your weight with a couple of periods of small weight gain and plateaus. Don’t expect your weight loss journey to be one constant downward movement.
Fluctuations are completely normal, so don’t worry if it takes a few days before you notice a real change in your weight.
Simply Eating More Fruits and Veggies Will Shed Pounds
Many people want to take the easy way out when it comes to losing weight. This recommendation is often followed by those people. They think that just by adding more fruits and vegetables into their existing diet, they can lose weight.
However, their current diets are often unhealthy. Supplementing these healthy foods into your diet will not help you to meet your weight loss goals.
If, for example, you are eating sugary snacks and fast food, adding more vegetables will not do much for you. You may still lose a few pounds this way.
Fruits and veggies contain high amounts of fiber which makes you feel fuller after eating them. This can prevent you from eating more than needed which may help you shed a few pounds.
However, if you want to see real results, you will need to replace the unhealthy foods in your diet with healthier alternatives.
Breakfast Reduces Weight Gain
At some point in your life, you have probably been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Experts often recommend that people on diets eat a healthy morning meal every day.
This is because, when you skip breakfast, you may become very hungry and overeat later in the day. This is referred to as binging.
In reality, you should only eat when you are hungry. If you do not feel hungry in the morning, there is no need to force yourself to eat a big meal just because you think it will help with your diet.
While it’s true that eating a healthy breakfast can help you to feel fuller, later on, the same can be achieved with a mid-morning snack. On the flip side, not all breakfasts are good for diets.
A heavy, unhealthy breakfast or a quick fast food meal can even increase weight gain. This is especially true if you do not maintain a healthy diet otherwise. What you are eating is much more important than when you are eating.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we could clear up a few weight loss myths that you may have been treading on browsing the internet. Although there’s plenty of factual weight loss information online, many individuals are trying to confuse the public to buy either their product or their service.
If you have any other myths that you can disprove, feel free to comment below and keep us all a little more informed on the truths of losing weight.