Ten Myths About Weight Loss That You Probably Believe

With the modern lifestyle where you are forced to stay sedentary for hours and you rarely have a choice when it comes to the sugar and cholesterol content of the food around you; gaining weight is easier than losing any. It is therefore a huge step when you decide to shed some pounds because you have to alter so many aspects of your life and make huge sacrifices. The best advice when it comes to losing weight is that you should take it a pound at a time. Take it slow and be consistent. Going onto fad diets and attempting to keep up with rumoured weight-loss trends online doesn’t help much. Here are 10 weight loss myths that won’t help your weight loss journey.

Weight-Loss is all about the fat

There are three types of weight you should focus on when losing weight. Fat weight is the one everyone focuses on and the best way to lose it is by cutting the number of calories you consume per day while maintaining a healthy exercise routine. You also need to ensure that you maintain your muscle weight because losing your muscle density will mean that your body burns fewer calories which will only cause you to have more fat. The last type of weight is your water weight which changes depending on the hormones in your body and the level of sodium. Sometimes, when looking at the scale, you may be losing water weight or muscle weight, both of which won’t help your weight loss journey.

You can target where to lose fat

So you are worried about your clothes not fitting because of too much fat under your armpits or thighs or you just want to do away with that stomach fat and the rest doesn’t worry you so much. Well, unless you are going for a fat-freezing cosmetic surgery, losing body fat cannot be targeted using diet or even exercise. Exercise and diet will help you lose fat but the spots that lose most fat differ from person to person. A lot of gym bros tend to suggest illogical exercises for targeted weight loss to newbies in the gym. This could be dangerous as wrong exercises can result in internal injury and can restrict you from working out any further. You may then have to opt for deep tissue massage jacksonville fl, or in your location that can help you recover from such injuries. Therefore, it is advisable not to attempt exercises promising targeted weight loss. That said, in most cases, fat loss is uniform across your body which is healthier than the forced versions of the process.

Carbs are the problem

Gaining fats comes when your body converts excessive calories that it doesn’t need into fat stores. Carbs don’t solely accountable for all of the excess calories in the body as many are led to believe. Carbs are necessary for your muscles to generate the energy for daily body function which includes brain function. Many fad diets demonize carbs sending people onto a weight-loss program that denies essential body functions of their key source of fuel. Carbs also have most of the fibre you eat which is important in losing weight. You should therefore focus on the calorie count rather than demonizing a type of food.

Eating at night is a step backwards

It is true that you should give yourself three to four hours between your dinner and bedtime to allow your stomach to break down the bulk of a heavy dinner. Going to sleep on an empty stomach is worse though which is why that midnight snack is not bad if you actually need it. Just make sure you don’t eat up half your daily need for calories in a midnight snack. You should also keep off from heavily processed foods as snacks because they have too much-refined sugar, salt, additives and everything else that won’t help you.

Unless it is an intense exercise, it doesn’t help

Losing weight and staying in shape has to be a lifestyle and not something you pick up for a few days and then go back to normal when the scales read in your favor. That means that every available opportunity to exercise should be welcomed with both hands even if it involves only a few sit-ups, just a walk down the block, or working out using a swiss ball (health site healthcreeds mentions the benefit of using a swiss ball). Relying solely upon sweaty exercise for weight loss will fool you because you might lose water weight and assume you are on the right track. You need to incorporate as many active sessions into your daily activities as possible and let the intense exercise be part of that and not the only piece of the puzzle.

Zero-sugar foods are the way to go

No added sugar or no sugar is one label that many processed foods have used to attract sales from weight-conscious customers. One thing you need to know is that replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners doesn’t help with your weight loss. The best thing to do is eat processed foods in moderation. Artificial sweeteners have been linked with an increased risk of obesity and heart disease and they may be even worse than sugar so you are better off with less of that soda or without it than with more cans of zero calorie soda.

Intermittent fasting is the answer

One thing you should know about not eating is that your body doesn’t always respond by eating your excess fat. The body actually reduces metabolic activity in response to reduced fuel and starts eating your protein reserves which affect more of your muscle weight than your fat weight. Trying to reduce your weight by not eating, therefore, hurts both your muscle and brain health which is a prospect you don’t want. Thus, instead of trying this option, which may end up hurting you more than benefiting you, it would be recommended that you try out safe ways of losing weight. For instance, you can consider working out daily or consuming supplements like Ignite Drops, which can help you be in shape quickly (you can learn more about it at Sentrian).

You will gain weight back

It is true that most people that lose weight end up regaining most of it but it is mostly down to the method they use to lose the weight and their lifestyle after losing weight. While some people assume that you only regain weight if you lose it too fast, the truth is that both quick and slow weight loss journeys can be reversed. But there might be certain procedures that assure you that there will be no weight gain in the future. One such technique is Coolsculpting. It is one of those procedures done at professional clinics such as 8 West, in which the fat-storing cells are frozen permanently to aid weight loss in a particular area. This also helps in reducing stubborn fats stored in areas like the arm, thigh, and abdomen which are impossible to reduce with dieting and workouts. Many people that remain, weight-conscious people, stay in shape after their weight-loss journey. You shouldn’t shy away from that routine because it will help you lose weight and stay that way if you keep it up.

If it works for others, it will work for you

Weight loss and staying healthy is a personal journey and cannot be assessed in comparison to how the bodies of other people behaved after a particular weight-loss program. While it is true that most weight loss programs work for most people, the results are never similar across a group of people. It is therefore normal to not lose weight as quickly as other people trying the same weight loss program.

Cutting gluten helps you lose weight

Going gluten-free and cutting excess fat is not the same thing. Gluten-free is only effective for treating celiac disease and there is no medical evidence that it helps you lose weight in any way. Going gluten-free to reduce your waist size is therefore not a viable project. The only way you can really cut weight is by cutting the quantity of calories you consume and maintaining an active lifestyle to build muscle.

Have you heard of any other myths about weight loss? Why not share them with us in the comments below.