10 Weight Loss Myths

Once something goes mainstream, it'll continue to be believed even if it is later proven to be false. Myths seem to appear daily particularly in areas like health, nutrition, and weight-loss. Here are 10 that just won't go away!

Everyone gains weight as they age.

While this seems to be the norm it does not have to be and it is not a healthy thing. The contributing factors are; a decrease in metabolic rate (about 2% per year after the age of about 22-23), a significant decrease in physical activity (very common when people enter secondary education), and poor diet (again, very common when people leave home and go to university-pizza & chicken wing nights). A decrease in muscle mass, caused by the less physical activity, resulting in lower metabolic rate. However, this does not need to be the case. If someone is careful with their diet and keeps physically active fat gain will not occur.

If you're not thin then you are not healthy.

Ok, we all need to realize that we come in different shapes and sizes and this is very hard to change (even for some people who want to gain weight). Even if you have difficulty in losing excess fat keep up the exercise program. The internal benefits, that you can not see in the mirror, are more important than the external benefits e.g. lower blood pressure, increased cardiovascular capacity, lower cholesterol, lower chance of diabetes, etc.

Missing meals will result in weight loss.

How many of haven't tried this one? And we all know the result, but somehow we are tempted to try over and over again, swearing that ‘this time it will be different.' The end result is over eating at the next meal or at the end of the day. And that ‘over eating' usually consists of many more calories by the end of the day. The reason, your body needs nutrients. When you try to fight the body it will win. So, eat healthy, eat several small means, and don't try and trick the body, it doesn't work.

High protein & low fat, high fat & low carb, high carb & low protein, etc.

We've heard them all! bottom line, weight loss occurs when the overall calories you consume, is less than the calories you burn. All diets, no matter what they are called, work because of this concept. Problem is, you can't keep it up. Who can live on plain chicken and lettuce?! Best way is to reduce portion sizes, in order to reduce calories consumed.

Herbs, teas, pills, etc, will help one lose weight.

More magic 🙂 If only it were that simple. Fact is, there is no simple cure for weight loss. In fact, taking pills, powders, or anything else along that line can do serious harm e.g. taking pills to increase your metabolism will soon result in a ‘tolerance' affect. Meaning, even with the pills your metabolism will return to normal and you will need even more pills to keep it up. And once you stop the pills, and eventually you will, your metabolism will drop to even lower levels than before you started the pills.

Certain foods burn more calories than they contain.

Nobody knows for sure, but let's suppose that lettuce has 20 calories and it takes your body 30 to digest it. How many sticks of lettuce are you going to eat to really induce any weight loss?

Eating tons of fruits will result in weight loss.

Totally not true. While your diet should consist of a few fruits per day, they still contain calories. And an excess in calories, regardless of the source, will result in fat storage, which is weight gain. And again, how long can you live on one food source?

Eating late at night will result in weight gain.

Simply not true. Again, it is a total calories consumed compared to total calories used. However, the tendency is that what we eat late at night is usually unhealthy e.g. pizza, chicken wings, chips, etc.

Bananas are fattening.

This one makes me laugh, and I've heard it many times. The calories in a fruit doesn't come near the calories in a pop, or a chocolate bar, or a bag of chips. Fact is, bananas are healthy, and no one ever got fat on eating bananas. If caloric intake is of concern, there are many other foods to look at first before worrying about bananas.

Being a vegetarian will result in weight loss.

This is only true if the vegetarian is more health conscious of what they put in their body. Simply avoiding meat or animal products will not result in weight loss. Chips, pop, thick salad dressings, etc., can still be part of a vegetarian diet, but are still quite fattening. And keep in mind that going vegetarian, without proper knowledge and meal planning can result in vitamin and mineral malnourishment.