Six Common Weight Loss Myths
There’s all kinds of information available about weight loss, and much of it is true. However, there are some weight loss “facts” that simply aren’t true. Let’s review some of those common myths.
1. Food eaten at bedtime is more fattening than food eaten at an earlier time.
This popular myth is simply not true. Food has the same number of calories no matter what time it’s eaten. You may sleep better if you eat at an earlier hour or you may store calories more as you have less time to burn them off, but calorie count is the same.
2. If you’re fat, it’s your fault because you eat too much and exercise too little.
Research has shown there are at least 5 factors in obesity: heredity, metabolism, environment, diet, and exercise. Scientists have recently identified a “vegetable gene”—people who have this gene have a taste for strong (most of us would say “bitter” or even “yucky”) vegetables.
This myth is one of the most heinous and hurtful ones out there. It often undermines self-esteem and creates a self-destructive spiral. There’s a fine line between accepting blame for your size and accepting responsibility for your health. Stay on the positive side and avoid negative people who want to play the blame game.
3. ______ (pick any food) makes you fat.
There is no such thing as an Evil Food. Different foods have different calorie counts, and your choices in diet all combine with your choices in exercise to determine whether you have a calorie surplus (weight gain) or calorie deficit (weight loss). You can enjoy many of your favorites in small amounts by either taking in less somewhere else or burning more calories with extra exercise.
4. ______ (pick any drug) makes you thin.
There’s no such thing as a Magic Pill to make you thin. You can take proactive steps to reduce calories and exercise to improve muscle tone. If you’ve always been big, you probably won’t ever be “thin”. You may be smaller, or healthier, but “thin” probably isn’t an option. There are supplements to aid your diet routine but on their own they will not make you thin.
5. Aerobic exercise is best for weight loss.
While aerobic exercise (like running) burns more calories in the time spent doing the exercise, anaerobic exercise (like strength training) builds muscle mass and encourages your body to burn calories faster (through metabolism). Thus, both types of exercise are beneficial in weight loss.
6. Skipping meals is good for weight loss.
When you skip a meal, your body reacts by slowing your metabolism to conserve remaining fuel. Thus, skipping meals has the opposite effect by making it harder to lose weight.
There’s no shortcut to making good decisions to improve your health by losing weight. But thousands of people have proven that successful weight loss is possible.
