Top 7 Weight Loss Myths and Lies

We’re a nation obsessed with diets and dieting. Every day we’re bombarded by seemingly new, and most often confusing, information on what is the best way to shed those extra pounds. There are fat-burning pills, exercise machines, low-fat-low-carb snacks, and diet tips galore: Don’t eat carbs, stay away from desserts, don’t skip breakfast, never nibble after 6 p.m., etc. With all this conflicting information, it’s difficult to find a diet that is right for you — and that will work for you! So here are some of the most popular weight loss myths:

1. Eat Less Exercise More
This is one of the most confusing myths of all. The problem is that some people get carried away cutting calories and they end up in starvation mode. Your body needs a certain number of calories in order to survive and support daily activity. If you don`t provide these calories your body turns to fat burning muscle for fuel, slows down metabolism, turns on fat storage, and your energy levels go down so you burn less calories when you exercise.

2. Carbs Make You Fat
Thanks to all the paranoia created by low-carb fad diets everyone seems to think that all carbs are bad. The truth is that carbs fall into three categories:
-those you can eat in unlimited amounts such as fruits, vegetables and high fiber products
-those you can eat in moderation such as whole grain breads, whole grain cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta, and low-fat yogurt
-those you should limit such as cookies, donuts, soft drinks, processed crackers, chips, sugary cereals, etc.
Eliminating carbs all together is unhealthy and dangerous and you should make healthier carb choices to lose your weight.

3. Fat is Bad
Eating a high-carb, low-fat diet hasn`t helped reduce the number of overweight people. When it comes to weightloss the type of fat you eat is just as important as the amount of fat you eat. Saturated fat and trans fatty acids from fried foods, whole diary products, fatty meat products, and all processed foods like crackers, low-fat cookies, cereals, tortilla chips, frozen dinners, and especially baked goods should be kept to a minimum. While healthy fats from fish, olive oil, avocados, nuts, and soy products should be eaten in moderation. Essential fatty acids found in these foods actual promote weightloss and increase health.

4. Being Overweight Is Genetic
Research by Dr. Lesley Campbell of St. Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, Australia found that higher levels of activity in women with overweight or obese twin sisters, resulted in nearly 9 pounds lower total body-fat which means that exercise has a huge impact on weight even for those people who are genetically predisposed to higher levels of body fat. Exercise and not genetics was the determining factor of each twin's weight. This proves that with proper diet and exercise any person can maintain a reasonable weight and spare themselves all the health risks of being overweight.

5. Eating After 7pm = Weight Gain
Eating late at night is not a problem in itself if you are not exceeding your ideal calorie intake. Problems with late night eating occur when you eat very little throughout the day and then binge when you get home from work because you are so hungry. Your body can only process around 400 calories at a time so the rest ends up getting stored as fat and since your metabolism slows down at night the result is major weight gain. Another problem with late night eating occurs when people exceed their calorie intake because they are eating out of boredom, anxiety, depression, or other emotional reasons. If you find that this is a problem for you, plan other activities to help combat emotional eating. Take a walk, write a letter to a friend, organize your closet, go into an online forum and look for support.

6. Can't Burn Fat Unless You're In The Zone
Working out in the elusive fat burning zone (40 to 60 minutes of low intensity cardio) and still not seeing results? That's because there is no such thing. It is true that the higher the intensity of your workout the less fat you burn. This is your body`s way of delivering oxygen to exercising muscles faster. It sounds reasonable to think that if you exercise at a lower intensity and burn more fat you will lose more weight, but contrary to popular belief that is not the case. The best way to lose weight is by burning more calories than you consume and exercising at a higher intensity tends to burn more calories.

7. If You Exercise You Can Eat Anything
Strength training definitely builds fat burning muscle and boosts metabolism allowing you to consume more calories than those who just diet. Cardio is also a great way to burn calories and achieve/maintain your desired weight without having to starve yourself. The important thing to remember is that exercising does not give you license to eat everything in sight. If you want your hard work in the gym to show, you have to eat a balanced diet. This means eating healthy 90% of the time and indulging 10% of the time.