We often find that the best sources of information for understanding the causes and methods of weight loss are the experiences of our peers or the internet. However, if you look more closely at the topic of weight loss, you will discover that there are many opposing views on how to lose weight. The truth is that our daily meal intake and our body metabolism have a major impact on the outcomes of each weight loss approach. So let’s get started with the top 10 weight loss myths, both true and false, that individuals think to be effective.
Myth #1: Skipping meals will help you lose weight
FACT: A person’s body’s metabolic rate will fluctuate drastically if they are not consuming the right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Who foregoes eating?
Even now, some people still think that skipping meals will make them lose weight. Due to their busy schedules, working individuals are also more likely to skip meals. However, people who have started skipping meals think it would assist boost their metabolic rates. People who frequently skip meals, particularly breakfast and lunch, usually replace them with larger supper portions while oblivious to the negative effects on their health.
The attitude of avoiding meals
Losing weight requires a long-term battle that involves both physical and emotional effort. The majority of those around us are now focusing on living a healthy lifestyle. Physical weight loss needs a lot of time and effort, but the only thing that motivates people to lose weight is their mental capacity to do so. People who choose to skip meals are those who do not grasp the fundamental requirements of nutrition and are more than willing to take the danger of doing so. Additionally, they are not confident in their ability to lose weight through exercise and are choosing the simpler route of skipping meals on a daily basis.
Is it supported by science that skipping meals has an effect?
According to medical research studies from the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, cutting back on meals without restricting calories could have an adverse effect on a person’s ability to regulate their blood sugar. Diabetes may develop if meal skipping is practised on a long-term basis. Despite all the risks associated with meal skipping, it appears studies have found that missing meals often is beneficial to one’s health. According to studies, overweight persons with mild asthma who ate typical meals every day for two months lost an average of 8% of their body weight and saw improvements in their asthma symptoms.
Generally speaking, skipping meals has different effects depending on who is doing it, whether it be an ordinary working adult or an obese individual with asthma symptoms. Your body will also be deprived of vital nutrients, minerals, and vitamins if you skip meals. Additionally, missing meals causes your body to lose lean muscle mass and puts you in a famine condition, both of which slow your metabolism. Once you stop skipping meals, your body will actually gain weight twice as quickly as the average person. However, those who miss meals during the day and consume more food in the evening will negatively affect their body’s ability to regulate their metabolism.
MYTH #2: Consuming fatty foods cause weight gain
FACT: Eating fatty foods won’t make you fat, but doing so in moderation will help you keep a healthy diet.
Foods high in fat: pros or cons
It would make sense to think that eating fatty meals contributes to our weight gain, but is this truly the case? The long-standing misconception is absurd since, in all honesty, just because fat enters our bodies does not indicate that it will be absorbed by them. Experts in nutrition claim that eating fatty foods won’t truly make you gain weight. Any healthy, balanced diet must include some moderate consumption of fatty foods. An energy imbalance develops as a result of weight gain that is mostly made up of fat. If a person consumes more calories than they burn, they will acquire weight. Although fat is a concentrated source of calories, it is not necessary to completely cut out fat from your diet.
Which fatty foods are good for you and which are not?
Nuts, seeds, and avocado are examples of whole-food fats that are satiating and help you feel fuller for longer. Although eating fatty foods will make you fat, you will also become overweight to some level if you also consume carbohydrates and proteins. Additionally, while fatty foods like coconut oil and fish oil can vary in how much weight they cause you to acquire, eating too much of them will make you gain weight. Even though meals high in fat, such as fast food and snacks, include calories, a small quantity may make you feel satisfied, and pairing it with veggies or other nutritious foods will make it taste even better. Additionally, lipids aid in the absorption of specific vitamins and phytonutrients, substances that are frequently present in plants and can enhance human health.
Consuming fatty meals moderately
In general, eating fatty meals won’t make you fat unless you eat too much of them. The majority of products advertised as being fat-free nevertheless include fats, and you should also watch out for products with increased sugar content. Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which can be found in fish, most nuts, and liquid oils like canola, safflower, and olive. The majority of these fatty foods actually lower the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and do not raise blood cholesterol levels. Generally speaking, saturated fats—which are primarily included in beef and dairy products—are the fats you should steer clear of. You should avoid fatty foods like margarine and fried fast food because they greatly raise your risk of developing heart disease.
MYTH #3: Consuming carbohydrates causes weight gain
FACT: Eating carbs won’t make you gain weight. In general, eating more food than your body requires will lead to weight gain. Healthy veggies, protein, and low-carbohydrate diets are particularly effective at assisting with weight loss. Because they include empty calories, refined carbs like processed sugars from syrup and processed grains would cause high blood sugar and insulin levels. Therefore, celebrate if you consume rice!
Why do I still gain weight?
We would assume that since eating fatty foods doesn’t actually make you fat, carbs are the main contributor. In the end, if you do not intentionally limit your calorie intake, you will gain weight. Well, if you’ve maintained a low intake of carbohydrates and a high intake of protein, you might actually succeed in losing weight as you’ve desired. Dietary specialists claim that a poor diet combined with inactivity is what causes a person to gain weight when it comes to carbohydrates. Despite everything, a person can only acquire weight if they eat more calories than they can burn.
Which carbs should I consume?
Now that we’ve established that, how many carbohydrates should I consume? Well, you can always limit your intake of carbohydrates to just fruits and vegetables. You might still choose to eat other sources of carbohydrates, but you might miss out on additional nutritional advantages. The important thing to remember is to avoid doing it over an extended period of time, and you’ll be OK. High carbohydrate intakes are advised if you are a gym elitist or frequent gym goer. People who exercise frequently will experience cyclical depletion and replenishment of their muscle glycogen stores. Because of this, they typically get high-powered glucose molecules from starchy carbs as they engage in demanding exercise, particularly weightlifting and muscle growth.
The Better and Worse Carbohydrates
There are many different kinds of carbs that may be advantageous, but generally, the advantages vary based on your food intake strategy. People who regularly exercise, for example, will benefit from including a variety of carbohydrates in their diet. What specific forms of carbs should you avoid consuming? One form of carbohydrate that you should severely restrict is corn syrup and refined sugar because they can cause insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. You should strictly restrict your consumption of gluten-based grains like wheat, rye, and barley because they can lead to bloating, water retention, stubborn fat, and fatigue. Bloating, water retention, stubborn fat, and fatigue may result from gluten because it is a protein that can lead to food sensitivity. Additionally, common cereal grains that contain the “anti-nutrient” phytic acid may also contribute to these issues.
MYTH #4: Consuming diet soda will result in weight loss
FACT: Diet soda will negatively impact your health, and while it does not aid in weight loss, it actually does more harm than good. Due to the adverse effects of insulin secretion, you gain weight instead of decreasing it. Additionally, you can get a type 2 diabetes diagnosis and other chronic illnesses.
Consequences of Consuming Diet Soda
Even though you may already be aware that drinking diet soda is generally just as bad as drinking regular soda, some people still hold the mistaken belief that doing so will help them lose weight. The only true benefit that a person can get from drinking diet soda is that it helps reduce a person’s daily calorie intake. However, most young adults and working adults still assume that drinking diet soda will still benefit them.
What benefits does diet soda thus provide? Let’s examine a few of the advantages (and disadvantages) of diet soda that the soft drink business would have us think. In place of sweeteners that contain sugar, diet soda contains artificial sweeteners. As opposed to sugar, they just give sweetness to foods and beverages; they do not contain any additional calories, dispelling the myth that drinking diet soda can help you lose weight. People would assume that it would be okay to consume meals at ease while allowing them to lose weight because diet soda has no calories. Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners would cause insulin secretion to be sparked. What happens is that the body’s fat reserves may not be able to counteract the negative consequences of insulin release, which causes people to gain more weight instead.
Diet soda use leads to severe chronic diseases
The only thing that could be worse than drinking diet Coke is the possibility of developing Type 2 Diabetes as a result of regular drinkers’ elevated blood sugar levels. Even better, numerous chronic ailments such as heart disease, stroke, and others will also be involved. Additionally, consuming too many fizzy drinks on a regular basis can cause serious gastrointestinal issues such as ulcers, gastroenteritis, indigestion, and stomach lining erosion. Your dental health is not exempt from the effects of heavy diet soda consumption. Regular drinkers will have tooth loss as a result of the layer of their teeth corroding.
How to Stop Drinking Diet Soda?
Dietary artificial sweeteners Because drinking soda does not provide your body with complete cellular pleasure, it may cause you to seek more calories. This might result in binge eating, weight gain, and artificial sweetener addiction. The least a person might do to free themselves from the addiction is to stop seeking sweets. Caffeine, green tea, or even an energy drink with necessary vitamins and nutrients could be used to treat it.
MYTH #5: Supplements can aid with weight loss
FACT: Although they are not the best options and come with negative effects, weight loss supplements do help people lose weight. The greatest way to lose weight is to combine a healthy daily diet with regular exercise.
How weight-loss supplements work
It can be difficult to distinguish which supplement is a weight loss supplement in comparison to the others given the wide variety of them available on the market. In general, pills, medicines, and natural supplements are used to categorize all weight loss supplements. Additionally, it has been asserted that these supplements can aid in weight loss or, at the absolute least, make it simpler for people to lose weight when combined with other strategies like a diet and exercise routine. In what way do these supplements, therefore, aid in weight loss? They either decrease your hunger by making you feel full so that you may consume fewer calories, they reduce your nutrients, particularly your fat, so that you will feel the need to consume fewer calories, or they boost fat burning by decreasing your intake of the supplements.
Popular weight-loss supplements
One of the most well-known weight reduction supplements in the world, Hydroxycut is a cornerstone weight loss product that has been available for ten years. Caffeine and a few plant extracts are among the components that are said to aid in weight loss. In general, people who are sensitive to caffeine should steer clear of this supplement. Coffee, green tea, and the majority of processed foods and beverages that contain caffeine are everyday items that can help you lose weight. Since caffeine speeds up metabolism, it boosts the body’s percentage of fat burning. However, since caffeine is an addictive substance, it is advised to avoid eating any of the specific goods before bed. The finest caffeine sources are high-quality coffee and green tea since they provide antioxidants and other beneficial properties for your body.
Another well-known item is Alli, a pharmaceutical medicine called orlistat that aids in weight loss by causing your body’s fat to break down, allowing you to consume less calories from fat. Additionally, Orlistat assists in slightly lowering blood pressure while lowering the likelihood of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The most common negative effects, like with other weight reduction pills, are digestive issues and a vitamin shortage. Additionally, Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), which contains compounds that are found in a fatty acid called linoleic acid, is another well-known supplement. Natural sources of them include fatty animal foods like cheese and butter. In general, CLA serves to suppress hunger, speed up metabolism, and promote the breakdown of body fat. Not to mention, CLA has a number of adverse effects related to the digestive system and may eventually prove hazardous.
The majority of weight reduction supplements are generally effective, but their largest problem is their negative effects on your health. Not to mention that no weight loss supplement will ever completely stop weight loss; at most, it will cause you to lose a few pounds. The very least you could do is put more effort into your regular activities and properly organize your nutrition consumption.
MYTH #6: Water consumption causes weight loss
FACT: It’s as easy as it seems. Instead of making you lose weight, water keeps you hydrated and reduces your appetite. But water is necessary for our bodies and essentially to quench our thirst.
Keeping hydrated or losing weight by drinking water
Who would have guessed that something as basic and important as drinking water might harbour myths and misconceptions about its potential health benefits? But does it seem plausible that consuming water could aid in weight loss? While it doesn’t directly cause you to lose weight, drinking water does benefit you in several ways with your weight loss efforts. Imagine how much weight you could shed if you just drank more water. Choose to consume water instead of calorie-rich beverages as part of your diet strategy to help you burn off more calories overall.
Advantages of water consumption
The main benefit of drinking water is that it reduces your desire to consume more by making you feel fuller. Researchers claim that a large portion of the energy in drinking water is used to heat the water in your body. The effort to heat the water is required to increase the energy and covert in metabolism because it contacts at a temperature that is far below that of the body. In essence, drinking water encourages your body to burn calories, which is crucial while trying to lose weight.
If you’re determined to include drinking water in your diet plan, always carry a bottle of water with you. Keep it visible so that you’ll be more likely to sip on it throughout the day. You may avoid many health issues, including a dry throat that could damage your metabolism, by keeping your body hydrated.
MYTH #7: Eating at night causes weight gain
FACT: Your weight growth is influenced by how much you eat, not by when you eat. Even at dinnertime, eating is still OK because it may help you avoid late-night snacking which is generally not a good habit.
Are our evening meals off limits?
We frequently question if eating late at night contributes to weight gain. It makes sense to consume fewer calories than in the morning or afternoon because our body burns fewer calories later in the night. Do we have to give up eating out at night? Fortunately, contrary to popular opinion, this is not entirely accurate, so you don’t have to skip supper. Instead, researchers found that when you eat your meal has no effect whatsoever on your weight gain. It is intended to be understood that eating in moderation throughout the day won’t even result in weight gain.
The persistent notion that eating at night causes weight gain
Why then do individuals still think that eating at night causes them to gain weight? There are just 2 things that can cause someone to acquire weight. Either you didn’t eat sensibly or you didn’t exercise regularly throughout the day. Additionally, those who ate more at night would likely feel less hungry for breakfast the next day, which could aid in calorie restriction. The number of calories a person consumes throughout the day can also be influenced by their behaviour and emotions. You may say that some people miss breakfast occasionally and have a large meal at night while making an attempt to exercise physically without gaining weight.
Meal intake and lifestyle choices are the only factors that affect your weight.
If you plan to eat at night, you should be very aware of your eating habits and lifestyle choices. Just take in the right amount without going overboard when it comes to eating a meal high in carbohydrates or calculating how many calories to consume.
MYTH #8: Vegetarianism results in weight loss
FACT: Although following a vegetarian diet will help you lose weight, you would have to put in a lot of work to keep it up. Additionally, for the diet plan to be effective, you must include both physical activity and the right nutrition; otherwise, you risk still gaining weight even following a vegetarian diet plan.
Is adopting a vegetarian diet a practical weight-loss strategy?
Generally speaking, vegetarians will tell you that it helps them lose weight. The fact is, if you don’t want to become a vegetarian to lose weight, there are still other diet plans that might work. It’s true that it works, and it also makes you healthy. A vegetarian diet is more difficult than it first appears because eating plants does not always result in weight loss. While they’re at it, they still require the same vitamins and minerals that everyone else needs, such as B12 and D, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and calcium.
Even vegetarians put on weight!
Yes, a vegetarian can gain weight if they rely on high-calorie items like bread, cereal, pasta, and other carb-heavy foods to meet their needs. They are essentially guaranteed to gain weight if they do not consume protein with their carbohydrates. Therefore, in order to avoid that, vegetarians would probably choose soy products such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, and many others in order to supplement their vegetarian diet plan with protein.
How to switch to vegetarianism
It takes time to lose weight, so going vegetarian is not a quick fix. Furthermore, it is quite challenging to sustain a lifestyle that excludes any animal-derived foods. Let’s not overlook the important impact exercise plays in weight loss together with a vegetarian diet. Therefore, if you’re thinking about going on a vegetarian diet to lose weight, think twice.
MYTH #9: Milk consumption causes weight loss
FACT: The body will break down fat more effectively with the help of the calcium in milk, which results in weight loss. Depending on how much you drink and how many meals you eat each day, low-fat, full-fat, and skim milk can all aid in weight loss.
The milk-drinking conundrum
The idea that drinking milk will help you lose weight is another widespread one, but there is a counterargument that suggests that doing so might instead make you gain weight. You might say that low-fat and fat-free milk is a dairy product that could aid in weight loss because they provide numerous nutrients like vitamin D, protein, and calcium without having too many calories or too much-saturated fat.
How about milk with all the fat?
There are suggestions that consuming full-fat milk would aid in weight loss. You may be thinking, but how? If you’ve read about the misconception that eating fatty meals will make you fat, you already know that this is untrue. Instead, excessive carbohydrate consumption—which doesn’t require any physical activity—is what leads to weight gain, not eating fatty foods. Full-fat milk consumption will contribute to an increase in fullness, the feeling that keeps people from eating more for the rest of the day. As a result, people consume fewer calories from sweets and carbohydrates. They would be less beneficial to your health than drinking non-fat milk, which contains substances like sugar and carbs.
If you want to reduce weight, consider switching to skim milk because it has more nutrients and fewer calories than diet soda and energy drinks. In actuality, skim milk has a slightly higher calcium content than full-fat milk. Low-fat milk is typically the best choice if you’re trying to lose weight, but if you can plan your food intake properly, any milk product will be helpful for your weight loss efforts.
MYTH #10: Could napping cause weight loss?
FACT: Unfortunately, getting enough sleep does not help you lose weight. On the contrary, getting too little sleep can lead to a variety of weight-related problems depending on your body’s metabolism and food intake.
Lack of sleep causes weight gain.
One could ponder whether sleeping too little can result in a weight increase. Researchers believe that a lack of sleep may be associated with a greater level of the hormone ghrelin. Basically, greater Ghrelin levels will cause you to spend less energy, and stimulate your hunger, which will cause you to eat more than usual and cause fat to be retained. Consider the situation when you are always preoccupied with your job and find yourself staying up late despite the fact that you need to wake up early to get to work. You start drinking coffee to remain awake at work, and you may even forgo your exercise regimen out of tiredness. As a result, you started to experience sleep deprivation, which has an impact on both your health and your waistline. Additionally, getting too little sleep might seriously impair your metabolism’s ability to work.
Elements that cause weight growth
So how does sleep deprivation impact our capacity to lose weight? Ghrelin and leptin are two hormones that are involved in this process. The hormone Leptin determines whether you feel content after eating a meal, while Ghrelin controls your appetite. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body will produce more ghrelin than leptin, which will increase your hunger and cause you to eat more, which will make you gain weight. Not to mention that you have a slower metabolism as a result of not getting enough sleep.
The most effective way to combat lack of sleep
People may experience sleep deprivation for a number of different causes. Take these simple steps into your atypical “short of sleep” life as a minimum to prevent any significant alterations to your hormones and body metabolism. In order to relax after work, try to avoid coffee, especially in the afternoon. The most crucial factor is to pay attention to what you eat before bed. A substantial dinner is generally not advised, especially if your metabolism is slow. You can finally jump into bed to get some quality rest after a quick dinner.