Weight loss and 10 myths and legends about it.

Hello, dear readers! Today I decided to write about weight loss and 10 myths about it! There is a lot of information on the Internet about fast weight loss and how to get rid of excess weight forever. Countless ads and recommendations for magical diets and detox teas and juices are constantly promoted online. There are also ads for pills and supplements that claim that you can lose weight without even changing your eating habits.

Today I will introduce you to ten of the most famous or rather those that I have most often heard from people myths and legends about weight loss.

 1. Carbs are bad for weight loss!

One of the first things most people do when they want to lose weight is to limit or eliminate carbohydrates from their diet. This is not a good idea, although there is promising evidence about low-carb diets. Eliminating carbohydrates can have a negative impact. When we do not eat carbs, there is a chance that our appetite for them will increase. We will be able to endure some time without them but not permanently. When we cut carbs for a long time and then get lost and get fed up with them, we will notice something bad the next day. After eating plenty of carbohydrates, we retain water. It is normal to gain one or two kilograms the next day, which will further demotivate us.

It is not good to exclude carbohydrates from your diet. They are vital for your body. If you still feel better when you do not consume them, keep in mind that you must adhere to this decision of yours. Don’t completely eliminate them from your diet, just limit them and choose whole grains and legumes.

 2. We need to stop eating fat!

When we want to get rid of excess fat, it makes sense to reduce fat intake, right? Yes, but it’s not! Not all fats are the same. Animal fats as well as fried foods are fats that we need to eliminate. Vegetable fats and fish oil are useful and recommended to continue to consume. They are rich in omega fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory properties, are good for the brain and skin, and have a saturating effect.

Fats combined with protein and fiber are an extremely good menu, which is not only rich in nutrients but will saturate you for a long time. However, we must keep in mind that 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories, and calories are most important in weight loss. Consume fats from sources such as fish, nuts, legumes, peanut butter, avocados.

 3. All calories are the same.

One of the most famous opinions about calories is that whether we eat protein or fat, calories are the same and this is the most important factor for weight loss. That’s right! Calories are the most important factor in losing weight, but they are not the only ones. Thermal effect of food, hormonal balance, satiety index, glycemic index. These are the properties of macronutrients that have the ability to influence the weight loss process.

Protein, for example, has a higher saturating effect than carbohydrates. Its thermal effect (energy that is lost as heat in metabolic processes) is the highest, compared to carbohydrates and fats. Protein has also been shown to kill the appetite.

Another difference in food is the satiating effect. Two foods can have the same number of calories but saturate you differently. For example, we can easily eat 500 calories of pizza, but we would find it difficult to eat 500 calories of broccoli. Pizza will keep us full for a shorter time than broccoli and this will lead to more calories consumed for the day.

 4. The only way to lose weight is to go on a diet.

It has been proven that 85% of people who have lost weight from diets regain their weight within a year. Diets are not for people who want to change their lifestyle or lose weight for a longer period of time. It is true that diets work, but they have a lot of negative effects on us.

When we go on a diet we are quite likely to feel a loss of energy, focus, to be often hungry and nervous, a decline in immunity. In some people, the opposite effect occurs in a short time. They feel more alive and energetic, but that is again for a short time. A study proves the yo-yo effect in 85% of people who lose weight through diet.

Undoubtedly the best way to lose weight is to change your lifestyle. Diet is only a temporary or starting solution to the problem. If we do not change our habits, our joy will be short-lived.

 5. We can remove fat from certain parts of the body.

This is also a pretty wrong belief. Many people think that they can burn more belly fat by doing more crunches. This is a proven misstatement. The body cannot burn fat from certain areas.

The fats that are stored in our subcutaneous fat are in the form of triglycerides. Our muscles cannot use these triglycerides for energy. They must be broken down and released into the blood in the form of free fatty acids. Therefore, training a particular muscle group cannot burn fat around it.

The fat that is used for energy will come from everywhere in our body, not just from the place of the muscles we train. Therefore, burning fat from certain places is a myth.

 6. We need to eat smaller portions more often.

Weight loss is controlled by the calories we eat per day. It doesn’t matter how many times we eat. Metabolism is driven by calories taken, not by meals. One study found that not only did the number of meals have no effect on our metabolism, but three meals were more effective than six for weight loss.

Other studies have been done on the effect of changing the number of meals per day. Participants switched abruptly from three to six meals a day and no changes in metabolism were observed. This is true for people who are deficient in calories (weight loss).

From what has been said so far, it is clear that this is also a myth. It is good to mention here that it matters how we feel. For example, I can’t eat the calories I need for the day of three meals. For me, four meals a day are optimal. If you feel better when you eat six times a day, then eat six times a day. However, this will not help you lose weight faster.

 7. We need to train for weight loss.

From my personal experience, it turns out that all people think that they need to start training to lose weight. This is not the case, because losing weight requires a calorie deficit and nothing more. If we eat fewer calories than we burn, we will lose weight. We burn calories by moving, working, eating, and even while sleeping. We don’t need to train to burn more calories. Just walk more or pursue another hobby. In some cases, even walking or cycling can burn more calories than a 60-minute workout.

This, of course, does not mean that it is not useful to train! Regular exercise has other benefits for health and body composition. It is not advisable to ignore them, but they are not as important for weight loss as many people think. In my articles – “Why should we train regularly?”, and “Training and weight loss – everything you need to know.”, you can read all about training and weight loss.

 8. We can only lose weight with high-intensity training.

High-intensity training is highly praised. The difference between a thirty-minute high-intensity workout and a sixty-minute monotonous workout is not that great, and in many cases, more calories are burned in a monotonous workout. This is because when we train intensely we cannot maintain the same pace throughout the workout due to fatigue. In this case, it is better to train longer, at a slower pace to burn more calories.

For beginners, it is highly recommended not to resort to high-intensity training. Not only will they not be able to perform a real high-intensity workout to reap the benefits of it, but there is also a greater chance of injury.

Studies have been done on the effect of high-intensity training on trained athletes, and it turns out that a very small percentage of them can train so intensely to get the real benefits of this training. This, in practice, makes this type of training ineffective for weight loss.

High-intensity training is not a quick way to lose weight, but just another type of training. They aim to improve a person’s physical qualities. It is advisable to include them from time to time in your training programs, but we should not overdo them.

For weight loss, for beginners, it is always better to use the long monotonous training method.

 9. Sweating is necessary for weight loss.

If sweating burned fat, there would be no overweight people living in the tropics. Or every summer, when temperatures rise above 25-30 degrees, we would lose the extra pounds gained in the winter.

Sweating is a protective mechanism of our body against overheating. It is true that we sweat while training and this is because our body warms up and needs to cool down. All people sweat differently, some more, others are less. Burning fat remains muscle work and sweat has nothing to do with how much weight we have lost.

By the way of logic, sauna suits, putting on clothes or wrapping in nylon just to sweat more while training is completely unnecessary. Yes, we will sweat more, which is water removed from our body, which can be 1-2 kilograms. This water, however, will recover in a day or two while we drink fluids and the weight will be made up. A similar method is used by athletes when they need to lose 1-2 kilograms to enter their category.

However, sweating is something useful. Sweat cleanses our bodies of toxins. It is good to sweat from time to time, either in the sauna or through exercise. If you still do not like to sweat, then train with lighter clothing or in a cooler room, and you will lose weight again.

 10. A sharp reduction in calories leads to rapid weight loss.

A sharp reduction in calories can not only lead to a lack of macro-and micronutrients but will also cause us to lose muscle mass and slow down our metabolism. So we can lose a few pounds abruptly, but at the expense of tone, energy, mood, but after a short time we will reach stagnation. When we have reduced calories drastically and come to a standstill, there is no way out of it, because we can no longer reduce calories.

Weight loss should be done slowly and gradually, starting with a calorie intake calculated for our physique and lifestyle and starting to reduce it, keeping in mind the rate of weight loss. However, our health must always come first!