The Biggest Weight Loss Myths - Time To Debunk

Stories and experiences are unique. To some extent, even the results are unique. The results can also vary when you follow a different approach. For example, you might get faster results when you workout together with a large group of people like employee fitness programs and benefit in a different way when you train personally. Just because you had particular learning during the phase, it doesn’t prove to be wrong for others. Whenever we wanted to lose weight, we get to hear multiple views from people around us. Some say that it is not necessary to lose weight, while some immediately come with some supplements, magic fat-burning drinks, recipes, etc. Never trust these methods blindly as you and your body are unique. They need a special level of understanding, and a customized diet plan and workout regime to achieve the desired results. Thus, in this article, you will find the most myths found around weight loss, and science-backed information.

Exercise and eat anything you want:

Is eating cheese-loaded pizza on the way back to your home from the gym your favourite hobby? Do you ever compromise yourself by saying that you have worked out for 1 hour and now can have all your favourite junks like pani poori, pizza, burger, etc? When you exercise, you will start burning calories, and feel hungry. Once you eat these fast foods, the empty carbs will fool your brain and never make you feel, rather will simply stimulate you to eat more. Thus, anything that goes into your body more will again be stored resulting in no weight loss. The biggest culprit in these fast foods is the lack of proper nutrition failing to provide our body with the required energy. The refine seed oils are also bad for your heart health making you prone to cardiovascular issues. Despite working out regularly, please follow a proper diet to achieve your results.

Don’t touch carbs to lose weight:

Virat Kohli, the former skipper of the Indian cricket team has never touched carbs for 8 years. He lost weight through restrictive diets. These are common bluff we hear around the media, which is senseless. The truth is no one can live without carbs. Some organs in our body can live without carbs, while others cannot as they are the major source of energy being the storage of glucose. It is always important to check the source of carbs. If it is complex carb such as carbs from fresh fruits, whole grains, vegetables, you can give a green signal and consume them. You should stay away from refined carbs such as maida, refined white rice, refined atta, processed foods, etc.

Stay away from fat:

Don’t eat fat-they cause weight gain. Stay away from ghee, butter, coconut, almonds, milk, cheese, and other fatty foods if you want to lose weight. Go for a vegan diet, because only that works when it comes to weight loss. Please never trust the above words blindly. Fat can never make you fat. The macronutrient fat takes a long time to break down, requiring more calories to be burnt. Therefore, cutting fat cannot lead to weight loss, rather you can gain weight because you feel hungry very soon when you replace the healthy fat with sugar and salt. The glucose levels spike and hijack your metabolism, making you weaker. Include healthy unsaturated fats like avocados, butter, coconut oil, ghee, walnuts to keep your satiety levels high while reducing the LDL cholesterol levels too.

Spot fat loss is true:

Every part of my body looks awesome, except this belly. I just want to get rid of my arm fat so that I can enjoy sleeveless outfits. I have thick thighs which is making me look fat. Such misconceptions are more common in women than men. You must understand the science behind fat burning, and you will never fall for these workout videos claiming to reduce face fat, belly fat, breast size, etc. Our body burns fat in LIFO (Last In First Out) process, and the last fat that is stored gets burned first. This can be anywhere such as the visceral fat around your abdomen, the enlarged breast size, or thighs. Anyhow these target workouts ultimately give movement, burn few calories, and may appear to be more toned than before. So, fat loss from a particular area is a complete myth.

Starving is an important process in weight loss:

You must feel hungry only then you can feel the fat burning. Feeling hungry is natural during weight loss is all a myth and unfactual. When you don’t have proper food, you stay demotivated and lose interest in your daily chores. You probably will not have the required energy for the day, and your body will start craving instant energy sources, which are mostly glucose. The moment carbs and glucose-rich foods enter your body, the body will start saving them for future use by converting them into fat, rather than providing the nutrients for muscle and other organs. You will experience a loss of weight, but that is unhealthy as they are due to the loss of bone density, muscle mass, and shrinking of organs. Thus, starving yourself or going on a zero-calorie diet is useless when it comes to healthy weight loss.

Always do not blindly follow anything a YouTuber says. It might have worked for them, but might not for you. It is always better to take a scientific deep down approach before following a particular diet or workout regime. If a particular instruction didn’t work for you, you cannot question that Youtuber or the content creator. Thus, to understand the science-backed facts behind every plan, join Vijay Thakkar's Healthy living program to enrich your knowledge and health. You can ask anything and everything about weight loss/weight gain/reversing NCDs to your fitness coach. Understand, plan, and execute in a better way.