The 3 Biggest Weight Loss Myths
Myth #1: Low Carb diets are the best way to lose weight quickly
This is the biggest myth out there. While it is true that you can lose weight quickly with low carb diets, what you don't hear is that most of that weight is water weight and lean mass. As you lose lean mass (muscle) your body's metabolism slows down as well. What this means is that, when you go off of the low-carb diet, which you inevitably will because they are almost impossible to stick to long-term, your body will convert less carbs to energy and will store more as fat. The end result? You gain back all of your weight and more.
Put it this way: How many people do you know who are on a low-carb diet? How long have they been on that diet? Forever, right? How many of them are skinny? How many of them are bigger than when they started? Get the idea? Trust me, I've been through this. It does not work.
Myth #2: Severe calorie restriction is the best way to lose weight
Wrong! Like low-carb dieting, severe calorie restriction will work at first because your body is accustomed to getting a large number of calories per day and burns an appropriate amount. When you severely restrict your intake, it takes a while for your metabolism to adjust, so you burn off a few pounds of excess fat until your body adjusts, which it ALWAYS will.
Once your body has adjusted, you basically go into what is known as "starvation mode", where your body tries to store all of the nutrients it can. And, how does a body store energy? Yep, in FAT cells. In addition, extremely low calorie diets are nearly impossible to follow for any period of time because you feel like you're starving. Hmmmm....I wonder why that is....
Myth #3: Eating all low-fat foods is the best way to lose weight
Wrong again. Let's see...how long have low-fat foods been on the market? Fifteen, maybe twenty years? Surely, in that kind of time our society must have all gotten skinny by eating all that low fat food, right? What, we're all getting FATTER? How could that be??
Maybe because so called "low-fat" foods contain almost as many calories and, in most cases, more sugar than regular foods has a lot to do with it. People view the low-fat label as a license to eat all they want of something, often eating more than they would normally. Plus, the body just LOVES to store excess sugar as fat so these foods are just bad news.
