The 10 Biggest Lies on Losing Weight-
Let’s face it, we are in the information era where we are bombarded with all sorts of ‘new’ and ‘great’ consumer products, diets and information that will change “our life as we know it”. The health and fitness industry is definitely one field that gets fed quite a remarkable high amount of ‘fiction’. In fact, just recently the US government issued a warning letter to some of their health food companies not to advertise unrealistic goals like lose “30lbs in 30 days” or “lose 2.8kg in a week” that some of these companies have claimed. Some of these claims are starting to be made in Hong Kong now.
1. Bathroom scales are the best indicator to know if you are achieving fatloss.
Using bathroom scales can be the one most deflating self esteem tools to measure your progress. If you are dieting, initially you will weight on the scale but then it will taper off. Most of this loss is usually water and some fat. If you are exercising, you will not lose weight on the scales so quickly as just dieting as you are doing it the safer way and most safe fatloss plans look to lose anywhere between ¼ lb to 1lb per week. Muscle also weighs more than fat so a pound of muscle is smaller than a pound of fat so everything feels and looks smaller but your weight may not have changed that on the scales at all. Use measuring tools like the difference in how your clothes are fitting, taking a before and after photo, have someone who knows how to use body fat calipers or use a body fat machine. This way, you are being realistic about your progress.
2. Weight Training will make me big and bulky..
There is a big difference between Men and Women. Men have testerone and women do not. Testerone is the hormone that allows men to build muscle a lot easier than women. In fact it is very difficult for women to build big muscles unless supplements are used.
Even though men tend to gain muscle through weight training it is still difficult will turn into a bodybuilder overnight. This takes many months, years of hard core bodybuilding to even get close to resembling the “Arnies” of this world.
What weight training does though is:
Builds your metabolism
Increases bone density
Increases the production of red blood cells
Increases lean muscle mass
Aids in fat burning
Helps against the wear and tear of high impact exercise.
Prevents Osteoporosis
3. If I don’t eat, I will lose body fat.
If you don’t eat you will become anorexic! And when you start to eat again you will gain fat! Here’s how it works. When we do not eat, our body goes into starvation mode and the metabolism slows down to retain the amount of body fat it already has. The body may also start to break down muscle as a fuel source as a protection measure to survive. Now, when we get hungry enough that it is difficult to resist the temptation to eat and you will eat and chances are you will gorge. Now imagine your body is a fuel tank and because you haven’t eaten anything, your fuel tank has shrunk and you have put more food (fuel) into the body that is necessary (this is called overeating)
This one also gets complex because this leads to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia and night eating disorder.
4. To lose the fat efficiently, I just need to do a lot of cardio.
This is half true. It is necessary to keep your heart rate up to burn fat but you can also improve the effectiveness through incorporating resistance training. When you perform cardio you may also burn muscle as well as burning fat. In effect, have decreased the size of your muscle mass which means you require fewer calories for your metabolism.
By adding resistance training into your workout you will at least maintain the muscle mass you have which allows you to more burn body fat easier.
5. I’ve always been this size so I will always stay this size.
This statement is a double edged sword. On the one hand people who are slim may feel comfortable being the size they are but eventually and at some point we all have to endure the middle aged spread in some shape or form. This is due to a number of factors with our body. One of these is that we begin to lose muscle mass between the ages of 25 and 40. By this I mean we actually start to lose muscle mass, our fuel tank becomes smaller due to our lifestyle and genetic makeup. If we do not use our body then bones become weak and muscles begin to shrink therefore we do not need to much calories to maintain our metabolism but due to our habitual eating habits we tend to eat the same amount of food so all the excess calories is of course stored as body fat.
On the other side, is when we are already overweight. Can we lose this? The answer is YES. It’s difficult (otherwise everyone would be perfect!) but it has been proven over and over again that with proper nutrition AND exercise you can achieve the ability to lose the fat.
6. If I do Abdominal crunches I will burn the fat around my waist..
This one still exists today! Due to all the fancy gimmicks around that promote “Getting a six pack if you buy this machine” it is not hard to keep believing it. Unfortunately, you cannot spot reduce. This means you cannot target one area and that area will tone up. What crunches will do is strengthen the muscles underneath the layer of fat!
7. If I do too much cardio on my legs they will become big and bulky.
Cardio is an aerobic exercise which will strengthen your heart and will improve circulation, and is a fat burner; it will cause some hypertrophy but nothing to the extent of becoming “big and bulky”.
8. No pain, No gain
Well actually “It doesn’t have to hurt to work”. Sure you need to make sure your workout is effective and push your self to your own ability but you do not need to do a 2 hour workout if this is your first day exercising for 6 months. Being sore for a week does not allow you to get the consistency you require to achieve effective fatloss. If you have not exercised for awhile then ease back into it. Start with 30 minutes and build yourself way up to an hour over 4 to 12 weeks. Aim for results over a longer period of time that way your body does not suffer and you continue to reach small achievable goals.
9. You can convert fat to muscle
These are two totally different issues. Fat is fat and muscle is muscle. So to decrease stored body fat you must either decrease the amount of food you are eating or increase the amount of exercise you are doing. When you exercise you increase your metabolism and muscle to allow your body to burn more energy therefore decreasing the amount of fat you have.
10.Snacking in between meals is bad for you.
Maybe this should read snacking on sweets and chocolate is bad for you! Most nutritional advice out there today actually says you should be snacking on something every 3 - 4 hours to keep the metabolism up and reduce the risk of the body switching to “starvation mode”. If you are worried about the amount of food you are having try having ½ your breakfast at morning tea, ½ your lunch for afternoon tea and ½ your dinner for supper.
By no means are these 10 all there is but if we continue to ask the question the 6 prophets; why, what, when, who, where, how? We can make sure that the information we do receive is fact or fiction.
Ten Biggest Lies about losing weight;
Develop the Drive For Excercise,
Weighttraining not just for Men
