Total Myths Everyone Believes About Weight Loss

There isn’t a one size fits all way of looking at fitness and weight loss, but for the most part there are some pretty standard tips to keep in mind. It is easy to forget that there is a market for all things related to health and fitness, and when that happens it means that people will try to come up with ideas to sell you things that you don’t necessarily need. This is where a lot of the myths about weight loss originate from. Here are some weight loss myths you don’t need to believe any longer.

That You Need to Detox

Many people feel like going on a detox to jumpstart their weight loss can be helpful. Detoxes range in strictness, but all of them limit food and/or substances that you might normally eat. But a lot of detox diets really have more in common with a crash diet than with any sort of healthy choice. Detox diets are usually very low in calories which can be fine for a period of time but they don’t necessarily teach you what you need to know about healthy eating. What you can take away from the concept of detoxing however is cutting out certain things like sugar which really don’t have much place belonging in your diet.

That 3,500 Calories Equals a Pound

Everyone is familiar with the measurement that 3,500 equals one pound, but it’s just not entirely true. Different foods have different effects on the blood sugar and satiety, so eating 100 calories of a donut and 100 calories of broccoli is not going to have the same effect on the body no matter if you’d like to think so or not. Not to mention your body composition handles calories in different ways, as you may have noticed when one of your friends can eat junk all day and never gain weight. It’s a little more complicated than just straight numbers.

Fat Makes You Fat

Fat got a really bad reputation at one point in time, but the truth is that eating fat does not necessarily make you fat. In fact study after study finds that diets full of healthy fat keep people thinner than low fat diets. Part of this might have to do with the fact that healthy fats fill you up so that you don’t crave more food where low fat diets can leave you feeling hungry all the time. Fat can also boost your ability to burn fat and cut down on the amount of fat that you store in your body. Just make sure it’s only healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, nuts, grass fed animal products, etc.

Not to mention, most low fat versions of food have as many calories as their original version, so you might just be robbing yourself some satiety for the same amount of calories. People also experience thinking something is a health food even when it’s not simply because it’s labeled low fat, but many low fat foods are loaded with sugars and other things where you’d be better off with a clean natural full fat version.