Six weight loss myths and what to do instead. This is what we’ll be discussing today, since it’s something we’ve come upon again, every other day, with our clients and even family.
So what are these weight loss myths ? They’re myths, advice, or maybe mistakes, that people make when dieting or trying to lose weight. And we’re going to help spread the truth and make the world a more informed place, so everyone can have great results !
Starting with….
Table of Contents
1. Lemon water/apple cider vinegar on an empty stomach
Yes, yes, this is something we’re going to get a lot of trouble for, because many people believe in the digestive powers of lemon water and/or vinegar.
And they are true.
But not on an empty stomach.
The thing is, when you’ve just woken up and haven’t eaten since yesterday, the last thing you want to do is get something acidic (like lemon water, vinegar, even black coffee !) on an empty stomach. Your stomach’s got enough acid anyway, giving it some more won’t help if there’s nothing for it to digest.
So do yourself a world of favors and skip the lemon water first thing in the morning.
Have your breakfast, and then the lemon water. Or Apple cider vinegar. Or black coffee.
2. Weight loss supplements
This one is our favorite, because this is what we actually started out with. We used to work with a company specialized in weight loss supplements, and often we’d meet clients who thought they can just take a carb blocker and eat anything and expect to not put on a single pound.
NO. That’s not how that works.
It’s partly the industry’s fault for wild promises, and partly the consumer not being responsible.
Same goes for supplements that suppress hunger. Sure they help, but that doesn’t mean you won’t put on extra pounds if you overeat.
It’s a particularly sore spot for us, since a lot of our work was to make our clients responsible for what they eat and helping them with exercise. And the fact that it was mind blowing to them was what made us start this blog in the first place, to help educate the people.
So again, do yourself a favor and watch what you eat and actually do some 30 minutes of moderate-to-intense workouts, the supplements will help you along.
But they don’t do the work for you.
3. Avoiding fats
Another weight loss myth, and I’m guilty for it. A lot of people, including myself until a couple of years ago, consider fats to be the enemy. They avoid it like the plague and eat the most lean kind of food they can manage.
Let us tell you why that’s not completely true.
First, the body does need fats and oils to function. Mostly the Omega 3 and 9 (lowering cholesterol), but others as well.
Second, the majority of veggies don’t release their full flavor and vitamins unless you give them something to slip n’ slide in.
Now, don’t go overboard with fats and oils. But don’t run from them. Why ? It’s only when they’re combined with carbs, that they become a threat.
- So olive oil ? Okay.
- The oil on your fries ? Not okay, since it’s nearly smoked and the starch in the potato does not help.
- Full fat, plain yogurt ? Sure.
- 0.1% fat yogurt with strawberry flavor ? You better check that label for the sugar content. If it’s got any added sugars, put it down.
- 5% fat yogurt, still flavored ? Worse.
Fats, are okay, and especially full fat products. So full fat dairy and deli is actually better, because it’s less processed and modified, closed to its natural state.
Try to get things as fresh and natural as possible, with as few ingredients as possible.
4. All carbs are bad
We were guilty of this too, for a couple of weeks in the beginning of our low carb diet.
We cut out EVERYTHING carbohydrate and boy was it exhausting. We quickly found out that not all carbs are equal. Actually, there’s 2 types of carbohydrates:
- Refined – white bread, white flour, white pasta, white sugar. Anything you can make out of all this. It’s got the fibers and minerals and vitamins all stripped away. The result is a smooth consistency on the batter, and a sweeter taste (try white bread vs whole grain).
- Unrefined – well, pretty much everything whole grain, cane sugar, and fruits. Fruits still have their fibers and vitamins intact, just don’t go overboard with them since they are, in fact, sweet.
Refined carbs are what people mean, when they say you should cut carbs.
Fibers make it that carbs release much slower into the body, so they don’t give you that immediate boost of energy that, if you don’t use it, it’s gonna go to your gut. Whole grains give you a more even, slower burn throughout the day.
5. No food after 6 pm, no matter what
Yet another one of the weight loss myths we’ve found with our clients, not eating past 6 pm. It was always 6 pm. Weird, considering how many of us have very different schedules.
Okay, let’s see how this one came about. It started with the idea that you shouldn’t eat before your bedtime, and that is very true. But what if your bedtime is at 8 am (night shift) ? Are you just gonna starve from 6 pm til 8 am ?
Unless you’re fasting, in which case you should totally check our article on intermittent fasting.
But what if you’re not fasting, and just have a regular, ordinary eating plan ?
Then you need to remember that the idea behind not eating past 6 pm is that you should allow your stomach 4-5 hours to digest, before you sleep. The idea is that a full stomach will make you drowsy but will not give your restful sleep.
If you go to bed at 8 am, your last meal would be at 3-4 am. Adjust that according to your personal schedule and you’re all set.
6. Diet food is bland and tastes very pale
Another of the weight loss myths that isn’t true, it’s in fact just a matter of poor cooking skills, and bad eating habits.
You can totally get past that with seasonings. Not more salt, no. But seasonings (unsalted!) like garlic, hot peppers, plain black pepper, rosemary, tarragon, paprika, and so on. These all help your food go from blah to YEAH !
You’ll be surprised how much better broccoli and asparagus taste once you add garlic and a hint of olive oil. One of our favorite dishes is actually steamed salmon with asparagus/broccoli and garlic sauce.
So yeah, it’s a bit of a jump, from mashed potato with meatloaf and white bread, to steamed brussel sprouts with baked chicken and mushroom sauce. Here’s a little example.
So I began having less bread. It was a bit weird at first, everyone I knew always ate bread. And here I was, the weirdo who doesn’t. But I liked the food more. So, once I got mentally used to it, I began to branch out. Try soup with no bread. Maybe a salad ? And I’m doing just fine.
What you need to remember from all of this is that you can re-learn everything you’ve known about food. You can eat better AND keep that habit. If i did it, so can you
(FIT Couple, on how to lose 20 pounds)
So what can you do instead ?
See, a few years ago Dragos used to drink 2 liters of soda, every day. And I used to drink nearly as much tea, and I thought I was so much better, since it wasn’t soda. But I had like 2-3 tea spoons of sugar, per tea cup, per day. That’s about 10-15 tsp every day. Not any better than soda.
So it’s things like that which can throw you off completely, that you need to understand are bad habits. Take a look at what you do every day or every week.
Where is there too much sugar ?
Too much bread ?
Not enough exercise ?
Too many ‘exceptions’ and ‘rewards’ and ‘treats’ ?
The truth is, you can’t outrun a bad diet.
And the single best thing to do is create better habits. Really, get good workout habits, and learn to eat better and healthier.
The lemon water won’t help that much, neither will carb blockers, or starving yourself. All those are is easy tricks, but deep down you know how poorly shortcuts work in the long run.
Weight loss is a marathon, it teaches you patience and discipline. So keep eating right and you’ll get fit eventually. How fast is entirely up to you and your determination.
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