4 Diet and Nutrition Myths and Misconceptions
When it comes to losing weight, it’s safe to say that diet and nutrition both play enormous roles in determining how successful your fat loss attempts actually are. The problem with losing weight however, is that everybody is apparently an expert, despite the fact that most of the time they have no idea what they’re talking about. This makes it extremely hard to figure out what’s true and what’s complete nonsense when trying to shed a few kilograms. We want your weight loss efforts to be as successful as possible, which is why for today’s article topic, we’re focusing on diet and nutrition myths and misconceptions in an attempt to show you that losing weight isn’t as complex as some people would have you believe.
Low fat diets are healthy – Years ago experts told us that all fats were dangerous and that if we wanted to be healthy and lose weight, we would need to cut fat out of our diets completely. We now know however, that this is complete nonsense. Healthy fats are essential for our health and well-being and if you are following a low-fat diet in an attempt to lose weight you will actually find yourself doing more harm than good to your body. Fat helps regulate our hormones, it’s great for the brain, it’s great for the heart, and it boosts the metabolism, so it helps us to lose weight. Low-fat diets do the body no good at all, so make sure you include enough healthy fats in your daily diet.
All desserts are off-limits during a diet – When we attempt to lose weight, we often resign ourselves to the fact that we’re going to have to say goodbye to all of the rich, delicious, and unhealthy foods that we enjoyed eating for so long. The truth however, is that when it comes to diet and nutrition, moderation is very much the key to success. If you’re trying to lose weight, of course you can’t eat a rich dessert after every meal. Every now and then however, a little of what you love will do you good. There is room in any weight loss regime for all kinds of rich and unhealthy foods, the thing to remember is to eat in moderation. At the end of the day, weight loss boils down to calories in VS calories out. If you consume fewer calories than needed for maintenance, it doesn’t matter where they come from, you will lose weight.
You mustn’t eat after 7pm to lose weight – We’re not quite sure where this myth originated from, but what we are sure about is the fact that it’s not true. When trying to lose weight, a calorie is a calorie, so whether you eat at 7pm, 9pm, 5pm, or 6.59pm, as long as you are eating below maintenance, you will still lose weight.
To lose weight you must cut calories hugely – As mentioned, in order to lose weight you must create a caloric deficit within the body. However, that does not mean that you should consume, say, close to 1000 calories below maintenance if you want to lose weight. This will slow down your metabolism and force your body into starvation mode, so you will be very hungry and you will find it even harder to lose weight as your body will try to hold onto its fat reserves. A deficit of 200 – 400 calories below maintenance is considered optimal.