12 May Dieting – The Truths And The Myths
Most of us have been there – stepping on the scale only for it to go quite a few numbers higher than we would like. But hey, we’re all only human. Maybe it was a stressful period, maybe you were to busy to pay any significant attention to nutrition and physical activity, but everyone makes mistakes, and all you can do is fix them. So, stop stressing over and get ready to lose weight!
Now, there are many myths about weight loss, both related to food and exercise. What we’d like to do here is bust some myths and expose some important truths about how to exercise properly and follow a weight loss diet that will actually yield results.
Sweating does not equal weight loss
This is the one weight loss myth that I personally find to be most annoying. This is due to just how much it defies all common sense, yet there are still people who believe it and keep buying the nonesense merchandise that thrives thanks to this myth.
Let me be abundantly clear on this – sweating only dehydrates you! It does not in any way contribute to weight loss, at all. Perspiration is a cooling mechanism and nothing else, period. Just because you got all sweaty doesn’t mean you had a successful workout. All that it means, technically, is that your body was overheathing and need to be cooled down.
Fat is energy stored for later by your body. Therefore, you need to make it spend that energy. How do you do that? Eat less. However, we’ll elaborate more on this point later…
You can’t lose weight and put on muscle at the same time
This is yet another mistake that you see people making all the time. Someone wants to shed the extra fat and simultaneously get “ripped”. Well, let me tell you, all you will manage this way is either put on even more weight or potentially even end up in the hospital.
To put on muscle, you need food. Specifically, protein. However, in order to lose weight, you need to eat less in order to make your body start burning the stored fat for energy. However, your body cannot build muscle with fat, so you need protein. If you ingest the necessary amount of protein to build muscle, your body will have sufficient energy and won’t have to burn fat. See the problem here?
So basically, if you follow a weight gain instead of a weight loss diet, you will put on muscle and even more fat. If you hit the weights and push yourself to the limit while under-eating, you can seriously injure yourself, and the injuries that occur from inadequate weight training are often permanent.
So, how to lose weight?
The first and most important aspect is eating clean. What this means is a well-balanced diet that includes everything:
Protein – necessary to maintain muscle fitness
Fats – necessary for keeping some of your major organs healthy and your hormones stable
Fibers – necessary for digestion
Carbohydrates – necessary for energy
This brings me to yet another commonly established myth, that a “good” weight loss diet should exclude carbs. This is simply wrong. In fact, the reason that a lot of people feel so drained and depressed when dieting is the lack of carbohydrates, which are the most valuable source of energy. Still, not all carbs are the same. While you should cut back on sugars, you need to keep eating quality carbs, especially for breakfast. This means fruits, cereals, and whole grains.
As for the other types of food, a good rule of thumb is the following: get your protein from white and red meat, and your fibers from vegetables. You don’t need to worry about the fats intake, vitamin or mineral intake, as you’ll always have a proper amount of those as long as you maintain a healthy diet.
Now, I will not make any detailed suggestions as I am not qualified to do that. With the above knowledge, you can now easily filter the nonsense diets from good ones if you’re searching on Google. However, it’s recommendable that you still consult your physician or medically certified nutritionists. Never, and I repat, never get your diet advice from self-proclaimed vegan health gurus on the internet or roided up gym rats.