Weight Loss Misconceptions

Losing weight is one of the chief motivators for beginning and/or maintaining any running program. It may not be that every runner wants to lose weight, but the percentage of those who do is high, especially among beginners. There is a tremendous amount of information available today, and access to it has never been easier. But not all information is created equal. Some is good, and some is bad. How do you know what to take to heart and what to let go? Let’s go over common misconceptions about weight loss. In general, keep in mind that anything absolute is usually not best for you. For example, I know people who will eat no bread because they are convinced it will lead to weight gain. Cutting back on bread may be good for you but cutting it out completely is probably not the way to go. There are many examples of diets like this. Be suspicious of any diet that doesn’t offer a balanced approach. This brings us to our first weight loss misconception:

Fad diets work.

Fad diets will often lead to rapid weight loss, which is not necessarily good for you. And once you have lost the weight, the diet is impossible to continue due to the strict nature of most fad diets. Cutting out entire food groups or limiting calorie intake too much may produce results for a time, but they can cause shortages in your body of important nutrients that can lead to health issues down the road. What happens when you have lost the weight you wanted to lose? Typically, you pick back up with the eating habits you had before the diet and the weight comes back.

Skipping meals will help you lose weight.

Skipping meals only serves to make you hungrier later and leads to overeating at the next meal. By eating three meals a day, in addition to healthy snacks in between, your blood sugar stabilizes, and your body continues to burn calories all day. Try smaller meals instead of cutting them out completely.

What you eat matters more than how much.

The key word is moderation. Too much of anything can lead to weight gain. Both quantity and quality matter. For example, a bagel would seem to be a better alternative to a doughnut hole, but the bagel has many more calories. Limiting quantity can be just as important as what you eat.

The lower the calories, the faster you will lose weight.

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see. While it is true that weight loss is all about calories in versus calories burned, your body is more complex than that. If you limit your calorie intake too much, your body goes into “starvation mode” and it learns to live on fewer calories by slowing your metabolism while storing more fat for reserves in the future. This is the chief reason why losing about one pound a week is ideal. If you are losing more, you could be teaching your body to live on too few calories.

Eating healthy costs too much.

I hear this all the time. “I would love to eat healthy, but it is too expensive.” Eating healthy does not have to be expensive. One of the biggest myths is that fresh vegetables are the only healthy way to eat them, but fresh spinach, for example, and canned spinach contain the same nutrients. You can eat canned and frozen vegetables if you educate yourself a little about reading labels. Look for low sodium foods packed in water or their own juices. Remember to rinse canned vegetables out of the can to rid it of excess salt. Canned tuna packed in water is a low-cost, low-fat food that can be stored for long periods of time.

Desserts are forbidden.

There is room in your diet for any kind of food, especially the ones you love the most. Of course, limiting the portions and the number of times you eat them is critical. Trying to completely cut out foods that you love will often lead to binge eating and, ultimately, discouragement. Just limit your caloric intake.

You don’t have to diet if you exercise.

Both are important factors in the weight loss cycle. While it is almost as simple as calories in versus calories burned, you may be hungrier from the increased activity. If you’re not careful, you can replace the burned calories with even more calories consumed. You have to monitor both to successfully lose weight.

Don’t snack between meals.

Snacking between meals is actually a good idea, as long as the snacks are healthy, and you limit the quantity. Eating smaller meals five or six times a day will keep your metabolism rate higher and will lessen the cravings you get when you are hungry since you are satisfying them more often. Part of the reason snacking gets such a bad name is that candy bars and potato chips are the foods we tend to associate with snack time. Make sure that you are choosing healthy alternatives for in between meals.

You have to eat breakfast to lose weight.

Let me preface this by saying that you should eat breakfast to get your metabolism up and running early. However, a study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that it doesn’t make a difference when all other factors are the same and overall food intake is the same. The point is that if you have to skip breakfast on occasion because of time constraints, it will not cause you to gain weight. Just know that you will be very hungry by your next meal, and you will need to be careful to not overeat.

Eating meat will make me gain weight.

It is a fact that, on average, vegetarians have lower body mass index than meat eaters, but you have to dig a little deeper to find the reasoning. Vegetarians are more likely to be at a healthy weight because they limit their calorie intake. You can choose to eat meat and limit your calories and you can successfully maintain a healthy body weight. Both choices can be healthy!

Starches are fattening and should always be avoided.

Foods such as bread, rice, pasta, cereals, beans, fruits and some vegetables are high in starch, but are low in fat. They only become bad for you when eaten in large portion sizes or with high-fat toppings like butter, sour cream, or mayonnaise. These foods are an important source of energy for your body. Choose healthier alternatives like whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, or bran cereals. Other foods, like beans, peas, and vegetables are starchy but are high in dietary fiber too.

Cut out all sweets.

It is great advice to cut out sweets, especially processed sugar, when you are trying to lose weight because they tend to be high in calories. However, you can have your cake and eat it too. Once again, when you cut out a food that you really like, you set yourself up for failure. If you eventually fall into the trap of eating that chocolate cake, you will eat too much. It is more effective, for most people, to eat the occasional small helping of sweets. Just remember, those calories count. It is worth noting that some people have the ability to cut out foods like this and not crave them. That is the best alternative, but if you fall into the majority who don’t have that kind of willpower, it is wiser to eat the occasional sweet treat in moderation.

Bread is bad.

See the section on Starches.

Chocolate makes you fat.

Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants and may increase your HDL cholesterol (good), while decreasing your LDL cholesterol (bad). If you eat sweets, a calorie is a calorie, so whether it is chocolate or anything else, they have the same effect on your body. See the section about cutting out all sweets.

Eating more fruits and vegetables will help you lose weight.

If you only add fruits and vegetables to your diet and expect to lose weight as a result, you will be disappointed. All you are doing is adding calories and isn’t that opposite from our goal? Instead, replace your high calorie foods with fruits and vegetables to decrease the total amount of calories you are consuming. You will also be getting necessary fiber, vitamins and minerals!

You should never eat fast food.

Fast foods should never be your primary source of food, but if you make smart choices, you can eat reasonable meals and still lose weight. Avoid large portions. Choose water over soda. Instead of eating french fries, most places offer alternatives, like salads or fruits. Pick grilled chicken and avoid fried foods. Eschew the high fat toppings like mayonnaise, high fat salad dressings, bacon, and cheese.

Don’t eat late.

This one is partially true. You want to avoid eating right before you go to bed because you won’t have time for your body to begin to burn it off, but eating a sensible snack in the evening is okay as long as it keeps you within your calorie limit for the day. Many times, eating in the evening turns into binge eating something you have been craving all day. If this is you, limit your quantities by taking a small portion and leaving the rest in the refrigerator or cabinet.

Don’t weigh yourself often.

Many diets propose that you only weigh yourself periodically because the daily fluctuations of your weight can be discouraging. No one likes to see a higher number today than yesterday, but constant vigilance can also provide motivation. It is just as easy to look at the higher number and be motivated to do better today as it is to be discouraged by it. If you prepare for it and choose how you will react before seeing it, you are more likely to be motivated. It all comes down to preference and personality. If you can handle it, knowing your daily number helps to keep your focus.

There is such a thing as negative calorie foods.

Once again, this one is true, but be careful. Negative calorie foods are those foods that require more energy to digest than the amount of energy in the item itself. The net effect is that you burn more calories than you consume. While these foods, such as celery, apples, pickles, grapefruit and more are healthy choices; they do come with some calorie content. You are safe to eat as much of these foods as you like, but don’t forget to count them. We get into trouble when we look at fat free and sugar free foods the same way we look at negative calorie foods. Most of these foods are either not calorie free or have no nutritional value. Focus on foods that have nutritional value that stay within your calorie intake allowance for weight loss.

Lifting weights will make me bulk up.

Lifting weights or doing other strength training activities on a regular basis can help you lose weight. These activities build muscle, and muscle burns more calories than body fat. If you have more muscle, you burn more calories, even sitting still! Contrary to popular thought, strengthening activities will not “bulk you up.” Only the most intense strength training and certain genetic backgrounds are ingredients for building very large muscles.

You have to lose a lot of weight to make a difference.

Weight loss is weight loss. The closer you get to your ideal weight, the better, but small improvements can have the biggest impact on your health. Losing five to ten pounds can have a positive impact on blood pressure, for example. Not to mention the lower impact on your body as you run!

Weight loss comes down to how much you put in versus how much you burn, but the quality of those calories is important too. Just remember that losing weight is not something you do overnight. It takes effort and smart, conscious choices. If you fail to make the best choices today, it doesn’t have to mean that you give up.