Weight loss tips

Some days back I was going through a report on side effects of faulty measures adopted by people in the hope to lose weight. People who skipped meals, followed crash diets or fad diets suffered from insomnia, stress, headaches, weakness, fatigue and to top it all they lost very little or no weight at all. So I thought of compiling a list of most common weight loss myths and the real truth behind them.

Myth 1: Crash diets are a healthy way of losing weight

Fact: Crash diets will help you in losing weight but only for a short duration. The day you start eating your normal diet you will put on all the kilos you lost during your crash dieting phase. When you start eating very less food it is obvious that you will lose fat. However, along with the fat you will also lose lean muscles and tissues due to crash dieting. Not only will you feel fatigued out but you will also lose interest in studies or work. The most effective weight loss is gradual, so that your body can adapt to the shift.

Myth 2: Skipping meals specially breakfast will help in weight loss

Fact: Skipping meals specially breakfast may feel like the simplest way of weight loss without any exercise. Did you know that your body has a tendency to eat more after every skipped meal? The human body is intended to have healthy nutritional diet in various servings during the day. People who skip meals tend to eat just one meal in a day, typically dinner. Such an eating pattern overwhelms the body with more than required calories during night, and with no physical activities to burn them off your body becomes sluggish and unhealthy.

Myth 3: Only low fat foods are crucial to weight loss

Fact: low fat foods help in weight loss; however, your body requires a balanced diet. Eliminating fat from your diet altogether will make your body weak and devitalize your immune system. Your body requires some fat in the diet to perform daily activities, do not eliminate them altogether. Moreover, if you switch to a low fat diet you might overeat thinking that you will not put on any weight. Gorging, even if on low fat, results in going beyond your everyday calorie limit which will again cause weight gain and may inculcate a sense of failure in you.

Myth 4: Working out on an empty stomach will burn more calories

Fact: when you exercise on an empty stomach your body utilizes the energy saved up in your muscles. You may be under the impression that during workout your body will use up the fat in your body for energy, but, the constitution of human muscles is so much less complicated to use that the body makes use of it if no other energy source is easily usable. Eating maybe just a fruit before working out ensures that your body actually burns the fat and not the muscles.

Myth 5: You can reduce inches from certain areas of your body by specific exercises

Fact: The answer is a big NO. If you do exercises pertaining to a specific body part, it will definitely better the appearance of that area by toning up the muscles. However, it is not in your hands to decide where the fat will come off from. Do not reduce all your weight loss efforts on that one sole part. Your intention should be complete physical fitness which will bit by bit take the fat off from that problem area.