If you read many of the health magazines, there's a good chance youll come across numerous tips on how to lose weight. Some of these tips will certainly work, while others won't. The ones that generally don't work are those that promote those crazy fad diets, weight loss supplements and magic pills. Tips that actually do work for everybody are always pretty simple: diet and exercise. However, the weight loss industry is overrun with myths and information that is often purposefully misleading. More times than not people tend to twist the truths, either because of their own advantage or out of plain ignorance. In this article I will discuss three big time weight loss myths.
1. Myth#1: Spot fat reduction is possible: Not at all true, and I am confident that any weight loss expert will unanimously agree with me. You cannot force your body to spot reduce your fat under any circumstances, no matter what type of workouts you do. If you do nothing but crunches and leg lifts hoping to reduce belly fat, you will notice that instead of reducing your belly fat, you will reduce the muscle mass that resides beneath the abdomen. For this reason, your focus should not be on crunches and leg lifts alone; you should also follow a healthy diet that would speed up your metabolic rate and help you burn fat fast!
2. Myth#2: A drastic cut down on calorie intake reduces your body fat: This myth has pushed many people to the brink of crash dieting. People take to crash dieting in the hope of shedding those extra pounds, without realizing that crash dieting harms their bodies instead of helping them. As a matter of fact, when you starve or fast, your body literally thinks youre trying to kill it and then it goes into the starvation mode. While in starvation mode, your body slows down your metabolic rate and burns your muscles (instead of fat, which is kept in reserve) for producing energy. This way, you don't lose much fat at all; you actually end up losing your valuable muscle mass. And once you return to your normal diet, you will gain extra weight!
3. Myth#3: Cardio exercises alone will help you lose weight: While its true that cardio exercise can help you lose fat, it is not true that this is the only type of weight loss exercises available; don't forget the aerobics and muscle toning. As a matter of fact, the amount of fat you will lose doing either cardio or aerobics is almost same. On the other hand, weight lifting is better than both cardio and aerobics, in that it not only helps you burn fat during the workout, but even after that!
I know, I am basically the bearer of bad news here. I hate to do it, but I do so for your own good. Everyone wants the quick fix, easy method. But unfortunately, there is no easy way where you can turn a switch and be skinny. And the quicker the fix, many times, the more dangerous it is for you.
I sincerely hope that this article has successfully shined some light on some very bad diet myths.
1. Myth#1: Spot fat reduction is possible: Not at all true, and I am confident that any weight loss expert will unanimously agree with me. You cannot force your body to spot reduce your fat under any circumstances, no matter what type of workouts you do. If you do nothing but crunches and leg lifts hoping to reduce belly fat, you will notice that instead of reducing your belly fat, you will reduce the muscle mass that resides beneath the abdomen. For this reason, your focus should not be on crunches and leg lifts alone; you should also follow a healthy diet that would speed up your metabolic rate and help you burn fat fast!
2. Myth#2: A drastic cut down on calorie intake reduces your body fat: This myth has pushed many people to the brink of crash dieting. People take to crash dieting in the hope of shedding those extra pounds, without realizing that crash dieting harms their bodies instead of helping them. As a matter of fact, when you starve or fast, your body literally thinks youre trying to kill it and then it goes into the starvation mode. While in starvation mode, your body slows down your metabolic rate and burns your muscles (instead of fat, which is kept in reserve) for producing energy. This way, you don't lose much fat at all; you actually end up losing your valuable muscle mass. And once you return to your normal diet, you will gain extra weight!
3. Myth#3: Cardio exercises alone will help you lose weight: While its true that cardio exercise can help you lose fat, it is not true that this is the only type of weight loss exercises available; don't forget the aerobics and muscle toning. As a matter of fact, the amount of fat you will lose doing either cardio or aerobics is almost same. On the other hand, weight lifting is better than both cardio and aerobics, in that it not only helps you burn fat during the workout, but even after that!
I know, I am basically the bearer of bad news here. I hate to do it, but I do so for your own good. Everyone wants the quick fix, easy method. But unfortunately, there is no easy way where you can turn a switch and be skinny. And the quicker the fix, many times, the more dangerous it is for you.
I sincerely hope that this article has successfully shined some light on some very bad diet myths.