11 Most Common Weight Loss Myth You Need to Pay Attention

You are probably following tips and strategies to lose your body weight. But you need to know that whatever you hear about weight loss is not that true! There are definitely some cheating and lying out there.

So, what to do or not is the question.

Okay, here on this post I am going to discuss some of the most common myths about body weight loss that you should be aware of.

Myth#1- To maintain good health you should be ultra-thin

Most of you have wrong perception about standard body weight. Models that you see on TV, Magazine, or other advertisement have the ideal body shape, right? No, studies showed that majority of the models are underweight.

So how you know what the ideal body weight is? You need to know the following

Measurement to avoid health risk:

Underweight = <18.5 BMI
Normal weight = 18.5–24.9 BMI 
Overweight = 25–29.9 BMI
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

How to calculate:

BMI = (Weight in pounds / (Height in inches * Height in inches)) * 703

Moreover, though Obesity causes many diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancers, tons of people with obesity live healthy.

Takeaway: you need to protect yourself from obesity as it causes many metabolic disorders. But don’t develop problems like anorexia and underweight taking actions to become ultra-thin quickly.

Myth#2- All carbs are same

Majority of you have a misperception that all carbs are same and they are fattening. But there is something you need to know. You should prefer some carbs over others.

To maintain a healthy weight as well as overall sound health, you can:

•  Choose whole grain carbs like brown rice and bread for effective brain
• Eat fruits that contain carbs like apples, pears, bananas, and grapes
•   Avoid candy and other artificially sweetened foods

And whole grain and fruits not only give you good carbs, but some essential nutrients to avoid deficiency. If you stop taking carbs totally, then you will face various problems like fatigue, vertigo, confusion, headache, etc. So, you should take at least 135 g carbs from good sources.

Takeaway: you cannot stop taking carbs totally. Take carbs in lower amount and from healthy sources as mentioned above.

Myth#3- The more calories you reduce, the more weight you lose

There is a word of mouth that you need to reduce calories intake to suspend your fat. But the question is “are all the calories equal?” or “which type of calorie should I reduce?”

We get calories from three sources:

1.    Carbohydrate foods

2.    Protein foods

3.    Fatty foods

Different types of calories have different effects on your body weight. And they can regulate your metabolism and nutrients differently.

For example, if you take high protein foods with low fats and low carbs instead of high fat and high carbs, you can lose body fat effectively.

Takeaway:  Replace calories from refined foods (e.g. sweets, candy) with calories from whole foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables). More importantly, prefer high protein low carbs and low fat foods over high fat or high carbs foods.

Myth#4- There is no alternative to supplement for weight loss

Today, we hear of super effective supplements here and there. But are they really effective in weight loss? Don’t they make any harm to your body? The answer is - yes and no.

Many herbal or natural weight loss products are dangerous for your overall body health. They are not only harmful, but ineffective too.

But there are a few supplements out there that can help you lose weight effectively
. I recommend you take the ones that work slowly.

Takeaway: when it comes to weight loss products, you need to be very much cautious.

Myth#5- Fast foods are bad for your health

Can you avoid fast foods? You cannot, neither can I. But you may have heard hundreds of times that fast foods are very bad for your health, especially for body weight.

Today, fast foods are much better than of past – there are better options. Change you fast food choices to take them almost safely. You can:

•           Choose salad and grilled chicken over fried chicken
•             Sip on water or milk instead of soda
•            Eat salad dressings
•            Prefer steamed items over fried ones

Takeaway: if you are a bit smarter in choosing fast foods, then fast foods are not unhealthy for you.

Myth#6- You should avoid dairy products to lose weight

To lose body fat you need to stop taking dairy products, right? No, guys. You can stop taking whole milk products to shed some weight. But you can absolutely take low fat cheese, milk, yogurt, and other dairy products. Fat free dairy products are essential for your overall health in many ways as:

•          Protein in dairy foods gives enough calcium that is essential for muscle mass.
•           Milk and other dairy foods offer you calcium and vitamin D which strengthen your bones, keep your teeth sound
•       They also contain many other nutrients like vitamin B_s to maintain good health.

Takeaway: make dairy products part of your everyday foods. But try to choose low fat dairy foods over whole milk.

Myth#7- Meat can prevent you from weight loss

Red meat, chicken, and fish contain some saturated fat and cholesterol. That is why you should not stop taking these foods totally to lose weight. They are essential for your health because they contain some vital nutrients for your body function – such as protein, calcium, iron, and zinc.

But when you try to lose body fat, you should choose meat that is lower in fat – such as beef round steak, sirloin tips, flank steak, and extra lean ground beef.

Takeaway: to control body weight as well as body health, eat low fat meat regularly.

Myth#8- Only heavy exercise is enough for belly fat loss

Whenever someone ask people to give tips on how to lose body fat, they suggest for heavy exercise like going to gym and lifting weights.

But what if you gain back the weight you have lost with crash diet and heavy exercise? This is the truth for those who do exercise for some days to lose weight in quickly. To lose fat for long-term you need to change your life style and food choices such a way that you can maintain long time with pleasure.

So prefer daily routine based exercise like walking and running over weight lifting and other hard-to-do exercises.

Takeaway: do some exercise and take nutritious foods that can be helpful for long-term weight loss as well as overall health.

Myth#9- Healthy foods are too costly

Nutritious and healthy foods are really cheaper than the high-fat, high-salt foods. You may think that fresh foods are healthier than the frozen or canned ones. This is not the case. Many frozen and canned foods contain as many nutrients as the fresh ones.

But avoid foods that are highly salted and choose the ones that contain nutrients like protein, calcium, and potassium.

Takeaway: whether you eat fresh foods or canned ones, always pay attention to nutritional value.

Myth#10- To lose body weight you need to stop eating most of your favorite foods

Eat your favorite foods but don’t forget of calorie intake. That is, when you try to lose body weight, you should lower the amount of foods you take. And you should choose free hand exercise to consume the calories that you get eating favorite foods.

Takeaway: eat your favorite foods in lower amount and engage in some physical activities.

Myth#11- Fad diets is great for weight loss

How long can you maintain fad diets? Not so long, right? Yes, it is so tough to lose body weight for long-term with fad diets, because no one can follow these diets for long. As soon as you give up taking fad diets, to gain the weight back.

Moreover, these foods lack many nutrients and consequently you can face various conditions.

Takeaway: eat nutritious and delicious foods in healthy amount. Prefer long-term plan over short and quick ones.

Conclusion

When it comes to life style, food choices, and weight loss, consume information from authority sources.

If you have any question or opinion, let me know in the comment.

7 Reasons to Pay Attention to Protein Foods

Why protein foods are so great? How are they helpful in reducing weight, controlling blood sugar, improving muscle mass, etc.?

If you are looking for answer to these questions, fortunately you are in the right place.

Many studies found that eating enough protein foods regularly is great in term of belly weight loss and building block of muscle. And protein is good for many more causes as you will see in this article.

1. Protein foods to lose belly weight

Protein is very effective macro-nutrient in losing your body weight. But the question is - how? It helps you lose body fat in following ways:

• Protein foods Satisfy you more than fat and carbohydrate, decreasing hunger, appetite levels, and cravings for late night snaking.

•  Help in burning fat. Your body cannot effectively burn fat without help of protein and carbohydrate. Moreover, when you lose weight, you also lose your muscle. That is why you should take more protein foods during the time of weight loss.

•    Can help you reduce weight about 10 pounds in 3 month just if you eat protein at 35% of your calories.

• Maintain long-term health body shape as you are accustomed to the food habit.

•  Can reduce hunger hormone ghrelin. And thus protein can make you feel full.

2. For muscle mass and strength

There is no alternative to protein that can build and maintain healthy muscle mass and body strength. Protein forms blocks of muscles, giving you a satisfactory shape.

After and before intense exercise you should take enough protein to help increase muscle recovery, promote muscle synthesis, and protect from other health problems. Protein is essential for repairing and growing your muscle stronger.

3. Protein for stronger and healthy bones!

Recent studies found that there is a strong relationship between protein and bone mass. High protein intake can beneficial for your bone health in many ways like:

•  Improving calcium absorption
• Increasing stimulation of the secretion of insulin-like growth factor-1
• Preventing bone weakness and fractures
• Helping in healing broken bones
•  Increasing lean body mass.

Bone loss can occur in elderly people due to insufficient protein intake (less than 15% of calories).

4. For healthy and functional brain

When it comes to cognitive health, protein is boss. It is essential for your body to produce enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters, which boost your cognitive function.

More importantly, amino acids from protein foods are great in term of concentration, focus, and sharp memory. Research showed that consumption of adequate protein can improve learning and skills.

5. Protein for sound heart and proper blood sugar

Protein is one of the best natural remedies for high blood pressure, which is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, and chronic kidney disease. Intake of adequate protein can reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

Studies have shown that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets help in reducing serum triacylglycerol, increasing HDL cholesterol, and increasing LDL particle size. And these are great in term of heart and blood pressure.

High protein foods are also great in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. And high-carb and high-sugar foods increase your blood sugar levels tremendously; high-protein foods don’t.

6. For stress reduction

Amino acids in protein foods help in maintaining hormonal balance, and reduction of your anxiety. High stress can cause blood sugar imbalances where protein comes into play.

It is also helpful in improving your sleep, as well as working efficiency.

7. For reducing consequences of aging

Protein foods help your body synthesize the master antioxidant glutathione which can slow the effects of aging. Adequate protein is also essential for protecting yourself from age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, sickle cell anemia, cancer, and viral infections.

Muscle loss due to aging makes you look bad. And you can avoid that with high-protein, low-carb foods intake. Moreover, protein is nice when it comes to stronger immune system.

What are the best sources of protein

Following are the most common and best sources of protein:

• GREEK YOGURT:  Protein 23g  per 8 oz. serving
• COTTAGE CHEESE:  Protein 14g  per 1/2 cup serving
• SWISS CHEESE:  Protein Power: 8g  per 1 oz. serving
•  EGGS: Protein 6g  per 1 large egg
•  MILK:  Protein 8g  per 1 cup serving
•  STEAK (TOP OR BOTTOM ROUND): Protein 23g  per 3 oz. serving
•  GROUND BEEF (95% LEAN): Protein 18g  per 3 oz. serving
•  CHICKEN BREAST (BONELESS AND SKINLESS): Protein 24g  per 3 oz. serving
•  MIXED NUTS: Protein 6g  per 2 oz. serving

How much protein you should take

USDA recommended daily intake of protein for adults who are at an average weight and activity level is:

•  For men – 56 grams per day

•  For women – 46 grams per day

And eating protein at 15 to 20 percent of your total calorie is enough to prevent deficiency. But if you want to lose body weight in a healthy way, you can keep 30 to 35 percent protein in your calorie.

Conclusion

Eat plenty of protein foods every day to keep your body health, control your weight, and get a satisfactory body shape.

Remember that there is no alternative to foods. So control your body with proper foods.

I would like to hear feedback from you in the comment.

You may like to read: 

How to Lose Belly Fat in Health Ways for Lifetime

Do you want to lose belly fat for short time or lifetime?  If for short time, sorry this is not the right article for you as I’m not going to suggest you of either using a crash diet or going to gym.  And if for lifetime, fortunately you are in the perfect place! In this post, you will learn how to lose belly fat for lifetime without having negative impact on your health.

Weight gaining in the belly is a common problem in this contemporary robotic world. And you’re facing this problem mostly for your life style. Yes, life style...Read full article

 

How to Lose Belly Fat in Healthy Ways for Lifetime

Do you want to lose belly fat for short time or lifetime?  If for short time, sorry this is not the right article for you as I’m not going to suggest you of either using a crash diet or going to gym.  And if for lifetime, fortunately you are in the perfect place! In this post, you will learn how to lose belly fat for lifetime without having negative impact on your health.

Weight gaining in the belly is a common problem in this contemporary robotic world. And you’re facing this problem mostly for your life style. Yes, life style.

Exercise like going to gym isn’t suitable for most of you. Because it is not so easy and as soon as you stop doing heavy exercise, your stomach fat returns. You can do the exercises that can be done throughout your life without annoy.

Let’s begin the journey…

You may also like: Do Weight Loss Pills Really Work? A Research-Based Review

1. Drink lots of water

Replace your alcohol, sodas, and aerated drinks with pure water. Keep yourself hydrated enough with plenty of water to ensure that you lose fat in the belly region.

Water helps boosts your metabolism, suppress your appetite, and helps you shed water weight.

A study conducted in Birmingham found that respondents who drank 16 ounce water before every meal lost 1.3 kg in 12 weeks.

How to lose belly fat with water

Drink 8 to 12 glasses of water every day, especially before your meals. Though it can be difficult for you at first, your will be accustomed to it within a few days.

2. Balanced diet

Imbalanced diet is the main cause of why you get weight in the belly. In your everyday diet, you should maintain the following:

·     High protein: have foods that are rich protein, and low sugar and low fat. You can keep foods like grilled chicken and vegetable stir fry, lettuce wrap with low-fat cheese and lean deli meat, and grilled salmon with steamed vegetables in your diet to get rid of fats in the stomach.

     High fiber: high fiber and high protein breakfast can decrease hunger craving for long, minimizing intake of carbohydrate.

·       Fruits and fresh vegetables: eat adequate fruits and vegetables to ensure that your diet is balanced. Studies show that sugar in fruits is not harmful for your health.

·       Minimal carbohydrate foods: you should minimize the intake of foods rich in carbohydrate. Because carbohydrate in foods is stored as fat in your body. Foods in high carbohydrate include bread, rice, pasta, chips, and bagels. These foods increase your hunger.

3. Green tea

Green tea helps you a lot in reducing belly fat. Studies found that catechins in green tea can reduce fat in stomach. Drink green tea after food to quicken fat burning from your liver cells.

4. Lower your stress levels

Excessive stress accelerates your belly fat gathering process. Try to reduce your stress levels and you will notice considerable amount of fat loss in the stomach.

You can try the following to reduce stress:

·        Foods: foods like dark chocolate, Omega-3 fatty acids, and citrus fruits are very helpful in reducing stress and anxiety.

·        Mild exercise: a study found that moderate physical activities helped people manage stress. You can try, for example, running, walking, and yoga to manage stress and anxiety.

·        More sleep: poor sleeping can lead to lower immunity, heart problems, and feelings of anxiety and depression. You should sleep for 7-9 hours for sound health.

 

5. Peppermint gum

Chewing mint gum regularly can control your appetite, and ultimately reduce your caloric intake.

Sorbitol and the oil in peppermint can work as fat melter. Moreover, chewing gum can reduce your anxiety, depression, fatigue, and confusion.

6. Lemon drinks

Lemons are great for burning body fat. Drinking hot water and lemon every morning helps you in losing belly fat and hindering build-up of toxins in the bloodstream that slow metabolism.

Lemons are also rich in pectin fiber and vitamin C. Fiber helps fight hunger craving while vitamin C can boost your overall health.

7. Choose the right oils

When it comes to oils for either cooking or salad dressing, select the right oils that play an important role in reducing your belly fat. For weight loss or not, oils have a heavy impact on your overall health.

What role do oils play in weight loss? Penn State University researchers compared sunflower oil consumers with avocado consumer. And they found that those on the avocado oil diet lost nearly 2 percent of their stomach fat in one month.

Oils to consume: for belly weight loss, as well as health heart, select oils from the following list:

•         Avocado oil
•         Almond oil
•         Olive oil
•         Hemp oil
•         Coconut oil
•        Flaxseed oil

Oils not to consume: following oils should be avoided to get rid of fats:

•         Safflower oil
•         Soybean
•         Corn
•         Sunflower
•         Canola

8.   To starve yourself or not

Unfortunately, many people choose starvation as a remedy for weight loss. It is true that you can reduce calorie intake by starving yourself. Unfortunately, this practice is neither effective nor long lasting method for losing belly fat.

Studies have shown that when your body is deprived of nourishment, it continues to store food as fat. Moreover, you cannot practice starvation for your lifetime. And starvation leads to malnutrition.

9. Ginger and fennel with chi tea

Most effective herbs for weight loss include ginger, fennel seed, and cinnamon. You can eat herbs without or with chi tea to lose belly fat.

10. Walking early in the morning and taking sunshine

You can get two health benefits from walking in the morning – one is burning calorie and another is getting vitamin D.

Walking is an easy but effective exercise that is good for your overall health including belly fat loss. And vitamin D that you get from exposure to sunshine is also helpful in reducing fat.

Side effects of weight loss drugs

Some weight loss supplements have mild to severe side effects. That is why you should be careful while even want to take supplement.

Some of the drugs you should avoid are as below:

•         Fenfluramine: it can have a negative on your heart and lungs.
•         Qsymia: can lead to birth defect in pregnant women.
•         Sibutramine: can lead to heart attack and stroke.
•         Lipase inhibitors: can rarely lead to liver injury.

Conclusion

If you truly want to lose belly fat for long-term, you have to maintain a balanced diet, sleep properly, and take some physical activities.

What else you would like to try for losing belly fat let me know in the comment.