There are myths about weight loss and then there are myths that have been hammered into our minds, and we follow them blindly without questioning their efficacy. For example, for many decades now, we have been made to believe that all forms are fats are bad and would lead to weight gain, whereas the truth is that healthy fats and omega-3 fatty acids are required in optimum amount to lose weight and for absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. When we seek desperate measures to lose weight, we often naively follow these myths that have no backing from science. So, that’s why in this post, we explore lies you have been told about weight loss and debunk all these myths.

1. Detox Drinks Will Melt Away Fat: The fat layers do not just flush away overnight. Detox drinks just reduce toxins, improve metabolism and energy levels. Fat burning happens through a process called as lipolysis and only a healthy diet and exercise, over a period of weeks and months would result in weight loss, detox drinks cannot do that overnight!

2. You can Lose Weight Overnight: Okay, so you have starved the whole day and have exercised for hours together, but that wouldn’t shuttle all the body fat out of the system overnight. As we have mentioned maintained, just as you did not gain weight overnight, you  wouldn’t lose it in a single day; it will happen over a period of months, so gotta show patience.

3. You can Eat Whatever you want and Slog it all Out in the Gym: Come to think of it, only by giving diet the greater importance would you be able to shed extra weight. Following unhealthy eating habits and then exercising for one or two hours in the hope of melting away fat will just not work, because exercise alone cannot create a big calorie deficit. You can slog it out in the gym for the whole day but if you are not eating clean, the fat in the body wouldn’t move.

4. Fat-free and Low-Fat Food is Great for Weight Loss: What do most people do when they want to lose weight and eat healthy – get rid of all fat from their daily diet and pick everything low fat and fat free! We  have been made to believe that all “fats” are bad and can make you obese, raise cholesterol levels, lead to stroke and heart disease, and cause a lot of other disorders in the body, but in reality, “fat” has been made the villain through wrong research results. In fact, to lose weight and to lead a healthy life in general, you should consume the recommended intake of “good fat.” When fat content is ripped from food, companies add loads of sugar, refined carbs, salt, emulsifiers, and thickeners to appeal to the tastebuds of customers, which adds loads of calories to the body. Such a tendency defeats the whole purpose where one is actually going “low fat” to lose weight.
5. Healthy Food is Tasteless: Says who? Diet food is no longer about eating less food and definitely not about bland food anymore. You can eat the right kind of food, in the right quantity, be in calorie deficit and lose weight – check out the weekly diets on Rati Beauty app for more details.
6. Once you have Lost Weight, you can Eat Whatever you Want: Okay, so your aim is to eat clean for a few months, lose weight, and get back to unhealthy eating practices which had made you overweight in the first place! To maintain the weight loss and to prevent any future weight gain, make easy lifestyle changes such as the ones mentioned on the Rati Beauty app.
7. Only Diet and Exercise can Help you Lose Weight, Nothing Else Matters: There are various factors that add up when you are trying to drop extra weight – lowering stress and getting enough hours of sleep can greatly impact the pace at which fat burning happens. In fact, sleep deprivation and stress can lead to weight gain, even if you are exercising for hours together in the day.
8. You can Lose Weight Drinking Fruit Juices All Day Long: Fruit juices have liquid calories which are difficult to track and lack the fiber content which boosts weight loss efforts. Eat your fruits raw, don’t juice them out because you need fiber, protein, healthy fats and other nutrients for fat burning to take place.
9. Crash Dieting is the Easiest Way to Melt Fat: There are more chances to gain weight with crash dieting because when you starve yourself, your body goes into a fat-conservation mode thinking it’s not going to get anymore food. Severe calorie restriction also slows down metabolism considerably, preventing weight loss.
10. Only Weighing Scale is a True Measure of your Weight Loss Success: Getting fixated on fluctuating numbers on the weighing scale can leave you disappointed and demotivated because it only shows limited progress, making you ignore other positive changes that have happened both internally and externally. Yes, the weighing scale does show overall weight loss, but then the scale does not distinguish between water weight, water retention, bloating, or muscle gain (which is a great thing), and that’s why it’s important to look towards other non-scale measurements that indicate weight loss progress. Here are 18 Non-Scale Victories that Prove you Are Losing Weight

10. All Sugar-Free Products are Good: All of these so called sugar-free food items contain artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, that replace the traditional white sugar. Of course, we know that sugar is bad for our waistlines, skin and blood sugar levels but artificial sweeteners are worse. Some have been found to cause side effects such as headaches, stomach aches, panic attacks, and other serious disorders.

11. Cardio Workout is the Best Workout to Drop Pounds: Depending solely on cardio workouts will not fetch any results. You would have to focus primarily on creating a calorie deficit by following a healthy weight loss diet (such as on Rati Beauty app) and do a mix of workout routines, cardio, strength training, yoga, walking, and other forms of exercises.

12. All forms of Carbs are Bad: There are two types of carbs – refined carbs and complex carbs. Refined carbs are bad whereas complex carbs help boost weight loss efforts. Here’s a list of Best Carbs to Eat for Weight Loss.

13. Weight Loss Pills Melt Away Fat: There’s little research to prove the effectiveness of weight loss pills and most of them are gimmicky, without any studies to prove their efficacy. The only way to lose weight is by eating right and exercising regularly. And no, appetite suppressants also do not work.

14. There’s no Need to Count Calories When it Comes to Healthy Foods: Some people falter here – they forget to count calories when it comes to healthy food like quinoa, brown rice, but do remember, every food has some amounts of calories, even cucumbers! Count all the calories, even with healthy food, and make sure you are in a calorie deficit to lose weight. Too many calories from any source of food would prevent weight loss.
15. All Calories are Equal: It’s wrong to think that the calories from eating a tub of ice cream would have the same effects as eating two avocados. Ice creams come loaded with empty calories and sugar which spike insulin level, raising blood sugar, and trigger fat storage. On the other hand, avocados are rich in healthy fats which actually help burn stored fat.
16. Fats Make you Fat: Healthy fats, the kind we can find in food items such as olive oil, ghee, avocado, nuts, seeds, animal sources, are good for overall and boost the weight loss process. They in fact, trigger burning of stored fat. Moderation is the key with every kind of food source, same goes for healthy fats. Read more about “How Eating Fats Can Make you Thin” in this post.
17. Bread Toast Jam and Processed Breakfast Cereals are Healthiest Breakfast Items: It’s easy to pour out cereal from a box that also claims to have fruits and fortified minerals, but these cereals also have added color (to add vibrant color to the fruits in them), preservatives, and lots of sugar. Our breakfast should ideally be rich in protein and fiber to keep us full and energetic through the day, which these packaged cereals absolutely lack. There’s a huge misconception that cereals with sugar loaded choco chips and dehydrated fruits are good for health! A bowl full of packaged cereal though may taste delicious, it usually has a good amount of sugar which will spike up your insulin level. Excess sugar level leads to increased fat deposits. Instead of eating breakfast from cereal boxes and applying jam on white bread, switch to traditional Indian breakfasts like idli, dosa, poha, eggs, etc.
18. You Can Spot Reduce Fat: It’s a total myth that you can pick and choose the area from where you can melt away fat. By exercising, we are activating and strengthening the muscle behind the fat layer. Only if you are following the right kind of diet, that fat layer on top will disappear and the muscle will show through. With a layer of fat, infinite number of crunches will not reveal those washboard abs.
19. Master Cleanse and Smoothies Help to Lose Weight: There’s no magical potion that would help you slim down overnight. All these are part of fad diets that work only short term and help lose the water weight with no effect at all on the stored fat.
20. You have to Exercise 7 Days a Week to Lose Weight: Overtraining by working out every single day of the week will in fact sabotage the fat-burning process. When you put the body through intense exercise, it needs a period of one or two days to recover and recuperate, and get stronger. If you exercise every single day of the week, exhaustion and muscle fatigue would set in soon, making it difficult for weight loss to happen at a steady pace.

Please do remember, there’s nothing that works as effectively as following a good weight loss diet and regular exercise!

Why Low Fat and Fat Free products are not Good for Weight Loss
18 Non-Scale Victories that Prove you Are Losing Weight

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