5 Myths About Fat Loss You Need to Ignore

How many of you have tried to lose weight and nothing seems to be working? Or you start to see some fat loss but suddenly it stops? Naturally, (at least for me) I would start to do research, only to find myth upon myth that’s incorrect about fat loss. Recognizing what they are can go a long way toward helping you reach your own fat loss goals.

Here are 5 myths about losing fat you need to ignore.

Diets Don’t Work

Sure they do! Practically all diets work, at least in the short term.  And diets should only be for the short term. You can take off the excess weight pretty quickly with an effective diet. But you KEEP the weight off with a LIFESTYLE change!

People go on a diet, lose weight, and go back to what they were doing before, which is how they added all that extra fat in the first place. Then they blame the diet for not working.  It’s not the diet, it’s the lifestyle!

The most successful (and more and more popular) lifestyle change is intermittent fasting, where you gradually train your body to be okay with you only eating in an 8, 6 or 4 hour period, and fasting for the remaining 16, 18, or 20 hour period. This has successfully led to weight loss, in addition to an increase in energy, mental clarity, and best of all-no cravings! For more information, click here.

Going Extremely Low-Calorie is Bad

Again, refer to the first point. Going very low calorie, and even outright fasting, can be an extremely effective way to lose weight quickly, as you get a bigger calorie deficit and force the body to burn fat for energy. But it absolutely HAS to be done the in the RIGHT WAY.  You can’t go extremely low-calorie for a long stretch at a time, you should gradually introduce yourself into the routine as your body trains itself to get more used to it. Once your body is used to being on a 20-4 hour fast, you can always shake it up every few days and only have 600 calories in a 36 hour period, twice a week. This helps keep your body’s weight loss in a disruptive space, and restart your body’s metabolism.

I Just Want To Tone Up

I’ve always hated this one.  There is no such thing as getting toned.  You can build muscle and you can burn fat.  That’s it. What most people call toning up is burning away fat while preserving lean muscle.  You don’t want to lose muscle along with the fat or you’ll just be a smaller version of your fat self, or what we call skinny fat. The best thing to do is a combination of High Intensity Interval Training and cardio in order to shed the excess weight, while building muscle. This will then lead to the definition a lot of people are looking for.

Light-Weight High-Rep Training Is The Best Way To Burn Fat

It can be effective, if done correctly.  But if you don’t work hard, you won’t see results. The BEST training style for fat-loss is a mix of heavier training, to preserve mass and strength, and lighter, high-rep training that focuses on Lactic Acid accumulation. When Lactic Acid accumulates in the body, this changes the acidity (the pH) in the bloodstream. Your body reacts to this by secreting Growth Hormone, which is a potent fat-burning and muscle-preserving hormone.

You’ll likely have heard of HIIT workouts, which get your body in an accelerated state for short periods of time. This interval training method has been proven to be an extremely effective weight loss technique, and gives you more bang for your buck in a shorter amount of time!

You Can Never Eat Your Favorite Foods Again

Thank goodness this one is just not true.  Of course you can.  Can you eat whatever you want, whenever you want?  No, but that doesn’t mean you can never have ice cream, or pizza, or potato chips again. I’ve found for me, the key to eating healthy is moderation. I’m such a foodie, having worked in the restaurant industry for a significant amount of time, and I LOVE FOOD! What I’ve found since intermittent fasting is that I no longer need to eat the full portion given to me at restaurants, or else I swap things up to make them healthier versions, if I know I won’t be able to stop :). For example, my favourite fish tacos at a local restuarant, I ask for unbattered, grilled instead of deep fried, and in lettuce wraps. Even doing one of those revisions helps cut calories! (but that way I can still my friend’s fries!)

Keep these five fat loss myths in mind and you can get better results from your training and nutrition programs.