10 Facts and Myths about Weight loss
We’re in a bit of a muddle when it comes to losing weight. Misled by conflicting information, fad diets and unhelpful excuses we make it harder than it needs to be. The reality is simple – weight loss is a direct result of healthy eating. But let me straighten out a few facts first.
The “Fat” Gene
Most of us look and feel better when we maintain our ideal weight, so it seems a bit unfair that most of us are born with an apparent innate love for high calorie, fattening foods. It’s a survival mechanism leftover from the days of our ancestors, when food was scarce and our very existence depended on our body’s ability to store fat to use for energy later. The problem these days is that food is everywhere now. Most of us barely go a few hours without eating - never mind several days like our forebears. So, this clever fat-storing mechanism is no longer vital to keep us alive - it just promotes fat storage and makes it harder to lode weight. But while some people are more genetically predisposed than others, there’s no evidence that anyone is hard-wired to gain weight. The fact is, we can all attain and maintain a healthy weight if we eat properly and have an active lifestyle, regardless of our genes. It’s a myth that the famous ‘fat gene’ means you’re fated to be fat and believing so can sabotage your attempts to lose weight.
Let’s have a look at some other common misconceptions surrounding weight loss:
| MYTH | FACT |
|---|---|
| I have a slow metabolism | Proper diet and exercise can help boost your metabolism and help you burn calories better. Yo-yo dieting does the opposite. |
| I can’t control my appetite | YOU CAN – recognising how your body reacts to certain situations can help put you in control. Certain foods help you feel fuller longer and others lead to cravings for more. |
| I’m big-boned | The size of your bones has zero influence how much fat you store. |
| I have an underactive thyroid | You might - but this can be corrected through proper diet and medication. |
| I have more fat cells than normal people | Your number of fat cells doesn’t change, their size does - and that only depends on how much you eat. |
| I’ll never lose all the weight I gained in pregnancy | Your hormones are completely back to normal a year after giving birth – you then have just as much control on your weight as before. |
| I have a bad relationship with food | Recognizing how family and friends influence your eating habits can help you correct this. |
| I eat for comfort so I’m weak | You’re not weak - help from professionals can help you overcome psychological barriers to losing weight. |
| It’s inevitable that I’ll gain weight with age | Regular exercise and proper diet can help maintain your muscle mass so you continue to burn calories efficiently and can avoid gaining weight. |
Everyone knows that over eating, poor diet and lack of activity are the main roadblocks associated with difficulty losing weight. But sometimes other, less obvious factors come into play, including stress, food sensitivities, blood sugar imbalances and digestive disorders. These issues need to be addressed if we really want to achieve lasting weight loss.
Your Foodwise Plan is designed to help you identify the things that are hampering your best efforts to reach your ideal weight and give you real solutions for overcoming them so you can make permanent weight loss a reality. Get started now at: https://www.foodwise.life/program/weight-loss