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Weight Loss Misconceptions: Exercise, Nutrition, Diet & Food

Here are five common misconceptions about weight loss, including misconceptions about obesity, nutrition, diets, foods and exercise.

1. Misconceptions about obesity

Let’s start with the biggest misconception of all which is “Overweight people are overweight because they are physically lazy and the best way for them to lose weight is to HIT THE GYM and exercise, exercise and exercise!”

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Many overweight people are in fact very, if not more active than their regular-sized counterparts.

Losing weight has almost nothing to do with exercise at all. Most weight loss is due almost entirely to dietary changes.

What most overweight people don’t realize is how poor their diets really are. Ask any of your fat friends how much they eat, and they will almost ALL say “not very much actually”. The reality will be very different. Firstly they virtually all eat A LOT more than they think and the second thing is that a lot of the food that they think is healthy is actually rubbish junk food.

The identification of food overweight people think is healthy but which is actually killing them is for another post, but the bottom line is if you want to lose weight, start with your diet and not your gym membership.

2. Exercise misconceptions

The thought that exercise is a magical cure-all for weight loss and is an automatic path to good health is common but it is also a myth.

It is true that exercise is an important part of any healthy persons daily life, and it is also true that a good exercise regime does as much for your mental health as it does physically.

But the thought that weight loss is predicated on exercise is misguided.

Exercise is vital for the maintenance of many of the systems within our bodies which keep us alive but in order to get the most out of your exercise routines it’s important that you do them to an intensity that actually delivers benefits, and honestly, this is difficult to achieve if you are seriously overweight.

To get the MOST out of physical exercise, first, lose weight (as per the opening to this blog post above) and then begin a gradual introduction of exercise routines into your life, increasing their intensity as your cardio and general health and fitness levels rise.

Remember, lose weight first, THEN get serious about exercise. Not the other way around.

3. Nutrition Misconceptions: Eating Fat Makes You Fat

There is nothing uniquely fattening about fat. The main cause of obesity in society is the overconsumption of sugar from processed foods, fruit juice and soft drinks. Sugar contains ZERO fat.

Your body needs a certain amount of fat in your diet to maintain optimal health. If you are looking for ways to lose fat or lose weight, cutting fat from your diet is a mistake. A healthy diet should contain fat, protein and simple carbohydrates.

A diet containing fat is essential for the body to feel “full” after eating. When you feel full, overeating is actually quite difficult to do.

4. Diet Misconceptions: Weight Loss Diets Actually Work

Diets by their very nature are temporary things and that’s why people who lose weight on a diet invariably regain the weight when they finish the diet.

Oprah Winfrey, one of the world’s most well known Yo-yo dieters also happens to be one of the largest shareholders in Weight Watchers.

She invested in this business after discovering that virtually all clients who go on the Weight Watchers program regain the weight they lost within 12 months, at which point they come back to Weight Watchers and repeat the process.

This is a fantastic business model and that is why she invested so heavily into it. Repeat customers represent a more reliable income stream than constantly searching for new customers.

All diets and diet programs are the same. If you genuinely want to lose weight and keep it off, there is no magical diet that is going to do it for you. You have to make a genuine decision that it is time to change your life. If you are not willing to do this, you probably shouldn’t bother with the unpleasantness of a diet. You’re only going to gain it all back and maybe more so. Don’t throw your money away.

5. Food Misconceptions: All Calories Are Equal

This is absolutely not the case. Calories are a measure of energy, that is true. But the CALORIE SOURCE has a major impact on how the body channels calories from different sources. Calories from carbohydrates are sent down very different metabolic pathways than calories coming from fat or protein sources, and these different treatments can have very significant effects on things like weight gain.

100 grams of cheesecake is not going to be metabolically processed the same way as 100 grams of broccoli or chicken breast.

Calorie sources must be understood to influence weight gain and weight loss.

At Weight Loss For Men Thailand, we show men how to identify and eat clean, real, healthy nourishing food. And we show them how easy it is to make dietary changes that they can incorporate into their lives for the rest of their lives.

We are not a diet program or a “weight loss” program in the traditional sense. We guide and instruct men who need and want to change their lives. We show them how straightforward and simple it actually is to reset their foundations and take back absolute control of their relationship with food and health permanently.

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