7 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Weight Loss

It seems every week there is a new diet fad that promises to help you lose weight fast and with little effort. With thousands of diet options, you may feel overwhelmed when choosing the right plan for your lifestyle.

Many diet programs work. They even offer helpful tips to get your started on a diet, as well as maintaining your weight loss once you complete the plan. At the same time, there are just as many programs offering less helpful advice.

When weight loss experts provide conflicting information, it’s easy to get confused about what works. This leads to many people believing the inaccurate information about weight loss. Myths turn into reality and before you know it, everyone has the wrong idea about weight loss.

Seven common things people get wrong about losing weight are listed below.

1. ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL DIETS

One diet can work for all is a statement often used by diet gurus trying to promote their new weight loss plan. They want you to believe their diet can help everyone. However, this is not true. One diet cannot work for everyone.

Every person is different, physically, genetically, and mentally. This fact alone lets you know the right diet for you may be a different one for someone else. You have probably met several people on the Keto diet. Some say it worked great, while others say they lost only a few pounds.

Or, you may have been to a Weight Watchers meeting. Not everyone at the meeting loses weight each week. In fact, some gain weight during the week. Yet, they are following the same diet.

Due to our differences in ancestry, our metabolism, medical issues, lifestyles and even hormones, all diets cannot work the same for all people.

2. CALORIES ARE ALL THE SAME

Calories are not all the same. Calories are created with different ingredients, each of which can change the caloric value. The way foods metabolize in the body can be different.

Low-fat diets, low-glycemic diets, and low-carb diets show you that calories are not all the same. Calories can come from a variety of sources. The body processes these sources much differently. For instance, a bowl of berries and a cookie can have the same number of calories.

The body will process the berries much differently than the cookie. The cookie will cause insulin levels to rise and make it harder to lose weight.

3. MEDICAL PROBLEMS DON’T HINDER WEIGHT LOSS

Many people struggle to lose weight despite their efforts with dieting and exercising. This can be frustrating. What they may not realize is their struggle may be due to a medical problem.

Hypothyroidism is a disease in which the thyroid gland produces too little of the thyroid hormone, the one that regulates metabolism. This can cause weight gain or make it hard to lose weight.

Furthermore, those suffering from depression are sometimes prone to overeat.

4. HORMONES CAN’T INFLUENCE WEIGHT GAIN

Hormones can play a significant role in making it hard for someone to lose weight. A specific hormone, cortisol, is a major culprit. Whether you have Cushing’s Disease or are just overly stressed, when cortisol is released in the body, it causes weight gain.

It becomes a vicious cycle. Too much stress leads to an abundance of the cortisol hormone being released into the body. Cortisol leads to weight gain, especially in the mid-section. Weight gain leads to higher blood pressure, cholesterol and possibly diabetes.

This one hormone can lead to a person having metabolic syndrome, making weight loss even harder.

5. RESTRICTIVE EATING IS BAD WHEN DIETING

Most diets claim you need to eat three meals a day with snacks in between each meal. Some diets even claim you can eat all you want of certain foods and still lose weight.

What you may not know is that restricting your eating or limiting your calories can help too when supervised by a medical professional.

Restricting your calories can help your body fight metabolic stress. Recent research is showing intermittent fasting can change the function of cells, reduces insulin resistance, inflammation and in the end, helps you lose weight.

6. A SLOW METABOLISM MAKES LOSING WEIGHT IMPOSSIBLE

Metabolism is the rate in which your body expends or burns calories. Signs of a low metabolism include cold hands and feet, low body temperature when you wake up, bowel issues, thinning hair and nails, and bags under the eye.

Lower metabolism can make it hard to lose weight, but not impossible. There are specific diet plans you can follow to speed up your metabolism. Working with a doctor, you can create a diet plan, as well as addressing any medical issues that may be contributing to your low metabolism.

Your plan may also include exercise that fits your lifestyle.

7. INTENSE EXERCISE ROUTINES ARE A MUST

Just thinking about exercising can make some people feel defeated. You may suffer from health issues that prevent you from exercising, like joint pain or asthma.

Or, you may be thinking exercise has to be hard core to lose weight. This thought is wrong, however.

Minimal impact exercise can be just as beneficial in your weight loss journey. The key is to work with your doctor to discover the exercises you can do without further injury. Even if you do not have physical ailments, you can find minimal impact exercises that are fun.

You may not even feel like you are exercising with activities like rowing in a canoe, swimming, dancing or yoga.