7 Weigh Loss Myths You Should Stop Believing ...

1. More Exercise is Better

One of the worst weight loss myths out there is that more exercise is the best way to lose weight. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and is one of the most harmful things you can do to your body. Too much exercise causes disruptions in your hormones and it can make you stressed and anxious, which makes your adrenal glands work overtime. This will leave you looking and feeling like a ball of stress all the time. Overdoing exercise can also cause a wide range of problems from injury, to joint pain, to an off balance metabolism. It can also make dieting harder because you’re hungrier more and constantly feeling deprived. Exercise 45 minutes each day for weight loss results and never over an hour. Moving throughout the day is the best way to be active each day outside of normal exercise. This keeps you in shape and is safe for your body.

2. Juice Cleansing

Please don’t go on a juice cleanse to lose weight. It just isn’t smart, and though you might lose water weight, you won’t lose real weight, or at least not for long term. If you do lose weight, then when you start eating regular again, you’ll put the weight back on pretty quickly and be back at square one. I love juicing, and do it myself, but I juice in addition to meals, not in place of.

3. Raspberry Ketones

How many of you have seen this popular myth on the market today? Raspberry ketones are being called the new weight loss trend, and they’ve been popular for about a year now. Let me just tell you something. These are nothing more than a dieting scheme, and a trick for companies to make another dollar. The dieti market is one of the biggest money making trends in the world. Don’t be a part of the trap yourself or fall prey to marketing around supplements like raspberry ketones. I don’t care if Dr. Oz is promoting them or not!

4. Skipping Meals

I hope you’re not skipping meals in your dieting attempts, and if you are, please stop! The myth that going without food can help you lose weight, is just a falsehood. This myth was created because yes, skipping meals might slim you down short term, but you can’t go without food for long. When you start eating regular food again, more than likely, you’ll gain it all back, plus some. Don’t skip meals to lose weight. Just eat smart at each meal instead.

5. Cutting Fat

How many of you turn over the label on a food product and look at the fat grams first? Stop already! Fats don’t matter near as much in foods, as where those fats come from. You don’t need to cut fat from your diet, and you shouldn’t! Cutting fat is not the best way to lose weight. You do need to eat fats from healthy sources like nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, coconuts, coconut oil and fish, but you don’t need to stop eating fat altogether. You should be cutting fast food, processed food and trans fats out of your diet to avoid harmful fats, but don’t exclude fat altogether. Fat can actually keep you full, promote good digestion, help fill you up faster, help your body absorb nutrients from other foods, and even spike your metabolism.

6. All Protein Diet

Protein diets are a huge myth in the diet world. This myth revolves around the belief that eating high protein foods, and not much else, will result in quick weight loss. Yes, protein does spike your metabolism, but you shouldn’t be excluding carbs and fats, nor should you be going overboard with protein. Instead, it is much better to eat a normal sized protein portion at each meal, and a little at every snack, but there’s no need to overdo the serving size. In all reality, excess protein can actually make you gain weight.

7. Gluten-free Everything

The myth that going gluten-free can help you lose weight is a tricky one. First, you should know that gluten in processed foods can be a major contribution to food allergies, digestive issues, and even behavioral issues like ADHD, autism, depression and more. However, if you’re not allergic to gluten, or not sure, don’t go out and buy everything gluten-free thinking you’ll lose weight. Your best bet is to just eat whole foods, not processed foods, which eliminates most gluten and other nasty ingredients in those foods, automatically. For your whole grains, eat more complete whole grains like quinoa, which is actually a seed that cooks like a grain, brown rice, oats, and wild rice. These are all gluten-free sources of healthy carbs, and not marketed gluten-free foods in boxes and wrappers.

If you’ve heard of a crazy weight loss myth that irks you, tell me about it! What weight loss myths make you cringe?