The Painful Truth of Weight Loss Myths
Greek mythology has nothing on the myths that surround weight loss. In our never ending quest to feel better about the damage our eating habits inflict on our bodies, we have created hundreds of myths that make weight loss seem like a quick and easy fix to all our problems. Many dieters, even after experiencing the true challenges of a diet, believe any weight loss myth they hear because they can not bear to face the thought of how truly challenging weight loss can be.
If I drink more water, I’ll lose weight: While it’s true that water consumption may make your scale move down, you aren’t actually losing substantial weight or fat. You are flushing out water that you’ve retained. This is not a plan that will help you lose very much weight.
If I exercise, I can eat more and still lose weight: If you eat more calories than usual after exercising, it will negate some of the weight loss benefits of your work out and the false sense of security some feel after a work out could result in overeating and weight gain.
If I take this herb, or that berry, my fat will melt away: So far, we have found nothing that melts fat when you ingest it. Of course, that has not stopped a multi-billion dollar industry flourishing on these promises.
Weight loss myths serve many purposes. For some they keep the hope alive that a miracle cure will soon be found to melt away years of overeating and unhealthy lifestyle choices. For others they are an opportunity for taking their piece of the multi-billion dollar pie that needs the half truths and vaguely plausible lies of weight loss myths to support it.
No matter how much we want to believe that effortless weight loss exists, nature dictates that the only way to lose weight is to use more calories than we consume. In short, eat less and move more. For most of us, neither of these can be achieved without effort.
Our inability to lose weight unaided is not lack of self control or weakness of character. There are very strong forces interacting to keep over 66% of people in the USA eating too much and moving too little. There are, however, tools available for those who have a genuine desire to lose weight. For modest weight loss, medical weight loss programs are an effective tool when they include lifestyle education and nutrition counseling.
Weight loss surgery achieves the greatest degree of weight loss with the most consistent long term results for many people.
Whatever solution you chose, it will require effort and lifestyle change. Anything that promises another path to weight loss, is most likely simply a myth.