12 Myths Of Weight Loss
Losing weight as we age isn’t getting any easier.
And following bogus advice is only making matters worse.
Let’s face it, the weight loss industry is a very noisy space.
And most of what’s being preached, with extreme emotion and zealotry, is simply wrong.
Wouldn’t it be great to skip all the BS and ONLY focus on things that will actually help you lose weight?
Of course, it would!
Instead of the 12 days of Christmas let’s break down the 12 myths of weight loss.
So you can focus your precious time and brain power on methods that will actually help ya out!
Myth # 1
You can’t eat after 5 pm
While it’s true that you don’t want to stuff your face and climb under the sheets, the 5 pm number is a bit arbitrary.
As with all things health and wellness you need to assess how it’s working for YOU specifically.
If you try and cut yourself off at 5 pm and find it leads to binging on chips and candy by 8 pm…
I would say this method isn’t working.
Wouldn’t it be better to have a healthy meal a little later that leaves you satisfied until bedtime?
Also, when some people cut off their eating too early in the evening it negatively impacts their sleep. They’re either too hungry to fall asleep, or they’re restless all night because their blood sugar dips.
Some of my clients find they get a better night's rest with a little healthy snack a couple of hours before bedtime.
Again, play with it for yourself and find what works best for you. But if the “no eating past 5 pm thing” isn’t working out for you, skip it and focus your efforts elsewhere.
Myth # 2
You should never let yourself feel hunger
FALSE!
You should not starve yourself and feel hungry constantly to try and lose weight.
But hunger is a normal physiological response. You should feel hungry just before mealtime but not all day.
If you never feel hungry that’s actually a bad sign! This could mean that you’ve spent too long on extreme diets and your metabolism has slowed down.
When a client tells me they never feel hungry and the scale is stubborn there’s usually 1 of 2 things going on.
They may be snacking, grazing, and eating all day long. They never feel hungry because their body never has a chance to. Essentially, they’re overeating.
Or we might see that they’re barely eating and still aren’t hungry. This is often the case with chronic dieters and it’s not a good thing.
We need to kick-start that metabolism and feel appropriate amounts of hunger again.
Myth # 3
You need to be motivated to lose weight
Motivation is a feeling, and feelings are fickle.
Because we need consistent action to reach our goals…
relying on a feeling that comes and goes to get us there is a terrible plan.
It’s impossible for most people to “feel like” taking healthy actions on a consistent basis. Especially at the beginning of their journey before habits are established.
How many times have you found yourself saying things like…
“I need to go to the gym but I’m not motivated.”
“I should eat better but I lose motivation on the weekend.”
Throw out the motivational tapes and try one of these things instead.
1 - Get an accountability partner to help kickstart your new healthy behavior
2 - Schedule the time you need for your health in your calendar and KEEP these appointments with yourself.
3 - Hire a coach or a trainer that’s good at strategy and habit development.
Waiting to hit your goals when you feel like it will almost guarantee you never get there.
Myth # 4
You need to follow a plan perfectly to get results
All-or-nothing thinking is one of the worst mindsets when we’re trying to lose weight.
You spend days concocting the perfect meal plan and workout schedule, you’re all fired up, and then…
you eat a brownie!
Gasp!
“I knew I couldn’t do this,” you think to yourself and you throw in the towel.
Diet over.
Every action we take builds into the collective and that determines the results that we see. We don’t need every action to be healthy, we just need to start tipping the scales so that more and more actions are.
If we do this consistently, we see results.
The reality is that the brownie had very little to do with how much weight you would lose over a few months.
The only reason it was so bad was that it caused you to think you couldn’t do it, and you quit.
Strive for progress, not perfection. As cliche as that sounds, it’s the truth.
Myth # 5
I need to just “buckle down” and do the work
I’ve said it, you’ve said it, we’ve all said it…
I know what to do, I just can’t make myself do it. And we think the way around this is to just “buckle down” or talk trash to ourselves. That we’re somehow going to bully ourselves into “doing the things” that will make us lose weight.
I’ve coached hundreds of women on weight loss now and I’ve seen this approach work zero times.
Zero.
Ugh, what do we do then?
We work on our stinkin’ thinkin’. What’s going on between your ears is the most important part of your weight loss journey.
Our beliefs and feelings are what determine our actions, which determine our results.
You can try and talk trash to yourself or even hire a personal trainer to do it. And it will work for a while. But whatever the mindset junk is that got ya where you are now will resurface at some point.
If you want to make long-term changes to your health, it’s 80% mindset.
Myth # 6
You need to drop carbs to lose weight
Studies show that you can lose weight quickly with a low-carb diet in the beginning, but that this levels out. At the end of a year it doesn’t matter if your diet was low carb or not…
weight loss balances out and you don’t actually end up losing anymore.
There are some people who are going to do better by keeping carbs in check, and we could all do to drop refined carbs. But eliminating healthy carbs is not only unnecessary for most…
it might be making things worse in some cases.
First of all, it can be difficult to stick to long term. Many people come off a low-carb diet and binge or go right back to the Standard American Diet (SAD). This leads to rapidly regaining the weight they lost. If this is the cycle you’re on, it’s obviously not working.
Secondly, part of weight loss that gets missed is that our nervous system has a lot to do with the results that we get. When we’re stressed out our impulse control is low, our hormones are all over the place, and our sleep is trash.
All of these things lead to weight gain!
When we’re under a lot of stress, dropping our carbs too low can actually be an additional stressor for our bodies!
Here’s a classic example.
Let’s take a middle-aged woman who works full-time, is raising kids, doing intermittent fasting and keto, and going to Crossfit 4 x a week.
None of these things are “bad” on their own. But when you put them all together it’s a recipe for burnout and it’s increasing stress!
Adding healthy carbs for fuel will actually help with weight loss in a situation like this most of the time.
Long story short, if you think you have to drop carbs to lose weight and you’re not loving that idea, good news…
you can keep your carbs and lose all the weight you want!!!
Myth # 7
Changing everything all at once is the best approach
We put on our favorite pair of jeans, our muffin-top spills over, we cry about it…
and we’re all fired up to take drastic action.
Bootcamp style baby - I’m going ALL IN.
Living on vegetables and working out for an hour 6 x a day.
And it works amazing - until we’re sick of it because we made too many changes at once and we quit all of it.
What works best for most people to achieve weight loss goals and keep the results is habit stacking. We add one thing at a time, preferably something that is simple but will give us a quick win.
Once we’ve got that buttoned up, we add in something else and we keep the ball rolling.
This is much more manageable for our busy brains.
Myth # 8
I have to get this done on my own
Asking for help doesn’t make you weak, it’s smart!
Humans hit goals better when they’re working in collaboration. Yes, even my type-A, I’ll get this done on my own people.
I get you. I am you. But here’s the deal…
accountability and support greatly increase your chances of success.
If the goal is important…
put that ego in check and recruit a friend for accountability. Or, hire structured support if that’s what it takes to get the job done.
Myth # 9
That exercise is more important than rest
If you’re burning the candle at both ends, which tends to be all of us, especially this time of year…
you’re not doing your weight loss any favors.
Adding in movement and exercise is ALWAYS a good idea!
But, if you’re already moving and you’re skipping sleep time or rest days in order to work harder, this is a mistake. Your body needs sleep and recovery in order to keep that metabolism firing.
I value work ethic as much as the next person. But the old “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality simply does not work for our health and weight loss.
Go to bed!
Myth # 10
Low-fat diets are best for weight loss
If you were born before 1983 and you’re trying to lose weight…
you’re probably not eating enough food in general, and you’re for sure not eating enough fat.
Unless you got into the keto craze, then you might be eating too much fat.
The truth is that our body needs healthy fat. Our hormones and our nervous system are made of fat! If we keep fat too low we’re not doing our metabolism any favors and we’re going to end up with nutrition deficiencies.
You can absolutely eat too much fat, even on a low-carb diet. So don’t go crazy. But a nice balanced plate is perfect for fat loss. Extremes are rarely the answer for the majority of people.
Myth # 11
Your obstacles are the reason you haven’t succeeded
Every single person has obstacles they face in hitting their goals. Every single person!
These obstacles can only keep you stuck if you believe them to be insurmountable.
If on the other, you believe them to be problems you need to solve, you’ll find a way to do so and have all the success you want.
When it comes to losing weight or attaining a higher level of health there is always something we can do. You do not have an unsolvable problem. You just have to decide that solving the problem will be worth it, and get to work.
Myth # 12
Now isn’t the right time for me to lose weight
We think there’s an abundance of time coming right around the corner. Our boss is going to give us the perfect schedule, our children will be less needed, our spouse is going to chip in more around the house…
and we’ll have all the free time in the world to commit to our weight loss goals.
This is such a beautiful idea and I wish more than anything that it was going to happen for you…
unfortunately, my friend, it ain’t real!
Every season of life brings its own challenges and time will NEVER be something we have an abundance of. If you want to make changes the best time to do so is right now. The longer we wait, the harder it is.
Your weight loss plan needs to be so simple and doable that even in the busiest season of life, you can manage it. Otherwise, as soon as life throws you a curve ball, you’ll fall right back off the horse.
The holidays can not stop you from losing weight.
Your work schedule cannot stop you from losing weight.
The fact that your kids never sleep through the night cannot stop you from losing weight.
The time fairy isn’t coming any time soon to grant you more than the 24 hours the rest of us have.
Take action now!!!
