7 Weight Loss Myths That Are Keeping You From Success

Most of us have tried many different diets and still can’t seem to have success losing weight.  From south beach to cabbage soup there is a lot of misinformation out there, and while you can lose weight on all these diets it might not stick or even be healthy.  Here are 9 weight loss myths that might be holding you back from the success you crave.

The most success I’ve had on one of these diets was with the South Beach diet.  This is the one where you have absolutely zero carbs for a few weeks and then you start slowly dropping them back in.  This was great for a little while.  I lost 25lbs on this diet.  Until I got sick.

I got the flu and I was struggling to keep eating according to the plan.  There are just things you MUST have when you’re sick.  For me, it’s pizza.

I had to have it.  And so I did.  That was the beginning of the end.  My stronghold on carbs was broken and I started to eat them.  It didn’t take long before I was back at the weight I started at.  It came back a lot faster then it went off I know that for sure.   Pretty soon I blew past the weight I started at there was no way I was going to South Beach any time soon.

That’s depressing.

So I started to do a little research and here is what came up.

Myth #1: Carbs are the devil

Fact: Carbs aren’t the problem, calories are!  Do you really think you can eat bacon and eggs and steak all day and be healthier and lose weight?  It doesn’t work that way.  Just as your body needs protein it also needs carbs and fat too!  When you eat the right carbs you get some added benefits.  Besides being less processed, the right carbs are full of fiber.  This keeps you fuller for longer with the same amount of calories.  Just don’t pile on the sauce and butter…that’s not getting you where you want to go.

Myth #2: Low-fat or non-fat means lower calories and healthier

Fact: You have to be careful here.  Most of these overly processed products are loaded with sugar to compensate for the lower fat.  When it comes to any of these, you have to read the labels thoroughly.  Many times they don’t lower the fat at all and just change the serving size on you to make it appear lower in fat.  Be careful – the things they add here is scary.

Myth #3: Eating after 8pm causes you to gain weight

Fact:  It does not matter when you eat, it is the total number of calories in versus the total number of calories out.  It doesn’t matter what time of day you eat, if you consume more calories than you burn with physical activities your body will store that as fat.

Myth #4:  Drinking water is the key to losing weight.

Fact: Not at all. Drinking water is extremely important to a healthy life style and a healthy body but the key to weight loss?  I don’t think so.  Again its calories in versus calories out.  The upside to drinking water is that when you are hydrated you are able to keep your metabolism up, you are more focused on the task at hand, and if you drink it before a meal it can fill you up so you don’t eat quite as much.  Getting your 8 glasses a day is important but its not going to be the reason you lose weight.

Myth #5: Have a light breakfast to keep your calories down

Fact: Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day.  It doesn’t have to be huge but this is a good place to have a bunch of carbs, it will be the fuel for the rest of your day.  Try having green smoothies.  I love this for breakfast the mix of fruits and veggies fills me up and keeps me from binging later on in the day.  The energy boost is incredible as well.

Myth #6: Cut out the fat to lose weight

Fact: You need a good amount of good fat in your diet to stay healthy and lose weight.  As soon as you can determine the good fat from the bad fat you are on your way.  Saturated fat is bad, unsaturated fat is good.  Your fried chicken is bad and your baked salmon is good.  Good fats will actually keep you feeling fuller longer.  Try adding some flax seeds to your breakfast smoothie or having some natural peanut butter and an apple for a snack.

Myth #7 :  You have to do hours of cardio to get any results.

Fact: Many times, less is more.  It has been scientifically proven that high intensity interval training will actually burn more calories than your traditional hours on the treadmill.  When you are done with your 20 minutes of HIIT training, your body keeps burning for hours afterwords.  That’s the real benefit.   Just alternate highly intense bursts with less intense exercise.  For instance, try jogging for thirty seconds and then sprinting for 30 seconds.  Then rinse and repeat.  You may not be able to sprint right now, but if you try to go as hard as you can and then bring it back down to normal you will see the benefits.  You can do this on a bike or simply walking.

There is a lot of bad information out there right now.  And someone is always coming up with some crazy diet plan for people to follow that sucks us in and takes our money.

But if we keep it simple, and we do the research it doesn’t have to be difficult to lose weight.  You just need some motivation, consistency, and common sense and you can reach your goals.

Check out this post for more information:  5 Great Weight loss Motivation Tips

14 Day Green Smoothie Challenge

In my quest to go from carnivore to vegetarian, I started the 14 day green smoothie challenge, which I have mentioned previously on this site. My hope is to go from 14 day trial run to an every day habit with the green smoothies. Today marks the start of week 2, and I wanted to give an update as to how it is going so far.

I started this whole thing after researching the best ways to go from hardcore meat eater to vegetarian. The conclusion that I came to was that it’s not going to be as easy as I had hoped. I have never been all that keen on vegetables to begin with. Since I was little I’ve been a very picky eater and my family stuck to the meat and potatoes routine for every meal pretty much.

The only way I am going to pull this off is if I go the baby steps route. I am going to change one little thing at a time until I am completely meat free (then it’s on to trying to become a vegan).

So the first step in my journey to vegetarian was the 14 day green smoothie challenge!

The idea here is to have at least 1 green smoothie a day for 14 days and see how you feel. You don’t have to change anything else about your diet and you don’t even have to replace a meal with it.

I decided to go ahead and replace my most beloved morning bowl of cereal with a delicious fruit and vegetable smoothie. I’ll be honest with you here, I was terrified! I thought it was going to taste like a salad blended in water.

SHOCK ALERT: IT WAS GOOD!

They are actually quite tasty! I have been rotating two smoothies every day for a week and have loved every second of it. They have kept me surprisingly full until my mid morning snack and I have seen a distinct increase in energy. I hate to say I was a skeptic at the beginning but I’m definitely a believer now.

The recipes I have been rotating look like this.

Banana Smoothie

2 cups water

3 bananas

3 or 4 Romaine lettuce leaves

Berry Smoothie

2 cups water

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

1 apple

3 handfuls of baby spinach

I will continue to update you on how this is going for me. So far the only difference I have noticed is the increase in energy and some basic detox type affects. I will be trying a new recipe at the end of this week that I’ll share as well.  It’s amazing when you know that eating the way you do makes you feel terrible and changing a few things will make you feel great, yet you don’t do it.  Its so simple!  Why haven’t we changed this pattern before?  I love this quote from Jim Rohn:

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.  What if it’s true?!?”

I hope some people out there will give this a shot and let me know how it works for them! Let me know what you think in the comments section here!tzjq5w6e8u

After years of health issues I have finally decided it is time to get healthy.  And the first step is to change my diet.   I have been on the pizza and beer diet for a very long time and now that I have a wedding 5 months away, I think its time to change! 

But is it that easy?

 I am addicted to pizza and tobacco and meat.  I work behind a desk 8-10 hours a day.  When I get home I want to sleep.  Really I just want to sleep all the time!  But I would really like to avoid taking my shirt off at the honeymoon and having my beautiful new wife leave me for a lifeguard!

I have been having a lot of health issues lately as well.  I have had pneumonia 3 times now and the last of which just about killed me.  6 months ago I had to have an emergency appendectomy.  Right after that they told me I had diverticulitis.  I seem to pull a muscle in my back every couple of months, its happened 4 times now (ungodly amount of pain by the way).  There is no doubt in my mind that it is all related to diet and excercise.

 Here is the scary part.  I’m only 27 years old!

 I shouldn’t have all of these problems!

How do we fix it?

I think its going to be a very slow transition but here is my plan: 

1.)    Go from carnivore to vegetarian – Cutting out meat is a very small step to me.  Although I love a meatball sub as much as the next guy, if you look at the healthiest groups of people in the world they always have one thing in common.  Not a lot of meat being eaten there.   So I am going to take a small step and cut out meat from my diet very slowly.   Right now I’m having meat only 1 time per week until I can cut it out.  I am also starting each day with a green smoothie, if you do nothing else from this post, you have got to try having green smoothies!  They are amazing!

 2.)    Go from vegetarian to vegan – There are benefits outside of the health benefits here too such as not murdering millions of defenseless animals.  But cutting all animal products from my diet seems like the next logical step once I’ve mastered vegetarianism.  

 3.)    Go from vegan to 100% raw foods diet – The benefits are incredible in going to 100% raw food.  From curing disease to tons of energy I can’t wait to get to this point.  If you want more info on the raw foods diet, check this site out, this lady really inspired me to take another look at this.  Check out her 40 day food journal as well, it’s a great read!

So that’s my plan.  I will be updating quite frequently on how this is going.  I hope someone else out there will join me on this journey to being the healthiest me I can be.  It sure would make it a lot easier and a lot more fun!!!ihb2dmevw5