Model: Sagnika Mukherjee, Pic by Venkat Kuttua
Around half of the US population over the age of 20 are
overweight or obese. Obesity is a severe condition which comes with multiple
diseases and early death. Weight loss is a big priority, but most people fail
to lose weight despite trying their best. Many times, the failure to lose
weight is not about a lack of will power, but a lack of right information.
Obesity research has progressed by leaps and bounds, but still, many myths
related to weight loss persist, not only among laypersons but also among health
professionals. Unfortunately, outdated ideas are yet purported by some experts and
published in media, which not only hinders weight loss but may lead to weight
gain. In this article, I will explain and address twenty common misinformation
related to weight loss.
1.
Does eating fat makes you fat?
This is the most common and harmful myth.
The body stores fat when insulin levels are high. Carbohydrates cause maximum
insulin release, followed by protein. Dietary fat and fiber lower the insulin
response after a meal. Make sure to have some saturated fat with every meal.
Having saturated fat like coconut, avocado, butter, egg yolks, fish, and meat
will bring quicker satiety and stabilize the blood sugar levels. Wild Animals
living in nature, and hunter-gatherer human societies never became obese. The
main culprit is processed carbohydrates and sugar in the civilized diet, which
causes obesity.
2.
Can you lose belly fat by doing belly exercise?
For the last many decades, various forms of
belly exercise and abdominal exercise machines have been marketed to lose fat.
But unfortunately, exercising only a specific part of the body to lose fat from
that part, also called spot reduction is not possible. When you are doing
abdominal exercises like crunches, sit-ups, leg raise, planks- you are
activating the core muscles. But the abdominal muscles and abdominal fat are
not connected. Hormones mediate fat loss, and all parts of the body like arms,
legs, face, back, thighs, buttocks will also trim down as the body lose belly
fat. Core exercises are, however, functional, as they will tone and provide
shape to your abdomen.
3.
Do afternoon naps cause weight gain?
Contrary to popular belief, afternoon naps do
not make you lazy, nor does it make you obese. Naps and sleep, in general, help
to lose weight. Sleep deprivation can cause obesity by making hormonal changes
in the body- making you overeat, and lowering your metabolism. Naps can
mitigate some of the harms of poor sleep at night. However, whenever you take a
nap, make sure to get exercise in the evening following the rest. Otherwise,
your metabolism will remain slow, and you may have a sleep trouble during the
night.
4.
Do frequent snacks make you lose weight?
Many food companies tout the habit of
eating throughout the day to keep your metabolism high and blood sugar stable.
Nothing can be further from the truth. Frequent snacking between meals keeps
your blood sugar high throughout the day. When blood glucose is high, blood insulin
also remains high as glucose triggers insulin release from the pancreas.
Elevated insulin levels cause fat deposition in the body, and over time leads
to diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension.
5.
Is regular breakfast important for weight loss?
Breakfast can be good or bad for weight
loss, depending on the other meals of the day. The body cannot have food
throughout the day. There needs to be a minimum of 12-16 hours of fasting
period when the body has no food. During this period of fasting, the insulin
levels become low, and the body can burn the stored fat into ketones to produce
energy. If you have early breakfast, then you also need to have an early
dinner. Also, one has to listen to their body, some people do not feel hungry
in the morning, and their digestive system is not read for food. They will do
better skipping breakfast and having an early lunch.
6.
Is fasting good for weight loss?
Fasting is the best way to lose weight.
Body stores fat to use it in the future during the time of famine and food
shortage. When we fast voluntarily, we tap into the most ancient and most
effective fat burning pathway. During fast, as blood sugar levels drop, and
insulin level lowers. The low glucose triggers the release of fat-burning
hormones like glucagon, thyroxine, adrenaline, cortisol, and growth hormone. There
are many safe ways to fast, but the most doable one is to eat one time a day
till you have reached your weight loss goals.
7.
Can I lose fat by doing exercise only?
Exercise increases the metabolism level and
helps the body burn more calories. Exercise only can cause some weight loss in
the beginning, but without dieting, it will not be sustained. But exercise also
increases hunger, and unless you control your diet, exercise will also induce
overeating to compensate for the calories burnt during exercise.
8.
Will lifting heavy weights cause weight loss?
Many women are afraid of weightlifting
exercises as they are afraid of getting bulk by weights. Weightlifting
exercises are an excellent way to lose weight if combined with dieting.
Resistance training over time increases muscle mass in the body. When the body
has more muscle, it burns more calories even during rest. Also, weightlifting
releases growth hormone, which counters the effect of insulin and stimulates
fat loss.
9.
Can mental stress cause weight gain?
Mental stress and other challenges like
depression, worry, fear, trauma, anger, resentment, guilt- all can produce
hormonal changes in the body. The body, when exposed to chronic stress, can
have an elevated level of stress hormones. Cortisol, in the long run, will
cause an increase in the carbohydrate cravings, insulin release, and weight
gain. Have you wondered, whenever we feel stressed, the body craves comfort
foods in the forms of sweets, cookies, candies, chocolate, and pies? It is
vital to reduce stress through problem-solving, acceptance, mindfulness, yoga,
and rest- which will lower the cortisol levels and maintain a stable weight.
10. Is
getting old a part of getting fat?
No. In a natural world, getting old does
not make you fat. Wild animals, as they get old, do not become overweight.
Also, in many hunter-gatherer tribes, humans get thin as they are old. In our civilized world, people are more obese
as they are required to move less, and do less physical work as they age. Besides,
as we age, the metabolism slows down, so we need to stay more physically active
and eat less to keep the same younger weight.
11. Can
sauna help with weight loss?
The weight in your body is due to the
water, fat, muscles, bones, and organs. Sauna helps to lose the water weight
but does not impact the fat stores in the body. A sauna will help to lose some weight,
but trying to lose too much weight through prolonged sauna can cause
dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. A sauna can also help in detoxification
as the body can excrete water through the skin through sweat. The Red and
infra-red sauna, albeit expensive, can also help some weight loss by boosting
cellular metabolism.
12. Can
meditation and mindfulness cause weight Loss?
Meditation is good for the brain and
improves mood, focus, and energy, as well as alleviates worries, stress, and
depression. But meditation, by itself, cannot cause weight loss. However, there
is one exception. If the weight gain is due to stress, then mindfulness
exercises can help weight loss by stress reduction.
13. Can yoga cause weight loss?
Yoga makes the body supple and toned. Yoga
also helps with muscle and joint pain and the best natural remedy for back
pain. But yoga alone done in a conventional way will not cause weight loss.
Modern Yoga is a combination of eastern and western thoughts, where the yoga
movements are combined with other exercises, which results in a higher
intensity workout. One example is Power Yoga, where yoga asanas are done using
small dumbbell weights. Another one is Cardio-Yoga- where the yoga movements
are done at a fast pace like aerobics.
Another trendy one is Bikram Hot yoga, where yoga is done in the
sweltering heat, and participants sweat profusely. These combined yoga movements
burn more calories and assist in weight loss.
14. What’s
the best exercise for weight loss?
All exercises will help in weight loss as
long as they involve most of the body like cycling, running, swimming, and
dancing. Weight training involving large muscle groups like squats, deadlifts,
bench press will help weight loss by increasing muscle mass. However, the best
way to work out is to combine all different exercises, thus challenging the
body differently. If you do the same workout regularly, then the body gets used
to it, and after some time the results plateau. There is one exception. That
will be swimming in cold water on an empty stomach- it will cause three times
more fat burn as the body will have to burn fat for energy to swim, and also
burn fat for warmth.
15. Will
a pure vegetarian or a vegan diet cause more weight loss?
It depends. Many Hollywood celebrities
flaunt their weight loss to a vegan diet. But they have their chef who cooks
custom meals low in sugar, salt, and high in fruits and vegetables. But many
Indian vegetarians, I have seen, consume too much sugar, salt, and fill their
plate with processed carbohydrates like rice, wheat, and overcooked potatoes.
These cause a rapid rise in blood sugar levels and insulin spike, causing fat
deposition. A well-balanced vegan or vegetarian diet high in vegetables,
fruits, nuts, beans, lentils, and low in carbs can maintain a healthy weight.
16. What’s the best food for weight loss?
There is nothing called the best food or
the best diet. All cultures have their food habits, and people everywhere have
been able to stay fit, live longer, and produce healthy children. But things
changed over the last hundred years as cheap processed industrial food replaced
traditional home-cooked meals prepared from scratch. The best diet for overall
health is local organic minimally processed freshly cooked with the right
balance of healthy fat, protein, carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables.
17. What
is the best weight-loss diet?
Some diets have been researched and shown
to assist in weight loss, and have become popular. Chief among them are the
Mediterranean diet, Nordic diet, Ornish diet, South Beach diet, Ketogenic diet,
and Atkins diet. All diets work in the beginning but fail as the majority quit.
It is more important to understand the underlying principle behind these diets
than following a single one blindly. All
healthy weight loss diets have one thing in common-they keep insulin levels
low. Insulin is a hormone that causes fat deposition. Fat and fiber blunt the
insulin response. Make sure to have salad and vegetables with each meal along
with saturated fat. Carbohydrates should be consumed in moderation. It's
essential to have one-third of your food as raw as cooking reduces the fiber
and digestive enzymes, and leads to overeating.
18. What
is the best way to lose post-pregnancy weight?
The
body stores fat during pregnancy for a purpose. The excess fat is to feed the
growing fetus in the womb through the placenta and feed the baby after delivery
through breast milk. Many mothers do not realize that breastfeeding is the most
effective way to lose pregnancy fat. Mother's milk is high in fat, and half of
which is saturated fat. Women who cannot
breastfeed (for whatever reason) struggle to lose the stubborn pregnancy fat.
However, weight loss is possible but will require more time and effort.
19. Is childhood and adult obesity the same?
Childhood obesity is more dangerous than
adult obesity. When adults gain weight, their fat cells grow in size, which is
called hypertrophic obesity. However, when children become obese, not only
their fat cells increase in size (hypertrophy), but fat cells also grow in a
number called hypercellular obesity. People who gain weight as a child and
suffer from childhood obesity are more at risk of struggling with weight
throughout their life. It is easy to reduce the size of fat cells, but nearly
impossible to reduce the number of fat cells. Caregivers should take extreme
caution to guard their children against the perils of fast food and obesity.
20. Is
there a magic pill for weight loss?
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill nor
any easy way to lose and maintain weight. There are weight loss medications in
the market which work in the short term but have long term side effects and
should only be taken under a physician's supervision. Other options are
liposuction and tummy tucking, which are relatively safe. In most extreme
cases, when obesity becomes life-threatening, bariatric surgery is an option
where a portion of the stomach is removed. Irrespective of whether you lose
weight through medications or surgery, the body will try to gain back the lost
weight. Following a healthy lifestyle through dieting, exercise, stress
reduction, and good sleep is the only way to maintain a healthy weight in the
long run.
