Whether you’re trying to lose weight for the first time or trying to do it again after you gained the weight back, odds are you’ve been misled somewhere down the line.

 

Whether that info was from some Instagram post by that beach body chick that has the body you want, Jessica from the office who lost a lot of weight, or even the trainer at the local gym who only knows how to prep for bodybuilding shows. You’ve gotten an impression, idea, or thought that if you’re not doing what they did you won’t lose weight – when that’s not even the slightest bit true!

 

I see it all the time on the internet and it drives me up the wall so, to save you time and headache, I’m going to go through the most common lies that most people fall for when it comes to losing weight.

 

1) Eating Healthy Is All You Need To Do

“I’ve been eating healthy for weeks now and still haven’t lost weight!”

 

Sound familiar? I hear this one often.

 

The truth is, eating healthy doesn’t actually determine whether you gain or lose weight. Eating healthy helps fill your body with different macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, zoonutrients, and more so that you can feel better, have more energy, and move optimally. 

 

Eating healthy is about having your body feel and work healthier by eating more nutritious foods – but it doesn’t mean doing so will help you lose weight!

 

The amount of calories you eat on a daily basis is actually the main determinant of whether you gain, lose, or maintain weight.

 

This was proven by Mark Haub who spent 10 weeks doing what is now infamously known as the Twinkie Diet. During these 10 weeks he would eat 1 twinkie every 3 hours but made sure that he maintained a calorie deficit every day. Which led to him losing 27 pounds in those 10 weeks!

 

It wasn’t the Twinkies that did it though, it was the fact that he managed his calorie intake every day while on this “diet”. This is why eating healthy isn’t enough – that 1,000 calorie salad you got from Chic-Fil-A might be healthy and delicious but it’s still 1,000 calories in one meal.

 

If you’re not managing your calorie intake you won’t lose weight and if you’re not eating healthy you won’t feel great once all the weight is off – so you’ll need a balance of both. (Find out how many calories you should be eating for weight loss).

 

2) Cut Out All Carbs

 

With Keto being all the rave nowadays, carbs have been demonized more than ever. Of course, you’ve heard of everybody cutting out carbs and seeing rapid weight loss but is it the carbs or something else?

 

Well, as we talked about in the last point, losing weight really comes down to creating a calorie deficit. You can create one by cutting out carbs (fewer carbs consumed = fewer calories consumed) but it doesn’t HAVE to be the carbs! 

 

If you’re like me and love your carbs, you can reduce your total calorie intake through the other macronutrients and still make room to have carbs!

 

3) You Gotta Do A Lot Of Cardio

 

The truth is, you don’t have to do any cardio at all to lose weight. Seriously.

 

In fact, when I work with a client we actually put a stronger focus on resistance training than on cardio for a number of reasons.

 

• After doing cardio you have a boost of metabolism for only 1-3 hours after finishing your session, but with resistance training your metabolism is raised for 24-36 hours after training.
• Your body adapts to cardio really easily, so doing the same cardio routine will actually burn fewer calories after 2-3 weeks of doing it. Whereas your body takes much longer to adapt to resistance training.
• Your joints take a pound while doing cardio and can lead to lots of overuse injury whereas resistance training can actually strengthen your joints if done properly.

 

The benefits of resistance training for weight loss are far superior to cardio. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do cardio at all, cardio has lots of benefits for your health and training but it should not be your top priority when going through a weight loss journey.

 

4) You Need To Have Lots Of Supplements

 

I used to fall for this one – the truth is, supplements should be used to fill the gaps of your nutrition plan, not to rely on to lose weight.

 

You can get all of the nutrients you need from food alone – and you should try to – but in practice it’s hard to get everything you need throughout the day. That’s where supplements come in!

 

I’ll generally recommend only a couple of supplements for my clients:

 

Whey Protein, Greens, Glutamine, Creatine

 

That’s it anything outside of that is superfluous and usually unnecessary*.

 

*There are special cases where some clients might need more supplementation but for the average person this is usually a good list.

 

5) You Need To Be On Track 100% Of The Time

 

Imagine you’re offered $5000 but there’s a catch.

 

You can only get $1000 a day if you go to the office at 4 pm Monday – Friday. 

 

If you miss a day, you don’t get your $1000 for that day, but you can still get the money if you show up the other days.

 

Now let’s say if you couldn’t make it on Monday and you miss out on your $1000 for that day – would you just not show up the rest of the week because of that?

 

Of course not! You can still get $4000 if you show up the rest of the week, why would you miss out on that?

 

The same goes for your training and diet.

 

Missing 1 workout doesn’t mean the week is lost, you can still make the most of it by showing up the rest of the week. Messing up 1 meal doesn’t mean you’re a failure, you can still get back on track and get the results you’re looking for.

 

It’s not about being 100% on point all the time, it’s about being consistent and getting back on track every time.

 

6) *This Exercise* Will Melt Fat Off *This Part Of Your Body*

 

You’ve probably seen it before.

 

“The 5 workouts to burn belly fat”

 

“Burn arm fat with this circuit”

 

This one is always the hardest news to break, but you can’t actually choose where you lose fat from. 

 

It’s unfortunate but it’s reality, your body will lose fat across your at varying rates that are different for everyone. Those “stubborn fat areas” are really just parts of your body that lose fat at a slower rate than the rest.

 

You can however choose where you can build or enhance body parts. Meaning, if you’d like to build muscle on your legs, arms, or back you can target and develop those muscles with certain exercises – but you can’t choose where to lose fat.

 

7) Your Diet Doesn’t Need To Have A Name

 

Keto.

 

Paleo.

 

Intermittent Fasting.

 

Whole 30.

 

Carnivore.

 

Vegan.

 

All different diets that people want to jump on in hopes that it leads to weight loss.

 

Here’s the thing though, you’re an individual. 

 

You have different preferences, goals, needs, diet history, or health issues that need addressing than the person next to you. 

 

So why would you try to squeeze yourself in with a diet that might not be designed for you? 

 

There is no one size fits all diet because you aren’t a one size fits all person – you’re different and you need a training and nutrition approach to match that!

 

One of the biggest reasons people fail at losing weight or find themselves gaining the weight back is because they were doing a diet that wasn’t right for them – but that’s in the past now.

 

If you need help understanding how to create and apply your own individualized weight loss journey to your life, click here to apply for a free strategy call with one of our coaches who will help map all of that out for you!