Will you lose weight if you exercise? 4 weight loss myths to understand at once

"I eat the same as before, but I exercise now, so why am I not losing weight?" This is the question of many people who are trying to lose weight, and it is also the reason why people become more and more discouraged as they try to lose weight! In fact, there are many factors involved in weight loss, and it is not enough to simply exercise more or eat less. Understand these 4 weight loss myths at once to stop you from gaining weight!

The American health information website "Prevention" has compiled some of the weight loss questions that nutrition experts most often hear from clients. Take a look and see if you have the same misconceptions.

Myth 1: Exercise can burn calories! So the most important thing to lose weight is to exercise more!

Many people put "exercise" at the top of their weight loss list, believing that as long as they exercise, they can burn calories and lose weight naturally, thus ignoring other factors that affect weight.

Exercise is an important part of the weight loss process, but you also need to improve your diet and other lifestyle habits to lose weight.

Devon Golem, a professor specializing in diet and nutrition at New Mexico State University, said that research shows that if you want to lose weight in the short term, diet control is more effective than exercise; but in the long run, you need to take into account diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits to lose weight sustainably. Therefore, losing weight is not achieved through exercise alone! It will only be effective if you also improve your diet and lifestyle.

Myth 2/Okay! Diet and exercise are both important, so if you do these two things well, you will lose weight!

These two things are indeed important, but the impact of sleep, stress, and environment on weight loss cannot be ignored. Professor Columbus said that it is undeniable that lack of sleep can lead to weight gain, and the less you sleep, the more weight you gain.

Only with adequate sleep and normal metabolism can you lose weight successfully.

In addition, too much stress and not knowing how to relieve it is also a big enemy of weight loss. If you often rely on eating delicious food or drinking to escape stress, it will be even more difficult to lose weight. Moreover, long-term stress can affect the hormones in the body that control appetite and the way the body burns calories. Excessive stress is very detrimental to weight loss.

Never use delicious food to relieve stress, and don't keep junk food at home or in the office, otherwise a slim figure will become increasingly distant from you.

Another thing to note is the environmental factor. If there are often sugary drinks in your refrigerator, or if your desk drawers are filled with biscuits and milk tea bags, it would be too difficult for you to not touch them at all! Studies have shown that people who often have these snacks around them may be 20 pounds (about 9 kilograms) fatter than others! Tidy up your surroundings and keep some healthy snacks like nuts at hand, and you will gradually break the bad habit of eating junk food.

Myth 3: In order to lose weight successfully…you should completely avoid unhealthy desserts and snacks!

OK, you know that you can’t eat high-calorie, non-nutritious snacks, and try to eat nuts, fruits, and oatmeal as snacks, but... is it really true that you can no longer eat cakes, milk tea, potato chips, and chocolate? What’s the point of life like this? !

take it easy! It doesn't mean that you can only eat healthy food for the rest of your life. Professor Colum said that people who are losing weight can still leave some room for snacks that are high in oil, sugar, and sodium, and even drink alcohol. The key is that you have to eat healthy, nutritious food most of the time, and only indulge in junk food occasionally to satisfy your cravings.

As long as you eat healthy most of the time, you can give yourself a chance to indulge yourself a little once a week so that you don't make the weight loss process more and more difficult.

Human beings! A little flexibility is still needed. If the diet control is too strict, it is easy to suddenly become unbearable and explode one day. For example, on the weekend, you suddenly eat and drink to your heart's content without restraint, and your mind is full of horrible thoughts such as "Why am I so pitiful!", which makes all the previous efforts go to waste.

Professor Columbus reminds us that the key is to know how to exercise moderation. For example, you can allow yourself to indulge yourself a little on Friday and eat a small piece (yes, only one piece, and a small piece) of your favorite cake, but you only have this opportunity once a week. You still have to stick to a healthy diet on other days, which will be beneficial for weight loss in the long run.

Myth 4: I heard that healthy fats are also needed for weight loss, so it’s okay to eat more avocados and olive oil!

In the past, people who were trying to lose weight were terrified by the word "oil" because 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, which sounds super scary! Now we know that some fats are good, such as nuts, avocados, olive oil, etc., which are rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Moderate intake is good for health and even helps with weight loss.

Although avocados, nuts, and olive oil are healthy fats, they should still be consumed in moderation. Eating too much is still unhealthy and will make you fat.

However, even if it is a healthy fat, it does not mean that you can eat it without restraint. Otherwise, eating too much will still result in excessive calorie intake and you will still gain weight. For example, many people eat nuts such as cashews and pistachios while watching TV, one handful after another, which is very delicious and can easily exceed the calorie limit!

In addition, some people like to drizzle olive oil on their salads, thinking it is super healthy. But olive oil is still oil after all. If you consume too much, it will still have adverse effects on your body! In short, we must adhere to the principle of balance in our diet, and everything should be in moderation. This way we can take in more diverse and rich nutrition!