3 Weight Loss Myths That Can Put You In Danger

If you read health magazines regularly, you are sure to come across a lot of tips regarding to weight loss. Some of these tips actually work, and others don't. The ones that generally don't work are those that suggest fad diets, weight loss supplements and pills. The tips that actually work for everybody are always simple: that of diet and exercise.

However, the weight loss industry is ridden with myths and misleading information, and people often tend to twist the truths, either because of their own advantage or out of plain ignorance. In this article I will discuss three such weight loss myths.

1. Spot reduction of fat anywhere on the body is possible: Not at all true, and I am sure that any weight loss expert will unanimously agree to this. You cannot force your body to spot reduce your fat under any circumstances, no matter what type of workouts you do, whether it's your abs or thighs. You're body actually starts burning off fat that it last stored on your body and works it's way back.

If you do only crunches and leg lifts frequently in the hope of reducing belly fat, you will notice that instead of reducing your belly fat, you will only gain muscle mass that resides beneath the abdomen. For this reason, your focus should not be on crunches and leg lifts alone; you should also follow a healthy diet that would speed up your metabolic rate and help you burn fat from these areas fast!

2. A drastic cut down on calorie intake reduces your body fat: This myth has pushed many a person on the brink of crash dieting. People take to crash dieting in the hope of shedding those extra pounds, least realizing that crash dieting harm their bodies instead of helping them. As a matter of fact, when you starve or fast, your body realizes that you are going to kill it and then it goes into the starvation mode.

While in starvation mode, your body slows down your metabolic rate and actually burns your muscles (instead of fat, which is kept in reserve) for producing energy. This way, you don't lose much fat at all; if anything, you lose your valuable muscles that burn many calories themselves. And once you return to your normal diet, you will gain extra weight!

3. Cardio exercises alone will help you lose weight: While it is true that cardio exercises can help you lose fat, it is not true that this is the only type of weight loss exercises available; don't forget the aerobics. As a matter of fact, the amount of fat you will lose doing either cardio or aerobics is almost same. On the other hand, weight lifting is better than both cardio and aerobics, in that it not only helps you burn fat during the workout, but even after that!

I sincerely hope that this article has successfully brought the real weight loss truths before you!