These 7 cruel truths about losing weight can change the way you think about weight loss after reading them

Losing weight can be very frustrating at times: losing weight is slower than you think, it doesn't work at all, you feel like something's wrong with your metabolism, you're doing aerobics but it's useless, or things big and small in your life are delaying your weight loss .

But in fact, sometimes, you just don't understand the principle of losing weight. The Internet is full of news about weight loss, and the amount of information is even overloaded, and it is inevitable that there will be a lot of false and unscientific information.

So in today's article, I'm going to reveal some truths about weight loss. If you can understand and accept these truths, I am sure you will have a much smoother journey to weight loss.

Fact 1: Too much healthy food can also lead to weight gain

When you create a calorie deficit, you lose weight. However, not all diets will require you to count calories. Some diets will tell you that you just need to eat certain foods, specifically unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods, avoid processed foods, and you will lose weight.

It's certainly a good thing to let you eat unprocessed foods because they make you healthier, and processed foods tend to be high in calories and can be easily overeaten. But we can always see people complaining on the Internet: "I already eat healthy, but why can't I lose weight?"

The reason is simple, because you are eating too much healthy food! !

"Healthy food" is not without calories. Eating too much will also store it as fat. Some people usually think that since this food is very healthy, then I will eat more and I will definitely not gain weight. Nuts, for example, are generally considered to be healthier, but they are not low in calories, and just a little bit can be very high in calories.

Although these healthy foods provide more nutrition overall, if you want to lose weight, you still need to pay attention to controlling your total calorie intake throughout the day.

Fact 2: Your metabolism is not low

Yes, your metabolism will slowly decrease with weight loss. This is academically called metabolic adaptation or adaptive thermogenesis. This is a normal reaction that everyone will have during the weight loss process.

But is this drop in metabolism preventing you from losing weight? No.

In one study, subjects claimed that they ate only 1,200 calories a day and still couldn't lose weight. They had not lost weight for at least half a year. They believe that their ineffectiveness is due to slow metabolism, genetic problems or hormonal problems.

First of all, before sharing the research results with you, there is one thing you need to know: the metabolism of obese people is not low, on the contrary, it is relatively high, because the overall weight is significant.

People who are heavier burn more calories because resting metabolic rate is directly related to body weight. But even so, many overweight people think they have a slower metabolism.

Now let's go back to that study just now. The researchers measured the subjects' resting metabolic rate, the thermic effect of food, and the calories burned by exercise. The results surprised the subjects, but confirmed the researchers' suspicions: None of the measurements were significantly different between the test groups. All the subjects who claimed to have low metabolism, their metabolism was not as low as they thought.

So why can't they lose weight? Just look at the next one and you'll know.

Fact 3: You're eating more calories than you think

Almost everyone ate more than they thought. Why is this so? Because almost everyone is bad at estimating calories in food. It's hard to see the portion of a food with the naked eye and then accurately guess its calorie count, and it's even harder when eating out.

In the study mentioned above, the reason the subjects really didn't lose weight was that they underestimated their calorie intake by 47%.

"Those who thought they were eating very little but couldn't lose weight were actually eating more than they actually reported, not because of low metabolism or calorie burning problems," the researchers noted.

Of course, there are some medical conditions that can explain short-term metabolic resistance. For example, undiagnosed or untreated thyroid disease can make weight loss very difficult. Certain medications can stimulate appetite or reduce calorie expenditure, and there are medical conditions that can prevent you from losing weight.

Then in this study, people with these problems were excluded. They can't lose weight, not because of a slow metabolism, not because of thyroid problems or drugs and medical reasons, but because they eat too much.

And it's not because they lied, it's just that they didn't realize they ate so much.

Fact 4: You think you're burning more calories than you think

As with underestimating caloric intake, overestimating caloric expenditure is a problem. In the study mentioned above, in addition to underestimating caloric intake by 47%, subjects overestimated calorie consumption by 51%! Think about it, what will the combination of the two be like? Does it make you unable to lose weight?

In another study, researchers asked a group of subjects to run at moderate or high intensity. After exercising, they were asked to estimate the calories burned and eat accordingly. One of the biggest strengths of the study is that the subjects were very diverse, ranging from people of average weight, people who were overweight, people who were trying to lose weight, and people who weren't trying to lose weight.

It was found that all subjects were not good at estimating calorie expenditure, with one group overestimating by 72%! Across all subjects, the calorie burn estimates ranged from 280 to 702 kcal.

Fact 5: You may be eating some or all of the calories you burn

"Exercise is ineffective for weight loss", "Aerobic is a waste of time", "Aerobic exercise will make you fat", "Aerobic is not suitable for some people", "You will quickly adapt to aerobic and eventually it will not work".

What do these views have in common? Besides being wrong, they all ignore the real reason why cardio is useless.

Why is it that some people can lose weight while running, while others can't? That's because some people unconsciously increase their caloric intake after starting aerobic exercise. When they exercise more, they also eat more, which offsets the calories burned by exercise. The researchers call these people "compensators."

Some experts believe that aerobic exercise improves their appetite. This is true for some types of aerobics and for some people, but exercise doesn't always increase appetite, instead it sometimes suppresses it. And even if your appetite improves after aerobics, if you eat more, it's not that the exercise is useless, it's that you're making a dietary mistake.

In psychology, there is a phenomenon called moral license. What it means is that people tend to do something good for themselves and then see it as an excuse to allow bad things. Exercise first and then reward yourself with food is a very typical example.

Fact 6: One weekend of overeating may wipe out a whole week of eating and training

Many people don't know that exercise can't actually balance out a bad diet. Let's look at a study.

A study from the University of Washington School of Medicine sought to see if a poor weekend diet could make weight loss fail. This was a randomized controlled study (RCT) with a large sample size and a duration of one year. The study measured subjects' adherence to diet and exercise on weekdays and weekends, as well as their weight.

The study found that all test groups (calorie control and exercise) successfully adhered to their caloric deficit during the workday. On the weekends, however, the calorie-controlled subjects stopped losing weight, and the exercised subjects gained weight.

This is mainly because people have very different eating patterns and habits on weekdays and weekends. Think about whether you bring your own meals or eat work meals on weekdays, but go to have a good meal with friends on weekends, or visit the shop with your sisters to check in at the online celebrity milk tea shop?

Some people have even been off track since Friday night. So if you're losing weight, make sure your diet is consistent.

summary

The above are some truths about losing weight. Maybe you have not realized these problems all the time. Hopefully, the truths in this article will help you wake up a little and focus on what really helps you.