Myths And Misconceptions About Your Weight, Part 1

The obesity epidemic in the United States and other parts of the world have a lot of us scrambling to find information about how we can make sure to keep a healthy weight. Every week there seems to be a story about a new “superfood” or warning about how awful X type of food is for us.. We hear all sorts of things about our weight, but how much of what we hear is true? How much is false, or a lot more complicated than we think? In this post, I will attempt to separate the facts from the truth when it comes to the effects our behavior has on our weight.

People who are overweight are unhealthy. While there are a lot of medical conditions that are caused or exacerbated by weight gain, having extra pounds doesn't necessarily mean a person is unhealthy. A person's body composition is often overlooked in discussions about obesity, but it actually makes a huge difference in the effect of extra weight. Muscle weighs the same or more than fat, but it takes up less space on the body. This is why you might hear about professional athletes or body builders falling into the “obese” category on the Body Mass Index (a scale often used to determine a person's healthy weight) while “couch potatoes” don't. Basketball player LeBron James, for instance, has a BMI of 27, which would technically put him in the 'obese' category. However, the man is 6'8” tall and solid as a rock! In contrast, the sedentary person mentioned above would be at an increased risk for diabetes and cholesterol problems, particularly if the fat is around the midsection. The BMI scale can be helpful for doctors, but a person's activity and eating habits are a lot more important than the number on the scale.

If you eat less, you'll lose weight. While calorie and portion control are very important, eating less will not necessarily make you lose weight. It's not quite that simple. If the body doesn't get enough calories over a long period of time, it goes into “famine mode”; meaning, it holds onto what little food it does get and won't let go. This is why burning off more than you eat and exactly what you eat is a lot more important than calories in the long run.

Eating at night causes you to gain weight more than eating during the day. While it's true that calories consumed during the day are more likely to be burned off right away than calories consumed at night, eating at night isn't necessarily going to make you gain weight. Calories are calories.

Going vegetarian or vegan will make you lose weight. Not necessarily. Vegans and vegetarians do often consume fewer calories than their meat-eating counterparts because of the fats often found in meat. However, a lot depends on whether or not you eat processed foods such as “vegan” cookies or potato chips because these may still have some of the fats present in the “regular” versions. Also, it's important that a person balance their diet because it's very easy for someone to go without protein and other essential nutrients if they aren't careful about exactly what they're taking in. Protein is very important to the metabolism, which is what controls the rate at which calories are burned. A low metabolism can cause weight gain.