4 Ugly Weight Loss Truths I Desperately Want People to Know
I am tired of all the misinformation and pseudoscience
I can never talk enough about weight loss — thanks to how rampant misinformation is.
Infact, it's not so much the lack of discipline that prevents most people from losing weight but the lack of the right information. I personally fell prey to pseudoscience and almost killed myself in the process.
Misinformation sells because it’s sugar-coated and promises shortcuts. Facts on the other hand are brutal and ugly. I want to share 4 such truths with you. Now, why should you trust me? I could be spouting misinformation myself right?
Don’t trust me, trust the science. For every claim I make, I’ll back it up with the relevant research. Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into it.
Fat Burners And Weight Loss Pills Are Absolutely Worthless
There, I said it. They’re trash. Expensive trash.
What fat burners or weight loss pills do is slightly increase your metabolism for a short time — so less that it’s insignificant. Moreover, lethal chemicals like DNP are marketed as fat burners — many deaths have also been reported.
If you still want that slight metabolism boost, you can use Caffeine instead — a proven substance that’s much cheaper than fat burners whose major component is again caffeine.
At the end of the day, weight loss is the result of being in a calorie deficit and tiny metabolism boosts that burn a hundred or so calories won’t contribute much.
So, first set up a caloric deficit diet and only then worry about supplementing metabolism “boosters”.
Crunches Won’t Burn Your Belly Fat
If I had a dollar for every person I’ve seen doing crunches in the hopes of losing belly fat, I’d be a millionaire. There’s ample research to support the fact that spot-reduction is largely a myth.
Resistance exercise of any kind, not only ab-targeting crunches do only one major thing — building muscle and strength.
So, the only thing crunching and planking are going to do is — building your core muscles. The fat on top is going to stay the same.
As I said earlier, a calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight, and sure, resistance exercises burn some calories — but not a significant amount.
To efficiently be in a caloric deficit, you need to fix your diet.
As the famous adage goes, “You cannot out-exercise a bad diet.” It takes an hour of intense running to burn 500 calories while you can consume the same through a medium-sized burger.
So again, don’t stop doing crunches or planks — strengthening your core is great. Just don’t hope they’ll magically melt the fat off.
Excessive Cardio Is Counter-Productive
Cardio or aerobic exercise gets your heart pumping and as a result, burns quite a few calories. And if used correctly, can be a great tool in your weight-loss repertoire.
The problem is when you overdo it. I see so many overweight people aggressively jogging or cycling and never touching the weights.
But unlike most think, just losing weight won’t have you looking like Bruce Lee. You need to build muscle as well — or you’ll end up skinny with a lot of loose skin.
This is exactly what went wrong in my first weight loss journey — arduous cycling coupled with a high caloric deficit made me lose a lot of strength and muscle along with the fat — I ended up looking anorexic as opposed to ripped.
Even research shows that overdoing cardio can lead to metabolic damage mainly by the depletion of T3 — which can even make you gain weight.
So, do cardio but prioritize resistance training — not only does it build muscle but it also elevates your metabolism and increases fat oxidation (burning).
There Are No Magical Weight Loss Foods
With the rise of the superfood fad, most people believe that there are “magical” weight loss foods or recipes — the classic morning “detox” honey ginger water or green tea for example.
But there’s no such magic — neither is rice “fattening” nor are salads “weight-lossy”. To rehash what I’ve already said twice, it all burns down to a caloric deficit. So the quantity matters as much as the food item
You can lose weight sparingly eating Pizza and gain weight eating tons of salad.
The famous twinkie diet experiment where Mark Haub, a professor of nutrition ate only junk such as Twinkies, Doritos, and Oreos and lost weight illustrates this point.
No food is inherently bad. Sure, some are healthier than others and you should ideally center your diet around clean whole foods — but the occasional burger or ice cream needn’t hurt.
Finally, to rehash it for the nth time — the calorie deficit is king when trying to lose weight. Without being in an energy deficit, you just cannot lose weight — it’s physiologically impossible.
So, the calorie deficit first. Everything else later.
