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#7 Certain foods lead to gaining less weight
This doesn’t come as a surprise – certain foods do provide necessary nutrients that keep the optimum health while helping with losing a few pounds. However, we are never certain which food really provides weight loss benefits and why.
A new research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown which food we should include in our diet if we want to lose weight. Researchers looked at the diets of 16,000 Americans over a period of 16 years. According to the study, diets that contain more starch and carbohydrates lead to people gaining more weight, which is not a surprise, however, diets high in “yogurt, peanut butter, low-fat cheese, walnuts and other nuts and seafood” lead to gaining less weight.
The interesting is that low-fat or non-fat dairy products had a negative effect on weight loss because when people consume such products they overcompensate by eating more of other foods, mostly carbohydrates and this, in turn, results in weight gain.
#8 Weight loss path is not a simple, straight line
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We believe that if we do everything right and according to a diet program, we will see positive results quickly. While this may be true for some people, for others, weight loss is a journey that one needs to start several times before he or she reaches the goal. In a way, we can explain this journey as a psychological process. However, we need to consider other things that affect our weight loss program, such as hormones for instance. The weight will fluctuate within the same month for other reasons as well. For instance, during their cycle, women retain water. In many ways, our body will protect us against weight loss more than against weight gain.
Serotonin levels are also lower before menstruation, leading to overeating and food cravings. Unfortunately, such processes in the body will easily lead to impression that we are not making any progress, thus it’s very important to understand that weight loss in not only a set of rules you need to follow.
#9 Working out without dieting will not help you lose weight
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If you want to burn more calories than you eat, you can either eat less or/and exercise more, at least theoretically.
While some people have problems eating less, others prefer working out more, but the question is: can you lose weight without changing your diet? A new research has shown that extra exercise didn’t help everyone lose more weight, regardless of how many calories they burned.
Moreover, nearly 70 percent of the participants gained weight during the study, while most of that weight was from body fat. There are a couple of theories: the participants moved less when they got off the treadmill or they consumed more food to compensate for the extra activity, after all, exercise can seriously increase some people’s appetite. If one wants to improve health, it’s best to eat healthy foods and exercise. If one doesn’t see any changes, it’s time to reassess the behavior outside the gym.