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5 Diet and Fitness Myths That Pack on Pounds

Prevention — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:06:50 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Don't let one of these rumors prevent you from reaching your weight loss goals.
By Diana Kelly, Prevention

Sorry, Journey, but it's finally time to stop believing . . . In weight loss myths at least. Believing popular misconceptions can keep you from taking the right course of action to reach your goals, says Julia Valentour, MS, program coordinator and media spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise. Blaming a plateau (or a gain) on any of these half-truths will keep you stuck in your rut and derail your motivation. Here, five of the most pervasive diet-related rumors and the real scoop on how to hit your goal weight for good.

1. "I exercise every day, so I can eat whatever I want."

The sad truth: Even if you work out religiously, going to yoga several times a week and sweating it out in Spinning, it's not a license to eat as much as you want and still expect to lose weight. This may seem obvious, but the desire to reward a workout well done is natural; after all, you endured those endless vinyasas - you deserve an extra slice of pizza (or three), right? Not if you're trying to lose weight.

"You can outeat your workout," says Valentour. Even though you burn calories and fat when you exercise, it's often not as much as you think - or what the readout on the treadmill tells you. Use Prevention's Daily Calorie Calculator tool to see how many calories you should eat each day.

Valentour recommends eating 250 fewer calories per day and aiming to burn an extra 250 calories a day; that creates enough of a calorie deficit to achieve an average weight loss of a pound a week.

6 Lamest excuses for not losing weight

2. "It's harder for women to lose weight than for men."

OK, this one has some basis. Biologically, men are built with more lean muscle mass (the compact, tight muscles that keep metabolism humming) than women are - meaning his metabolism is working at a 5 to 10 percent higher rate (even if he's the same height and weight as you) when you're lying on the couch together. Annoying, isn't it?

Another biological challenge women face is that we generally have more body fat than men do, and our bodies are more inclined to store it. On top of that, women lose about 1/2 pound of calorie-burning muscle mass a year during peri-menopause and sometimes a pound a year during menopause. With the deck stacked against you, why bother trying to fit back in your skinny jeans?

You can do something about these problems, but it's going to take some work - and sweat. Add strength training to your fitness routine at least twice a week to shed fat and build lean muscle mass that will fire up your resting metabolism.

Get more tips on how to lose weight like a guy

Prevention clears up three more myths after the break.

Can You Debunk Diet Myths?

FitSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Losing weight is hard, but finding misinformation about dieting is frighteningly easy. Although I spend a lot of time debunking diet myths on FitSugar, I also never cease to get questions from readers wondering about the latest facts and fads. Can your separate truth from fiction? Take my true or false quiz to find out.

Source

Take the Quiz

7 Diet Myths Debunked

Shape — Thu, 05 May 2011 04:45:49 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. Wondering if all those weight-loss tips are true? Here are seven common diet myths debunked!

Some "diet facts" are repeated so often that women can be pretty convinced that they know everything there is to know about fat, carbs and hunger. But when you peel back the platitudes and look at the research, the truth about eating healthy food-and what fills you up and what trims you down can surprise you. Find out the real truth about these common diet myths.

Do Popular Weight-Loss Diets Work?

Shape — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:15:48 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests that fad diets don't function as permanent weight-loss solutions. So why do we continue to flock toward them when we know they're not very effective? After rounding up the top 10 searched diet plans on Yahoo! and noticing that almost every single one was a fad diet (such as the Atkins Diet, or HCG Diet), we wanted to know more about why we're drawn to these popular diet plans. So we went to Holly Herrington, a Registered Dietitian at the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at the Northwestern University Medical Faculty Foundation to get her take on these plans and whether they really work for weight loss.

Find out what - if any - fad diets work after the break.

How to Get Your Metabolism Moving

Health — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:03:06 PST

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health.com here on our site.

Does your metabolism grind to a halt after 35? Can certain foods rev it up? Answers ahead — and they're good.
By Paige Greenfield

Here's something to feel good about: your body is a calorie-burning machine. You'll even torch a few while reading this article. The point is, every single thing you do — from breathing to eating to sleeping — uses energy. The number of calories it would take just to lie in bed all day is called your resting metabolic rate. And just like your curly hair or warm personality, yours is unique.

"There are so many factors that determine your metabolic rate," says Janet Rankin, PhD, professor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise at Virginia Tech. Among them: your height and weight (bigger people burn more calories), your gender (women have slower metabolisms than men), your age (your metabolic rate declines as you get older), how much muscle or fat you have (muscle burns more calories than fat does), and your DNA.

Health.com: Little Ways to Lose Big Pounds

Although you can't rewire your double helix or switch back the clock, there's still plenty you can do to be a fast burner, Rankin says. All you need to do is remember these four research-backed truths.

Cardio Revs Your Metabolism For Hours Afterward
Resistance training often hogs the metab-boosting spotlight. It's no wonder, since a pound of muscle at rest fries three times as many calories as a pound of fat. However, cardio is every bit as crucial for keeping your metabolism humming.

New research explains why: In a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, people pedaled a stationary bike as hard as they could for 47 minutes.
The finding: They slashed 190 calories above their resting metabolic rate for 14 hours after their workout. Add that to the 519 calories, on average, the cyclists scorched from the workout itself, and that's one heck of a sweat session.

"If you do just two to three vigorous bouts of exercise per week for 45 minutes, you could lose a pound of fat every two weeks from the combination of calories expended during exercise plus what you burn afterward," says study author David Nieman, PhD, a professor of exercise science at Appalachian State University.

So how can you tell if you're pushing hard enough? Any sweat-inducing activity you can sustain for 45 minutes will do the trick.

More useful tips after the break.

Can Diet Soda Make You Fat?

Shape — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:34:20 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to nutritional consultant Mike Roussell, PhD, for some help!

Q: I'm a Diet Coke junkie. Despite having 0 calories, could this habit be sabotaging my weight-loss efforts?

A: In a word: no. While drinking diet soda every day isn't exactly good for your health, the chances of it sabotaging your weight-loss efforts are slim. The common misconception regarding the role of diet soda and weight gain comes from a couple of studies that received a lot of media attention. One such study looked at more 6,500 participants and found that diet soda drinkers were 67 percent more likely to have diabetes and 37 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome (a combo of symptoms that is basically where pre-diabetes meets heart disease). What's more, data from the Framingham Heart Study, the longest running heart disease study in the US, found a 56-percent increase in metabolic syndrome when people drank one or more diet sodas per day!

Find out how diet soda affects weight gain after the break!

Nutrition Myths That Can Cause Weight Gain

Shape — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:04:23 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

Myth: Going Vegan Will Make You Lose Weight
"While various research shows that vegetarians and vegans, on average, consume fewer calories and less fat than omnivores (a 2009 Oxford study found that vegetarians weigh 3 to 20 percent less than their meat-eating counterparts, and a National Cancer Institute study found that subjects who consumed four ounces or more of red meat weekly were 30 percent more likely to die of any cause than those who ate less), these numbers may be misleading," says Rania Batayneh, MPH, a certified nutritionist and owner of Essential Nutrition for You.

Going vegan solely for weight loss can backfire, big time. If you aren’t vigilant with a vegan diet, it’s easy to lack in vital nutrients, vitamins, and proteins, which give you energy and help keep your metabolism stoked. Many first-time vegans may also find themselves reaching for more processed foods like vegan cookies, chips, or even ‘ice cream’ more often with such a restricted diet, and many end up packing on the pounds instead.

If you do decide to adopt a vegan diet, be sure to keep the ‘treats’ to a minimum and plan balanced meals (we love ‘Domestic Vegan’ Diva Jessica Olson’s tips for "going veg"). "Aim to get about 10 to 20 percent of your calories from protein (or about 1 gram per kilogram of body weight), replacing animal protein with healthy plant proteins, like those found in beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy products," Batayneh says. "And, whether you are vegan or not, eating more green, leafy vegetables is great for your health and your waistline."

See which other diet habits may also being causing weight gain after the break!

Can You Drink Alcohol and Still Lose Weight?

Shape — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:17:35 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to nutritional consultant Mike Roussell, PhD, for some help!

Q: Can you drink alcohol and still lose weight? What if you work out on a regular basis?

A: Yes, you can drink alcohol and lose weight - as long as you're smart about it. When looking at the weight-loss impact of having a drink, there are two things you need to consider: calories and alcohol content.

1. Calories: For most people the calories in the mixers of their favorite cocktails pose a far greater barrier to weight loss than the actual alcohol. Just four ounces of some daiquiri or margarita mixes can contain upwards of 35 grams of sugar (that’s seven teaspoons of sugar)! Plus, they're more than double the amount of calories in the shot of rum or tequila included in the drink (that is, if you're only served ½ cup of mixer). What's worse, the calories from mixers are the worst kinds of calories, simple and refined sugars. When they're combined with the metabolic effects of alcohol, it gets even worse.

2. Alcohol content: One myth about alcohol is that it will make you fat. But the truth is, it's the combination of alcohol and sugars found in mixers (or the bar food often consumed with alcohol) that causes problems. Alcohol does contain calories, but it's safe to assume that no one gains a lot of weight by throwing back shots of straight vodka. Instead, it is the metabolic priority that your body places on alcohol (over carbohydrates and fats) that causes the problem. Your body wants to process alcohol before anything else, which has been shown to create a metabolic environment that is almost the opposite of the environment your body creates following exercise - one of high circulating levels of fat and inhibited fat burning.

While this may sound all doom and gloom, there are upsides to drinking alcohol. Moderate alcohol consumption (one drink per day for women) increases your HDL (‘good’) cholesterol, and studies show that people who have a couple drinks each week live longer. How can you get the best of both worlds?

Learn the benefits of drinking alcohol after the break!

Healthy Dose Link Time: Pregnant Woman Gives Birth After Finishing Chicago Marathon

FitSugar — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:37:18 PDT

Pregnant runner finishes marathon then heads directly to hospital to give birth - Blisstree
12 myths about breast cancer you should be ignoring - Prevention
Get moving with this all-about-legs workout - The Fitnessista
Chocolate chunk pumpkin bars are the perfect healthy Fall treat - Eating Bird Food
10 restaurant food "cheats" that can keep you healthy and slim - Fitbie
Why you may be losing more than fat on a diet - The Huffington Post
A look back at Kirstie Alley's weight loss journey - Shape
Yoga helps man lose 120 pounds - Mind Body Green

The Best and Worst Flu Season Remedies

Prevention — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:12:53 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

Find out which immune-boosting supplements really help — and which are just hype
By the Editors at Prevention

Flu shots, hand washing, healthy eating, and regular exercise are the best ways to avoid cold and flu.

But sometimes even the most scrupulous germaphobes and healthy people get sick anyway. While certain natural remedies can help shorten symptoms — or prevent infection entirely — many people waste money on measures that are all hype. Here's how to know the difference so you can get well faster — without wasting a penny.

The Germiest Spots in Your Home

1. Omega-3 Pill
The Verdict: Help
Take it: All season long
If you don't like or eat a lot of fish, pop an omega-3 supplement daily to reap the fatty acid's impressive immune-fortifying properties. Omega-3s increase the activity of phagocytes — cells that fight flu by eating up bacteria — according to a study by Britain's Institute of Human Nutrition and School of Medicine. Other research shows that omega-3s increase airflow and protect lungs from colds and respiratory infections.

Look for purified fish oil capsules that contain at least 1 g combined of EPA and DHA.

Keep reading for the rest of the list.