Weight Loss Myths

There's More than One Way to Lose a Pound But They Haven't Told You About It Yet

- Belief: Eating breakfast starts the process whereby you lose weight. Breakfast may start the digestive process for the day but digestion is not the same as losing weight. In my experience, eating breakfast (or lunch) makes me hungry for more food.
- Belief: Exercise is required to lose weight. I just lost 31 pounds in 2 months on a self-named "no activity" diet. And I literally mean *no activity* except using the computer, occasional errands, TV & reading (taking advantage of first months of "empty nest" syndrome). Based on simple scientific equation: Weight loss = calories eaten minus calories used.
- In fact, exercise may increase hunger &/or a person's perception of the amount of calories burned during exercise, resulting in gaining weight rather than losing weight. Also, the focus on exercise is a psychological/costly/time-consuming barrier to starting a weight loss program and may distract a person who should be counting calories.
- Belief: Weighing yourself regularly on a scale hurts your weight loss program. Think this has already been proven to be false. What better incentive than to visually see the results of your weight loss program? Also, I would like to see data on women's weight loss results over the winter compared to the summer. Hypothesis: It's easier to weigh yourself naked in the summer and trust the results of your weight loss program shown on the scale. Example: When I told my kids I had lost another 5 pounds, they said that I made up for it in added sweaters. (Sweet kids, aren't they.)
- Belief: Eating right before sleeping increases weight gain. Sorry, it's still weight loss = calories eaten minus calories used. Scientifically inaccurate myth.

I would love to see an experiment where group 1 eats the number of calories for their goal weight and is told they are *not allowed* to exercise. Compare that with group 2 who is told to lower their calories by exercise (any which way they want) every day, eating "right," etc to attain the same goal weight.

Hypothesis: Focusing on a single goal, namely fewer calories, will give group 1 the 'focus' a person needs to meet a specific goal and, therefore, group 1 will lose more weight than group 2, whereas group 2 will be subjected to our culture's belief in exercise, digestion, timing, etc that make weight-loss goals unattainable by simply lacking 'focus.'

-k