By: Ciara Abbott
There are so many different myths and stories going around about losing weight or how to stay fit. Whats scary about those myths and stories is that many of them are unhealthy. Diet pills, no fat products, skipping meals, meal replacement bars/drinks, etc. Many of these are unhealthy to the point of being harmful.
Lie 1: Skipping meals will make you slim down.
This is a giant joke. Slim down? Wrong. Your body needs food. When you skip meals, your body will go into starvation mode and starts storing fat. Sure, you may not be starving your body, but your body can’t run off of nothing. It saves the fat so that it can run off of it later. If anything, you should increase meals. (Eating Cheetos and drinking a pop do not count.) Eat small, healthy snacks between meals such as carrots, celery, nuts, yogurt, etc. Doing this will speed up your metabolism and help you burn fat faster.
Lie 2: The words “I’m on a diet”
You’re on a diet? No kidding! So is every living, breathing, animal and human! A ‘diet’ is what you eat regularly. Most of the time, ‘diets’ advertised aren’t even that good. They say things such as, “Don’t eat more than 1000 calories a day and you’ll drop this many pounds in a week!” Lies. The only reason you are dropping that weight is because you are only taking in 1000 calories and trust me when I say that is not healthy. The second you are off that so called ‘diet’, you will gain all your weight back and then gain a few pounds more. This is called ‘yo-yo dieting’. Why? Because that’s what your weight will do. You get on a diet, your weight drops. You get off the diet and you gain back all of your weight and then some. So you go back on the diet again. Its a never ending process. IF you are trying to lose weight, then you need to do several things.
1: Cut back on the pop, cheetos, skittles, ice cream, cookies, etc. Or, if you are REALLY enthusiastic, quit eating them all together. These are nice to have once in a great while. It’s when people eat them every day that they start having weight issues.
2: Exercise. Go for a walk. Jump rope. Do push ups. Skip. Dance. I don’t care what you do as long as you shut off the TV and get off the couch. And don’t use the excuse of “I don’t have time” or “it’s cold.” Make time! Go sledding, ice skating, skiing, or make a snowman! Even during your lunch break, do some squats or wall sit for 20 seconds. Thirty minutes of exercise a day just to get the blood pumping will benefit you greatly! You’ll burn calories and speed up your metabolism.
3: Eat less calories than you burn. No, I’m not saying eat 1000 less than your burn. Find our your Total Caloric Needs and then eat 500 less of that. There are certain formulas for men and women so it is important to have the right one.
~ http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/tdcn.html
However, depending on your body, you may not need to eat fewer calories at all. Make sure to check your Body Mass Index (BMI) to see if you fall into the healthy zone first.
~ http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/
4: Have a healthy balance in what you eat! Eat those Veggies! Fruits are good for you, but they are made of sugar and you burn that pretty fast. Vegetables will fill you faster and should be the biggest portion on your plate when you sit down to eat!
5. Make this an everyday routine! You can’t just quit being healthy randomly! When you quit you’re healthy habits, your body loses its health also!
Lie 3: Eating things with ‘no fat’ in them to losing weight.
Joke! Correction: People need certain kinds of fat. Cut back on the saturated fats. When you buy food, look at the label. If the saturated fat is high, don’t get it. The unsaturated fats are the good ones! Products that say they have ‘no fat’ in them are usually made up of mostly salt or other unhealthy mixes that hold them together. Such as Margarine. Margarine is one molecule away from plastic. Eat foods such as avocados, nuts, dairy, and seeds to get the healthy fat that your body needs. When cooking with oil, try to use olive, coconut, or canola oil. These oils have unsaturated fat unlike most of the other ones.
Lie 4: Vegetarians are all extremely healthy.
Nope. In fact, a lot of vegetarians miss the protein they need. Sure, they can get it out of protein bars, but as my fitness challenge teacher, Contreras, always says, “Keep it as close to Gods creation as possible. As in: keep food as close to it’s natural state as you can.” Meat also gives your body a lot of the iron it needs. Iron helps keep your energy up and creates enzymes that help your body fight infections
Lie 5: Just eating right will make me skinny.
Eating right is a huge part of staying fit. But it isn’t the only thing. The most important things? Water and exercise. Like I state above, exercise is great for your body. It speeds your metabolism up, helps you have more energy, and releases endorphins that make you happier. Ever heard ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’? Well, here’s something you probably haven’t heard: eight glasses a day keeps the fat away. Best part is, it’s true! Water helps the body get rid of stored fat, waste, and keeps us hydrated.
Lie 6: That guy is taller than me and weighs less! I’m so fat!
When it comes to comparing anything in fitness between a guy and a girl, always remember this: Guys and girls have different bodies. Males don’t carry as much fat as females do and they can naturally build their muscles up much more than any female can. Also remember this: Females have curves. Even if you say they are non-existent, you still got some. Males don’t have curves. They don’t need that fat. So every once in a while, there will be a male that is taller than you and weighs less than you. Don’t pay any mind to it because it doesn’t matter.
Of course, there are many other lies out there but these are some of the most common ones. Being healthy isn’t hard. It’s a choice of what you eat and what you do. Next time you look at yourself in the mirror and sigh, do something about it. Look up healthy habits to have and start them. Or head to a gym. If you are living somewhere near Eaton, stop by the Cross Fit gym on highway 85 next to the Chinese Restaurant and talk with the instructors. Even if you aren’t looking to sign up for the gym, they will be more than willing to help with any questions you have about heath and/or fitness! There is also Snap Fitness over by Subway if you like to work out by yourself. If you are a student or a teacher at EHS, stop by the weight room after school.
If you are wanting to read some more things about fitness, check out these articles! They cover other myths and go farther into depth on some of the ones that have been covered above:
~ http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52115
~ http://www.gymjunkies.com/fitness-myths/
~ http://www.youronlinefitness.com/fitness-articles/common_fitness_myths_exposed.php