It is the typical subject in which everyone has something to say : this or that is what works best, this or that is the way to lose weight faster, this or that will prevent you from recovering it again …

If you go from your friends to the internet, things get complicated, because there are hundreds of pages on methods to lose weight and some contradict others leaving you increasingly confused.

Well, so you do not get lost in so much information, here are some myths and truths to serve you as a starting point.

1. Thinning is easy (false)

If you hear or read someone, distrust, because it is likely that you are about to sell the motorcycle. Losing weight is not impossible, much less, but it is difficult.

We are surrounded by high-calorie foods that our body can not avoid, likes. It is normal: thousands of years of evolution in which there was a shortage of highly energetic foods have resulted in favoring those that give us more calories, which today are usually processed. In today’s world, calories are no longer scarce, but evolution goes much slower.

The fact is that to avoid them supposes in certain way to go against our natural instincts, and that is never easy. And anyone who says otherwise is lying like a scoundrel.

2. In the feed is the key (true)

There are two basic commandments to lead a healthy life: eat healthy and exercise regularly. But when it comes to losing weight, diet is what most influences.

Leaving aside special cases in which a medication or a hormonal disease, for example, are the cause of overweight, this is usually caused because we eat more calories than we burn.

Although increasing the number of hours of gym can lend a hand, the most effective way to lose that weight that we have left is to rethink the diet.

Part of that is to analyze our eating habits, try to plan our menus in advance to contain all the necessary nutrients, and if it is week to week, the better; favor the fresh foods to the processed, that is, better an orange than a bottled juice; make the purchase more in the market than in the supermarket, because it is easier to go out with the basket full of fresh food, and avoid falling into sugary sodas, high fat and salt snacks, products with added sugars, fast food…

3. The diet of the artichoke, or the strawberry, or the prickly pear work (false)

The diets that focus on a single food are useless and dangerous.

Useless because they are unsustainable in the long term, so at some point we will stop following them and since they do not imply a rethinking of how we eat, we will most likely fall back into old habits and recover the weight we had lost, if it is that we had lost something.

And dangerous because focusing on just one food, whatever it is, means leaving out many nutrients that we also need: if you spend a week eating strawberries, you may lose three kilos, but besides being hungry, you will lack hydrates that give you energy and proteins that help you maintain healthy all the tissues of your body, from the hair to the muscles. The same goes for the artichoke (thanks to its diuretic properties you will have eliminated liquids, but you will also have gone hungry, you will find yourself loose and your hair will fall out). So better forget about this idea. If I have not convinced you yet, here are 10 reasons to say no to miracle diets.

4. Do not trust the light products (true)

The light products have, in theory, less sugar and less fat , but often have to make up more than other things. This, if we know it and take it into account, is not a problem.

The problem comes when, thinking that they are light, we release the brake and we go through the quantities, and in the end we end up consuming more calories than if we were consuming the same product in its normal version.

5. Okay, the diets of a single food do not, but the other fad diets do work (false)

No, the diets that are fashionable, from the Dukan to the Flash through any other occurrence that you have heard at the time of coffee in the office, not only do not work but can be dangerous for health .

For starters, all serious nutritionists agree that the same diet does not work for everyone because we each have different needs. Recommending the same diet to everyone is a very effective way of making cash, but it is not the best way to obtain results.

To continue, because they tend to be diets that do not involve a food reeducation, that is, do not teach you to eat better . They simply teach you to eat in a certain way, yours. What happens if a day or a season you can not eat that way? Well, you do not have the tools to choose alternatives.

And finally, because they are diets with a strong rebound effect : you can lose weight quickly, but as soon as you stop following it, you will recover it with the same speed and return to the starting point, but adding to all this a huge frustration.

6. Not all calories are the same (true)

When we try to lose weight many times we obsess over calories as if their number was the only important thing, when it is not. Foods not only have calories, they also have nutrients, and what nutrients accompany calories is an information to take into account when planning our diet.

For example: a light drink, like the ones we mentioned before, has few calories … and little else. Nutritionally, it’s a small thing. However, a handful of almonds have more calories, but they are also rich in fiber, healthy fatty acids and mineral salts necessary for the body to function as it should.

So no, not all calories are the same, nor are calories the only thing we should consider.

7. You have to eat everything (fake)

Neither to lose weight, nor in general to be healthy, you have to eat everything. Of course, you have to have a varied diet that includes many foods of vegetable origin, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and cereals (better whole than white, since they have more fibers and nutrients), proteins of animal origin, especially fish, eggs , poultry and dairy products, and also some red meat and animal fats, always in moderation.

But there are some foods that we should avoid as much as possible : soft drinks and sugary drinks, processed foods, industrial desserts, fast food … All those things, the less the better.

8. Eat while watching TV fattening (true)

And not just watching TV : reading, working, studying …

Eating should not be distracted, it is an activity to which you devote all your attention : enjoy what you eat and be aware of the reactions of your body while you do it, chew quietly and when you are full. If not, you’ll end up eating fast and over the bill, as well as missing the flavors, which you also have to enjoy!

9. You have to make five meals and breakfast is the most important (fake)

A big lie like a cathedral that we have been hearing for years (and even saying) but that has no scientific basis.

To begin with, several studies have linked eating five times a day with losing weight, gaining weight and maintaining weight. That means that, at the moment, there are no solid conclusions on whether this helps or not to lose weight. What we do know is that obsessing about eating five times a day, even if you do not feel like it, is a way to ruin a moment that should be pleasant (as we said in the previous point).

On the other hand, there is no evidence that breakfast is so important . In some studies it has been observed that people who do not eat breakfast have a worse health and tend to be overweight, but it is believed that this is because people who do not eat breakfast generally have worse eating habits, and these are the ones that make their diet worse. health and cause them to be overweight, not the lack of breakfast itself.

Most nutritionists agree that the important thing is not the breakfast or the number of meals, but our complete nutrition throughout the day . That’s what counts.