Misconceptions About Losing Weight - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Today I want to talk about a couple of misconceptions about losing weight. One of them, one of the major ones, is that people think that all calories are created equal, and they are not. Depending upon the type of food you are eating it will elicit a different hormonal response from your bodies. So, just imagine if you were eating 1500 calories of chocolate chip cookies what that would do to your body, and what if you were eating 1500 calories of grilled salmon and grilled asparagus? That would elicit a totally different hormonal response from your body. The grilled salmon would probably satisfy you, if you like fish and you like vegetables, but it will also not create cravings. It will not throw your blood sugar out of balance, and it is good for you. The chocolate chip cookies will make you crave more chocolate chip cookies, and more chocolate chip cookies, and more sugar. It will send you into a downward spiral. So, when you are thinking about what you are eating, you know, a calorie is a calorie, it is not really true. You really do need to eat your calories that are full of nutrition rather than just plain old calories. Another common misconception about losing weight is that you should not eat any fat, but in truth, you really need fat to lose fat. Your body is made up of fat. Your brain is about 60% fat, so if somebody calls you a fathead, they are actually being very truthful. Your cells, every cell of your body needs fat. So, what you should be eating are the healthy fats. You want to stay away from transfats found in margarine and vegetable shortenings and fried foods, you know, that you usually find in fast food restaurants or inexpensive restaurants. So, the healthy fats that you want to include in your diet can be saturated fats. So this can come from animal protein and coconut oil. You want the monounsaturated fats which come from olive oil and avocado. And the omega-3 fatty acids which you have probably heard about. These come from fish, flax oil and walnuts. So, if you include any of those foods in your diet, you will be satisfied with what you are eating, plus you will not gain weight. So, when you are trying to lose weight, make sure that you include the healthy fats in your diet and stay away from the bad fats. Another misconception about losing weight is trying to stay on a low calorie diet. That is one of the worst things that you can do. If you are on a very low calorie diet for any length of time, number one, what is going to happen is you are going to stop losing weight. You may have lost tons of weight in the first week, two, three weeks, even four weeks, but at a certain point your body is going to realize that it is going into starvation mode and it needs to conserve any calories that it has. So, I highly recommend that you do not go on a very low calorie diet. So, when you are trying to lose weight, for most women, you should never go below 1200 calories a day, that is when starvation mode is going to kick in. You want to be 13, 14, 1500 calories. If you are a taller woman, then you could probably have even more calories, and if you are very active, you can add a little bit more. So, make sure that you do not starve yourself, because your body will not let you lose weight that way. Another very common misconception about losing weight is that you need to avoid carbs. One thing that I tell my clients is not to cut out a complete food group. A carbohydrate is one of the macro-nutrients that your body needs. What you should cut out are the crummy carbs: the ones that are refined, the ones that are baked, the ones that are made out of flour, the ones that are deep fried. These are the ones that are going to stop you from losing weight and those are the carbs that most people think of when they think of carbohydrates, and the ones that they should not have on a diet. But I encourage all of my clients to eat carbohydrates, and the ones that are the best are vegetables. Yes, vegetables are carbohydrates: the deep green leafy ones, the bright orange ones, the red ones. Sweet potatoes are a fabulous carbohydrate, a lot of nutrients in it. I encourage everybody to include that in their weight loss diet. The best thing to do is eat from the rainbow of veggies and fruits that are out there. Vegetables and fruits are good carbohydrates, and they are going to help you lose weight.
