Everyone has a theory about the best way to lose weight—personal diet maxims, reliable tips, and tricks. But in the whole barrage of theories about weight loss, we can really get lost, some of the beliefs about weight loss are so often repeated that they are held as truth, but are they really helping you lose weight? If you are guilty of indulging in any of these weight loss fads they you might not just be losing weight.

SKIPPING BREAKFAST

So many people skip breakfast, thinking it will help them lose weight. The logic goes like this: “If I don’t eat breakfast, I have fewer calories to burn off.” Although that may be true, it often ends with a snack or overeating later in the day. It doesn’t help with maintaining a healthy metabolism, and you need energy to maintain or gain muscle. Truthfully, most people need to eat when they wake up to boost their metabolism and prime their bodies for an energy-packed day. When we eat an hour after waking, it stimulates the body, turns our internal clock on, and supplies the energy we need to get through the day.

RELYING ON DIET PILLS

Not so long ago, weight-loss pills were the talk of the town. Everyone was talking about what kind of diet pills work and which ones are easy to get. The sale of diet pills exceeded millions of dollars in a few short years. This amount was the cost of our misery. Weight-loss pills do not work. They are effective only if they are prescribed by a doctor. Plain and simple. Weight loss pills contain something that is recommended by health experts to take with a pinch of salt: caffeine. Enteroendocrine cells specialise in sensing a lot of what you eat and, according to the British Journal of Nutrition, play an important role in how you absorb whatever passes through your mouth.

EXCESS CARDIO WORKOUT

Belief: “I ran on the treadmill for 2 hours tonight! Burning them calories!” Reality: If you are trying to keep muscle and lose fat, long cardio sessions are going to work against you because the body will start tapping into your muscle for energy. This is usually the reason people end up looking skinny, but with no muscle definit