Busting weight loss myths

Tulsa - This is the season for weight loss as millions of American work hard to try to accomplish those New Years resolutions but unfortunately there are some weight loss and diet myths that can side track you. Fitness expert, Wes Cole, breaks down fact from fiction.

1. Calories don’t matter- we live in a time where people want to blame everything on too many carbohydrates or fat or protein. People are looking for the secret to weight loss, they want there to be one bad thing and if they stop eating it they won’t have to worry. Science is clear that the only way to lose weight is to create a caloric deficit. You can do this by being extremely active, reducing your daily calories or doing both but you have to do it. Calories do matter so watch your calories no matter how healthy the food is.
2. Exercise burns tons of calories- Ironically the only people who can burn enormous amounts of calories and loss weight on exercise alone is the ones who are already fit. If you’re a beginner don’t expect to be able to burn 800 calories in an hour like the commercials tell you that you can do. Most likely you won’t be fit enough to use the proper intensity necessary but start slow and exercise often. It does add up and when you get fitter you can increase intensity. This is why dietary control is especially crucial for a fitness newbie because they simply can’t workout hard enough to see results on exercise alone.
3. Eating late at night makes you fat- Wrong. A spokes person and dietitian for the American dietetic Association Dr. Gazzaniga-moloo states that this is a myth. It’s the total amount of calories not the time.
4. You have to workout hard to lose weight- not true. A study conducted on an Amish community showed that despite their high calorie diet these people were able to stay very lean through everyday activity and even though high intense training was not performed the community was lean and trim. It was the consistent, slow but steady burn of calories.