Having worked as a fitness Coach and nutritionist to thousands of people across the world trying to lose weight, I can say I have just about heard it all. From the weightloss myths about what time to eat, to the ones about certain food types, the claims are endless.

I want to bust those weightloss myths because it’s a new year and you deserve to start your fitness journey this year unhindered by the weight of these myths. Also, I want you to be able to just concentrate on doing the work and getting results instead of doing so many different things at once.

Anyway, let’s get into the myths about weightloss that are popular but very wrong.

1. Carbs make you gain weight: No, consistently over eating makes you gain weight. I see so many people point to carbs as the enemy and talk about about how it’s fattening among other things.

Well here’s the truth, carbs are just like any other food group. It performs it’s own function and adds it’s own nutritional value. Of course you can stick to healthier carbs like sweet potato and the likes, and you should take your carbs in smaller portions, ultimately, they are not the enemy.

2. Pills/supplements can help you lose weight: no hun, they may temporarily increase your metabolism and make you lose water weight, but they will not give you lasting results.

Think about it, haven’t you noticed that people who use all those teas, pills and supplements, don’t usually have lasting weightloss results? That’s because the way to lose weight is to over time consistently exercise and eat well. Any other means will only lead to short term results if at all

3. Work hard, eat hard: no dear, you should aim to eat less calories than you burn. In terms of weightloss or gain, it’s a really simple maths so if you’re consistently working out and burning 1000 calories per session but you eat 1500 calories everyday, at best you’ll maintain your weight but you’re definitely not going to lose any weight.

To lose weight, you have to combine your exercise efforts with consumption of less calories.

4. Skipping breakfast helps you lose weight: this is not conclusive because if you skip breakfast due to your eating pattern then it’s fine but if you’re only skipping it to lose weight then you have to be wary about eating it all back at lunch and dinner thereby making the breakfast skipping ineffective.

While you may argue that intermittent fasting has its benefits, you also should consider whether it’s sustainable. What happens when you start taking breakfast again since that’s not a lifestyle change.

5. Diets work: no they do not, what works is a lifestyle change. Most diets are very restrictive which in itself is usually enough reason for them to fail, because you can’t realistically eat soup for the rest of life.

I know you may say April I know friends who did a diet and it worked, well what usually happens is that if you check back in a few months they’ll have gained back all the weight plus more.

I hope that with these few points, I have been able to bust a few myths and give you truths instead that will help you lose weight and keep it off once and for all.