3 Nutrition myths you need to bust today to lose weight and lead a happy life

If I told you that you could lose weight by increasing the amount of food you’re eating, would you believe me? It goes against everything we’re taught about nutrition and weight loss, but I see women increase their calories and lose weight every day. There are so many dieting and nutrition myths that women struggle to lose weight and keep it off. It’s time to bust those myths.

I know how overwhelming, stressful and straight-up frustrating it is to try and lose weight. Everyone has the secret to fast weight loss that they’re hocking. You are so desperate to feel better that you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars trying everything you can find.

You make yourself miserable by cutting out foods, eating less than a six-year-old and trying to obey all the “rules” that you wear yourself out and never find true health and happiness.

It’s time to stop listening to nutrition advice that doesn’t work! It’s time to educate yourself and understand how your body works so that you can lose weight and keep it off.

There are a few deep-seated nutrition myths that you’ve probably learned, believed and are holding on to. Today, I’m going to debunk three popular nutrition myths that are keeping you from reaching your weight loss goals.

Myth #1: I need to work out more to make up for bad eating

There are so many issues with this myth, but let’s start with the idea that we are using exercise as a punishment.

Exercise isn’t something you do because you were “bad.” 

Let’s take it a step further. You aren’t a good or bad person based on your food choices. Eating pizza, cupcakes or cookies doesn’t make you a bad person. Eating salad, grilled chicken breast and veggies doesn’t make you a good person! Food is neutral. It’s not an indicator of good and bad.

Food is energy.

Let’s stop making it mean more than that.

Back to exercising after overeating. There is some good and some bad in this idea, but the cool thing is that you have the power to change this statement into something that empowers you instead of something that holds you back.

Overeating simply means you have a surplus of energy stored in your body. You can choose to use this extra energy to push yourself in the gym. You can also choose to feel guilty about what you ate and make yourself workout. 

The difference between “I need to workout extra long because I ate something bad yesterday” and “I need to push my limits in the gym because I have extra energy from what I ate yesterday” is how you think about it.

I frequently tell my clients that if shame, guilt and regret made you lose weight, I would lather you in it. But it doesn’t. It can actually slow your weight loss progress down if you think of healthy eating and exercise as something you “have” to do.

When you reverse that thought to “I get to eat healthy and exercise” and you start taking actions that make those things fun you’ll start losing weight!

Your mind is ridiculously powerful. When you constantly tell it that this is something you don’t want to do, it will create more resistance. When you tell it to be excited about something, it will find reasons to be excited.

Your weight loss will depend on how you think and feel about food and exercise. Make it easier on yourself by choosing to make healthy living a positive aspect of your life!

Myth #2: You need to cut your calories if you’re overweight

I know you want to fight me on this one. I know it! It’s true that to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you’re eating, but do you know what the caveat is to this?

This is only true if you’re not already in a calorie deficit. 

Most of the women I work with have been eating 1200-1500 calories for years and can’t figure out why they aren’t losing weight anymore.

The truth is that your body needs more food - even if you’re still overweight! For most women, 1200-1500 calories is a severe deficit, which means that your body is going to hold onto every ounce of food you give it because it needs it to perform basic actions!

To lose weight and keep it off, you should rotate between cut, reverse, maintenance and surplus calories throughout the year. 

Your body wants to cycle through these phases naturally with each of the four seasons. 

In the summer, we eat lighter foods, like fresh fruits and veggies, and our bodies want to be leaner to stay cooler. 

As we head into the fall, we transition to slightly heavier foods, especially veggies like squash and pumpkin, and our bodies start to reverse to prepare for the winter weather. 

During the winter, we need warm, comfort foods that will help us put a little weight on to stay warm. 

Then in the spring, we transition back to slimming down with lighter foods.

Your body wasn’t meant to stay at one weight year-round. It wasn’t meant to starve itself for months or years at a time.

If you’ve been living in a calorie deficit and you aren’t losing weight, you probably need to reverse back up into more food!

There is a strategic way to eat more and still lose weight! In the Macros Made Easy Program, I teach mamas like you how to eat more food, (including more carbs!) to re-energize your metabolism and start losing weight again! Schedule a free discovery call if you’re ready to bust this myth and stop being hungry all the time!

Myth #3: You shouldn’t eat before you work out so that you can burn more fat

This is a newer myth, mostly brought in from the intermittent fasting trend, but there have been variations of it around forever.

It’s one of the diet myths that drive me crazy because it plays into the one-size-fits-all stigma. There is always some truth to ideas like this, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way or the best way to lose weight or burn fat.

A fasted workout, is when you workout usually first thing in the morning before you eat anything. Theoretically, working out in a fasted state causes your body to burn fat because there isn’t enough glucose - the body’s main source of energy - available. 

If your only goal is burning fat, then fasting is a helpful tool.

However, because you don’t have much glucose in your body, you may not be able to perform to your best ability. 

If you’re looking to build muscle or increase time working out or running distance, then a fasted workout isn’t going to help because you won’t have the energy you need to push yourself further. 

The key to deciding if eating before a workout is best for YOU is knowing what goals you’re working toward and how it feels to workout fasted.

If working out in a fasted state doesn’t feel good for you, then don't do it! It’s more important that you feel good during and after a workout than it is to be miserable and possibly burn slightly more fat.

If you only take one lesson away from today, I hope it’s that nutrition isn’t one-size-fits-all. Mama, you are a star, not a square. Stop trying to make yourself fit the mold and find a mold that is meant for you!

You deserve an individual plan that fits your needs, your goals, and your lifestyle! I can help you with that. Schedule a free discovery call with me to learn how the Macros Made Easy program can work for you and your individual needs! Let’s bust out of the dieting myths and find truths that will help you lose weight once and for all!

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