You May Have Heard Wrong!
If your current regime to get ripped isn’t working, you may be relying on four of the most common myths.
Myth 1– One of the biggest Myths is that cholesterol and fat should be avoided at all costs. You need some fat and cholesterol for your body to function, including producing hormones, and growing healthy hair. I knew a guy in college who was on such an extremely low fat diet; he eventually began to lose his hair. When he went to the doctor to see what was going on; he basically said, Dunk your melba toast in some olive oil, son, or your body is going to shut down due to a lack of fat. If you want to cut down on saturated fats, which consist of meat (more so the turf than the surf), creams, butter, and cheeses, go ahead. This will only give your heart a breath of fresh blood flow. Otherwise, cut the healthy fat a little slack (olive, coconut, etc.); at least one third of your total daily calorie intake should be coming from it.
Myth 2– To go along with this first myth, is the commercially overly used phrase, Fat Free. When a product says fat-free, it is of course trying to refer you to the fact that this item is somehow a healthy diet food that will allow you to lose excess pudge. How, I don’t know, because it is not all about the fat content that causes men to gain and lose weight. Weight gain is typically caused by the ingestion of more calories than you can burn off within a given day. The calorie content of a food can make or break an otherwise seemingly healthy snack. Sometimes the words “fat-free” give guys a false sense of security to dig-in and eat even more than usual. But it is just that, a false sense of security. It is not the fat that makes you gain weight, but an overabundance of unburned calories.
Myth 3– Have you seen those popular articles about losing 20 pounds in three weeks? Well my friends, that just is never going to happen. The only way that you are going to properly lose weight and keep it off, is to lose it s-l-o-w-l-y and by that I mean over a several month period. Anything quicker and your body will only react to the sudden changes of fat, tissue, and muscle loss, by panicking, and packing on more weight. At the end of these crash diet plans the only substance in your body that you will have lost by any significance is lean muscle and healthy organ tissue. This will unfortunately leave you farther behind then when you first started the diet, because remember; lean muscle burns fat. The less lean muscle you have, the less fat your body will be able to burn over any one given days worth of activities. It took you awhile to put on that extra weight; It’s going to take awhile to take it off. There is no short cut to getting ripped for life.
Myth 4– Last, but not least, is the classic myth that you can blow your diet just by indulging yourself every now and then. Well, this is just not the case. The very worst a person could do to themselves if they gorged non-stop all day, is gain one pound. The body can only handle so much food, so if you over stuff it with rich fatty foods; not only will you be incredibly sick for several hours, your body will flush most of it out. It takes an amazing 3500 calories over your body’s required daily amount, to gain one pound. With that in mind, go ahead and splurge a little; it certainly won’t hurt, and it will keep you honest. Telling yourself that you never splurge, and then sneaking bits and pieces of high calorie “snacks” all day long is the worst thing you can do when trying to get ripped. It will not only bring about guilt and dissatisfaction, but will lead to failure. You need to be honest with yourself. You are the one in control, and the one who can either bring about the success or failure of your own body image.
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About Dr. Eric J. Leech
Eric has written for over a decade. Then one day he created Urbasm.com, a site for every guy.
About Dr. Eric J. Leech