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It wasn’t until around a year ago that I really started to pay attention to the things I ate. And I took on my new knowledge of what’s nutritious, how to lose weight, and how to really exercise…well…kicking and screaming.
I was always that bitch with the really fast metabolism who didn’t gain weight. I’d come home and go from eating a can of Pringles to an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s–easily. I never was bigger than a size 7, however, I did slowly become more concerned with being healthy. So what if I could eat a bucket of lard for dinner? That didn’t mean it was doing my health any wonders or that I felt GOOD after one of my binges.
Plus, I didn’t think it’d kill me to be a little smaller if losing weight did end up being the outcome of the diet change. Now that I’ve been a size 3 for about nine months, I’ve learned that a lot of girls who ask me how I stay small believe a lot of bullsh%t diet myths.
And as long as girls who want to be healthier and lose weight the RIGHT way keep holding onto these dumb ideas about “what works”, I’m going to have to deal with a lot more insecure girls who can’t shed their extra pounds in my day to day life…so I may as well present to you all the truth.
1. You’ve gotta watch your drinks. You’re aren’t much better off with drinks like Gatorade and Vitamin Water or even lots of teas than you are with sodas–calorie wise. Of course there are differences when it comes down to nutrients, but if you’re trying to lose weight…switch all of your drinks to water so you can save calorie room for those alcohol and caffeine splurges. Once you get used to drinking water with every meal, you won’t even be able to tolerate drinking sodas and juices as thirst quenchers.
2. People say that eating before you go to bed will make you gain weight. Those people are wrong. Taking in more calories on any given day than what you’re burning is what will make you burn fat. The problem with eating late at night is that you usually have already reached your calorie limit for the day.
3. Carbs are not going to make you gain weight. As I stated above, the only thing that makes you gain weight is taking in more calories than you are burning. Carbs happen to usually accompany calories, however. They are actually WONDERFUL energy foods to eat before the gym, a hike, or a long day of work. The problem is that they taste great and people often times don’t think about them in terms of how much energy they will be burning.
The most important thing that I learned, however, was that getting healthy and losing weight is part of a LIFE TYLE change. You can of course indulge in bad things now and then. However, you need to be very disciplined most days if you want this to work.
Know any other diet myths? Do share!
10 Comments
Actually, the main reason eating before is bad is because you don’t burn off anything while you’re sleeping, so what you take in is moved into storage, and has less potential to be burned. If you eat during the day, your daily activities, like walking around, or even moving in general, will slowly burn off fuel as you go. The “daily limit” isn’t like a quota that you work for; it’s more like the amount that you need to be taking in to fuel your activities. Imagine a sort of quota bar. You want the balance to be at 0 at the end of the day, not 2000. When you eat, the bar goes up a little, as you move through the day, it should go down. You aren’t eating to try to fill up that bar. You are eating to prevent it from going negative. Pushing it up right before a period of low activity (sleep) makes it so that the bar ends the day above 0, meaning in that you have taken in more than you can burn.
Also, make sure girls are careful with those drink alternatives. Vitamin Water sometimes has up to 130 calories in every bottle, so drinking water is really the best option.
Actually, you do burn calories when you sleep. It’s just not as much as you’d burn if you’re awake…you’re ALWAYS burning though.
Actually Soph it’s comments like that that keeps these myths going. You do burn calories when you sleep and secondly your digestive system is a little more complicated than a bar moving up and down. You body is always demanding food for energy and to replenish your muscles. It doesnt matter what time of day it is, your body is going to use that glucose either way. More importantly, your body doesnt just “store food away” as soon as you eat it. Some foods actually take 24 hrs. to fully digest.
Wow, you’re right. You definitely burn off that hamburger you just ate while you’re sleeping, since shifting around in bed requires the same amount of fuel as simple activities like walking and carrying things and moving around. Energy demand in your body is constant…if you’re running a marathon or if you’re lazing on a couch. Right…
That glucose isn’t going to float around in your bloodstream forever, waiting to be used. It’s going to go somewhere, and, essentially, it’s going to go into storage. If your glucose floats around in your bloodstream at high levels constantly, you have diabetes, and you should really see a doctor about that. As for the food “not being stored,” how do you think people get fat from overeating? How would people ever get fat? I really wish we lived in a universe like that.
Clearly, you can’t burn as much during the night as you can during the day, and if you have just consumed a significant amount, well sleep extra restlessly tonight, ok?
To say “eating a hamburger before bed is bad” is a pretty general statement that really doesnt hold up. My argument is you shouldnt say: actually eat before bed is bad… because everyones body is different. If i work out late at night, when i come home i’ll need protein to help my muscles recover. I’m not going to skip a shake and some chicken because shifting around in bed wont burn it off. Your body is a lot my complex, it needs food for recovery and maintenance throughout all 24hrs, wether you’re sleeping or not.
In order to add even more fuel to whole “to eat or not to eat before bed” issue, I have some input. While eating a big meal right beore going to bed probably isn’t the best thing to do, you do need to have a little something in your stomach. I have always had trouble sleeping, but I began having a small snack right before bed, like a bowl of cheerios or something, and that really helped me sleep better. Oftentimes, people wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep because their blood sugar is low. Your body will wake itself up if your tank is running on empty. So maybe eating a little something would be a good idea…?
gah, I’m tired of hearing about diets and weightloss, Jennifer Love Hewitt & Britney Spears being “fat”, and ALLLLLLLLL the commercials for weightloss help all frickin day long!
People need to eat right (balances, calorie limited, plant-based, low sugar and salt, avoid fried foods and bleached/white grain startchy foods), and exercise (or just burn calories trough activities such as dancing)
and stop being obsessed with it!
this is what the media wants to feed money back into the system, the diet help industry is booming!
gah, it makes me sick.
wow! i honestly can’t believe i just waisted my time reading all the little debates about what is good for you and what is bad. props to soph though. i really don’t think eating right before bed is such a good idea. but hey, it’s not like someone can really tell us when to eat and when not to eat. my trainer just tells me to eat healthier and not to let myself get hungry and that’s good enough for me.
Well some people can’t sleep or be able to sleep properly because they don’t have an sufficient amount of fat in them, as much as this is a severe case, it shows that to sleep, still requires energy of the body.
However, eating an full meal before bed is obviously not a good idea, as soph has said, you burn way less calories while sleeping. But because you are going to spend around 5-8 hours without any food, it is a good idea to eat something small before bed.
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