Today, many people believe that the cause of excess weight is a slow metabolism.
And they try to find advice on how to speed it up.
They recommend something like this: eat often and little by little, take dietary supplements, eat certain foods. But in reality, the human body is designed a little differently.
The most common myths
1. Weight gain occurs due to slow metabolism. Metabolism is the process of converting food into energy.
Energy required:
- for the operation of all systems. This is breathing, heart rate, etc.;
- digestion of food;
- normal physical activity.
Most of the energy received is spent on basic needs. They may differ depending on the age, weight, gender and hormonal background of the person.
Extra pounds are not related to metabolism. On the contrary, overweight people can have an accelerated process of converting food into energy. After all, a large body spends more energy to maintain the body's basic functions.
2. By speeding up your metabolism, you can lose weight. This statement is only partially true. The thing is that some substances can speed it up. These are caffeine, capsaicin (which is what makes peppers hot), and L-carotene (meat).
But, unfortunately, their effect is insignificant. For example, a standard cup of coffee will help burn about 50 kcal. And that's just one square of chocolate.
3. There are foods with negative calorie content. Vegetables are supposedly such. Since they have few calories and a large amount of liquid. People believe that the body spends more on digesting them than it receives.
As a result, the weight goes away. But the situation is somewhat different. The body spends almost nothing to chew and digest the cucumber salad. It spends more energy on digesting food containing protein. Therefore, although vegetables are useful, they do not speed up metabolism.
4. Eat small portions. They say this helps to avoid stretching the stomach. Don't believe this myth.
The thing is, the stomach is a bag that can stretch to accommodate food and then return to its original position. And its natural size has nothing to do with being overweight.
The only thing that matters is what he is used to. For example, if a person has always eaten a lot and then decided to reduce the portion size, he will feel hungry for a long time (until he gets used to it).
5. Age contributes to weight gain. Yes, metabolism slows down with age. This happens because they become less active. They stop exercising.
And this, in turn, affects the reduction of muscle mass. In addition, people continue to eat as much food as before. That is why the weight increases.
