Doctor Fact-Checks POPULAR Weight Loss Tips

Doctor Fact-Checks POPULAR Weight Loss Tips

 Turn down the lights and turn up some music while you eat. These environmental distractions will take your attention away from the food. Turn your house into a rave while you eat. Get a giant bear chasing you around so that you don't have enough time to put the food in your mouth. What kind of advice is this? For those of you who are looking to be at a healthier weight, the Internet has no shortage of weight loss advice. Well, um, in this video, I'm going to take some of that advice and put it through a lie to Hector and find out what's true, what's not, and what's kind of in that middle ground. 

Let's get started. Drink black coffee. This will boost your metabolism. Well, look, caffeine is a stimulant, so it could potentially boost your metabolism. But why I like this statement because black coffee means that it doesn't have excess calories from sugar, milk, creamer, all of that. In addition, black coffee will technically keep your fast going. So if you're a fan of intermittent fasting, you're still going to be getting a lot of those same benefits with having a little stimulation on board.

 Hang a mirror in front of your dining table. Studies show watching yourself reduces the amount of food you consume. No. If you want to hang a mirror in front of your dining table because of decor, please go right ahead. If you're doing it so you hate yourself while you're eating. No. No porva bor, no mass. Use smaller plates and bowls to serve your own food. This is an optical trick that will give you the full sensation of seeing a clean plate. I like this tip. I think it's a fairly benign tip, really. One of the biggest problems in the eating habits of my patients who are obese or overweight is that they eat really big portions and they don't even realize it.

So by having a smaller plate, you're already helping yourself to figure out a healthy portion size. But, uh, also, when you see it and you eat the entire plate, there is a psychological concept to how you absorb those calories. It really does take effect. Participate in intermittent fasting, though it may also reduce muscle mass. This is controversial for some, like myself, intermittent fasting works great because you're eating in a very specific window, meaning that you're not eating for 16 hours of the day, and you're only eating in a time-restricted eight-hour feeding pattern. 

You're going to eat less calories. That's just the nature of eating in a smaller window. That being said, some people actually get a disordered relationship with their eating habits when they do this type of fasting. So it's certainly not for everyone. But it is an option. And we've actually seen some favorable health effects outside of just weight loss. That includes hormonal changes, favorable hormonal changes, and increased clarity. Also, there's a genuine benefit to not having to eat for 16 hours of the day kind of gives you an advantage for you to be able to focus, exercise, and perhaps do a little mindfulness session, which can go a long way to calming you down and perhaps aiding in your weight loss.

 Replace your normal high-calorie protein intake with Whey protein powder. This one I am hesitant to recommend to a lot of folks. I'm not a huge fan of getting my protein needs from supplements. When you eat a protein-rich meal, it usually comes with some fat, perhaps some carbohydrates, depending on the source of the protein. And when you're getting Whey protein powder you're really isolating the protein and getting just that. I feel like you can find nutrient-rich protein sources like tuna, and salmon. And in addition to the protein, you're also going to get a lot of other nutrients that aren't found in whey protein, like omega-three fatty acids. 

Chew more slowly, your brain can take time to signal to your stomach that you're full. So being patient with how quickly you eat can allow your brain time to cut off before you overeat. I would change this advice just a little bit. I would say chew thoroughly because if you slow down your chewing, that might be a little bit awkward. But if you chew thoroughly, you could actually give yourself the time to signal to your body that you're fuller, that you're getting the nourishment that you need because it's really about eating to the point where you're satiated, not to the point where you feel so full that you hate yourself.

 Let's be honest, we've all been there. But that's not an ideal place to be if you're trying to maintain a healthy weight. Spoil food you don't want or need to eat. If you got leftovers that are calling your name, find a way to ruin the food, such as dousing it in milk or pouring in a ton of salt. What? Not only will this create a very disordered eating pattern where you're destroying food instead of creating a healthy relationship with it, but you're also getting rid of food that someone can eat. 

People in America are hungry, especially during COVID-19. This is a true problem and it's an even bigger problem around the world. I don't know where this advice came from, but two thumbs down for me. Drink green tea. It's loaded with powerful antioxidants called catechins, which are believed to work synergistically with caffeine to enhance fat burning. I am one of the biggest green tea fans out there. It's important to know that it has caffeine in it. So ideally not a great drink to drink at the end of the day, but for lunch or breakfast, green tea is a great option. 

Not only does it have catechins, but it also has polyphenols in it. Ltheanine which sort of balances out the boost that you get from the caffeine stimulant, but also gives you that calming effect on your mind. Now, whether or not green tea will actually boost weight loss. It's not going to be a magical effect that you see here. In fact, I've seen a lot of companies try and do something shady like, oh, our supplements have green tea extract and that's what helps you burn fat. 

Don't go that far. Interval training. Short bursts of intense exercise followed by longer stretches of mild exercise. This is my favorite hit, uh, exercise. That's high-intensity interval training. You go all out for 30 seconds or a minute, and then for a minute, three minutes, five minutes. You do a really mild light-intensity activity. One, it promotes weight loss. Two, it promotes muscle building. Three, it also improves heart rate variability. When you start exercising really quickly and you go full-on intensity, your heart rate should go up to compensate. But then when you do light-intensity exercise, your heart rate should be able to settle back down. As you do this more and more, your heart's ability to calm down in that period of light intensity will improve.

And what we've actually seen in scientific research is improved survival in individuals who were having heart attacks if they had good heart rate variability. It's a true survival benefit. Get used to and accept the feeling of being hungry. You can't lose weight without enduring hunger. So recognizing and normalizing that feeling is important. Not true. You can lose weight without necessarily ever feeling hungry and suffering from it. 

Intuitive eating is something that many of my patients have, uh, done and done quite well actually. You only eat to the point where you're no longer hungry, where you feel satiated, but not overly full.

 That way you're not overeating calories, you're not having these tremendous portions of unhealthy foods, and you don't have to sit and starve yourself. Lift weights instead of just doing cardio. Not only does this cause you to lose fat, but you also build muscle to replace it. It oversimplified advice, but an overall decent concept. I'll explain when I recommend an exercise routine for my patients. I rarely say just cardio or just weight training. It's usually a combination of both. 

The reason is they have different benefits. And those benefits really paint a complete picture of good or optimal health. For example, going for a run is really good for your heart and helps heart rate variability, especially if you're doing high-intensity interval training. But when you're lifting weights, you're not only burning fat and using calories while you're exercising, you're also doing that when you recover later that day, the following day, because it takes energy to rebuild that muscle and to rebuild it even stronger or bigger if you're lifting heavy enough and consistently enough.

 Snack often this will prevent metabolic slowdown where your metabolism stops. If there is nothing there to digest while snacking, your metabolism is forced to stay engaged. Uh, this one has been, uh, pretty much debunked by modern science. While for some individuals, as long as they monitor their caloric intake and they're not eating poor-quality foods. Raising snacking like that could be a potential option, but it is not a mandatory way for success. 

There are plenty of people that can eat two meals a day, three meals a day, and do just as good a job as those who eat smaller, frequent meals throughout the day. This is an individual decision based on your goals, your lifestyle, and really what your preferences are. This should not be a painful process. Drinking water 30 minutes before a meal will help your body burn calories faster and therefore lose weight. Losing weight isn't as simple as drinking some water. 

But water is a really important nutrient for your body, and there are several benefits to staying well hydrated. When you drink water, you stretch out your stomach. Therefore, you're less likely to consume a really large meal. Second, there is a water-induced thermogenesis process that has some evidence and truth behind it, where by drinking 70-degree water, you actually have to heat it up to your normal body temperature, and that burns some calories.

 Not a huge deal, but definitely worth noting. It helps to remove the waste of your body, so it decreases bloating and it gets that whole system going. It also keeps you hydrated and performing well during your exercises. When you have a good exercise session, you're more likely to burn more calories. Begin meal prepping. Plan out all of your meals for the week and spend a few hours cooking them, storing them in resealable containers ahead of time. 

This will allow you to eat a prepped meal instead of ordering takeout when you're too tired to cook something fresh. I love this piece of advice. I've tried to do this in the past, but I realize I'm a terrible cook, so I'm working on it. But the reason why I enjoy this is because, A, you get to control what kind of foods you're eating, what kind of oils you're cooking with. When you have that layer of control, you're going to make better decisions.

 Second, when you're tired and you're coming home and you don't have the energy to make something, you're probably going to order out. And when you're ordering out, you're going to say, well, since I'm ordering out, I want to enjoy it, and you're going to get something less than ideal. So, yes, plan your meals ahead of time. You'll save money, eat healthier, and potentially even learn a new skill, which I need to do. While exercise can certainly aid in weight loss, diet accounts for the vast majority of the equation behind losing weight.

 And it's quite possible to lose weight without adjusting your workout, uh, routine at all. I always want my patients to exercise, and it's not solely because I know they're going to expend more energy, therefore lose some weight. It is because it is healthy in all aspects of life. It's going to help somewhat with weight loss.

And what we've actually seen in scientific research is improved survival in individuals who were having heart attacks if they had good heart rate variability. It's a true survival benefit. 

Get used to and accept the feeling of being hungry. You can't lose weight without enduring hunger. So recognizing and normalizing that feeling is important. Not true. You can lose weight without necessarily ever feeling hungry and suffering from it. Intuitive eating is something that many of my patients have, uh, done and done quite well actually. You only eat to the point where you're no longer hungry, where you feel satiated, but not overly full. That way you're not overeating calories, you're not having these tremendous portions of unhealthy foods, and you don't have to sit and starve yourself.

 Lift weights instead of just doing cardio. Not only does this cause you to lose fat, but you also build muscle to replace it. It oversimplified advice, but an overall decent concept. I'll explain when I recommend an exercise routine for my patients. I rarely say just cardio or just weight training. It's usually a combination of both. The reason is they have different benefits. And those benefits really paint a complete picture of good or optimal health. 

For example, going for a run is really good for your heart and helps heart rate variability, especially if you're doing high-intensity interval training. But when you're lifting weights, you're not only burning fat and using calories while you're exercising, you're also doing that when you recover later that day, the following day, because it takes energy to rebuild that muscle and to rebuild it even stronger or bigger if you're lifting heavy enough and consistently enough.

 Snack often this will prevent metabolic slowdown where your metabolism stops. If there is nothing there to digest while snacking, your metabolism is forced to stay engaged. Uh, this one has been, uh, pretty much debunked by modern science. While for some individuals, as long as they monitor their caloric intake and they're not eating poor-quality foods. Raising snacking like that could be a potential option, but it is not a mandatory way for success. 

There are plenty of people that can eat two meals a day, three meals a day, and do just as good a job as those who eat smaller, frequent meals throughout the day. This is an individual decision based on your goals, your lifestyle, and really what your preferences are. This should not be a painful process. Drinking water 30 minutes before a meal will help your body burn calories faster and therefore lose weight. Losing weight isn't as simple as drinking some water. But water is a really important nutrient for your body, and there are several benefits to staying well hydrated. 

When you drink water, you stretch out your stomach. Therefore, you're less likely to consume a really large meal. Second, there is a water-induced thermogenesis process that has some evidence and truth behind it, where by drinking 70-degree water, you actually have to heat it up to your normal body temperature, and that burns some calories. Not a huge deal, but definitely worth noting. It helps to remove the waste from your body, so it decreases bloating and it gets that whole system going. It also keeps you hydrated and performing well during your exercises.

 When you have a good exercise session, you're more likely to burn more calories. Begin meal prepping. Plan out all of your meals for the week and spend a few hours cooking them, storing them in resealable containers ahead of time. This will allow you to eat a prepped meal instead of ordering takeout when you're too tired to cook something fresh. I love this piece of advice. I've tried to do this in the past, but I realize I'm a terrible cook, so I'm working on it. But the reason why I enjoy this is because, A, you get to control what kind of foods you're eating, what kind of oils you're cooking with. When you have that layer of control, you're going to make better decisions. 

Second, when you're tired and you're coming home and you don't have the energy to make something, you're probably going to order out. And when you're ordering out, you're going to say, well, since I'm ordering out, I want to enjoy it, and you're going to get something less than ideal. So, yes, plan your meals ahead of time. You'll save money, eat healthier, and potentially even learn a new skill, which I need to do. While exercise can certainly aid in weight loss, diet accounts for the vast majority of the equation behind losing weight. 

And it's quite possible to lose weight without adjusting your workout, uh, routine at all. I always want my patients to exercise, and it's not solely because I know they're going to expend more energy, therefore lose some weight. It is because it is healthy in all aspects of life. It's going to help somewhat with weight loss.

               doctor fact-checks popular weight loss tips