Dispel any weight loss-related misconceptions with these power-packed tips from Kaizzad Capadia

Do you think that doing 100 abdominal crunches is the way to a flat stomach? Are you exercising on cardio-vascular machines like the treadmill or stepper for an hour, thinking that the more you exercise the slimmer you will look? If you are chasing an ideal figure on the weighing scale, chances are that you are on a devastating trip. Before your misinformed beliefs make you lose nothing (in terms of inches and kilos) but hope, read these facts.

Myth #1: “I must shed off the extra two-three kilos, then I am set.”
Truth: Target fat-loss, not weight-loss. “There are two tissues in the body — the lean tissue which is better known as muscle and the adipose (fat) tissue,” explains Kaizzad Capadia, director, K-11 Fitness Academy, Mumbai. “When you want to lose weight, make an effort to shed the unwanted fat tissue.” Unfortunately weight loss is much easier than fat loss. It can be achieved by strict dieting. “However, most women forget that a crash diet actually harms the body more than doing good. While on a diet, you deny your body basic nutrition and end up losing muscle tissue rather than fat tissue.”

If you lose muscle tissue, you slow down your basal metabolic rate (BMR) — the rate at which the body burns calories at rest. Once this rate drops, whatever you eat is too much for your body to use. Therefore, the rest accumulates as body fat.

“Also, once you lose muscle tissue, you automatically increase your potential for storing fat because the body now requires that many fewer calories to sustain itself. Even if your diet consists of just 1,000 calories a day, that too might be excessive for your body to use and hence it is stored as fat.” This is an unhealthy and undesirable way of looking slim. So if you look slender and weigh a kilo or two more than your advocated weight, don’t lose sleep over it.