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Everybody seems to think they’re an expert when it comes to diet tips and fat loss. Unfortunately, conflicting information has created a number of commonly cited diet tips that can actually be detrimental to your physique. Here is a list of the top 10 dangerous diet tips that you must know in order to avoid losing years of precious muscle gain!

Do a search for fat loss or diet tips on the Internet, and you’re bound to come up with tens of thousands of results. Among these results, you’re also likely to come across thousands of different diet tips, opinions, and theories on the subject. With all the conflicting advice that’s given, it is no wonder why people fall victim to the dangerous diet tips which are taken as fact nowadays.

But following these dangerous diet tips religiously can have disastrous effects on your body – especially when you’re trying to retain as much muscle as possible while dieting! This is why I think it’s so important to know the main diet tips to avoid so you don’t make any major mistakes with your bodybuilding. Keeping that in mind, here is a list of the top 10 dangerous diet tips, and what the reality is of each one.

Dangerous Diet Tip #1: Fat people have slow metabolisms and can’t lose weight.

This diet tip is especially bad because it can defeat people mentally as they start to grow larger. And fatter people supposedly have slower metabolisms, which makes weight loss even harder to accomplish. Luckily, this diet tip is a total lie, and people who are overweight actually have a much easier time burning fat than skinny people.

The reason for this is because resting metabolisms actually increase when a person is bigger since their body needs more calories to fuel it. So basically, a bigger person needs more calories for their body to function, and thus they have a higher metabolism.

Research dietitian Clare Grace says, “Weight gain occurs when the number of calories eaten is greater than the number used up by the body. Unfortunately, people are becoming increasingly sedentary, burning off less and less calories, and it seems likely this is a crucial factor in the increasing numbers struggling to control their weight.” In short, overweight people can definitely burn fat – even more so than skinny people!

Dangerous Diet Tip #2: Coffee helps you burn fat

I hear a lot of bodybuilders talking about how they drink coffee because it supposedly boosts their metabolism and burns fat. Going even further, people often think that coffee helps suppress appetites and reduces cravings. This is partly true because coffee does have a temporary effect on suppressing a person’s appetite, but it is not a natural fat burner.

In fact, if you drink too much coffee, you can end up losing sleep and raising your blood pressure. Obviously this is not desirable so you need to keep your coffee drinking to a minimum. Temporarily boosting your metabolism is definitely not worth disrupting your sleeping patterns according to Ph.D. Liz Applegate.

Regarding heavy coffee drinkers, Applegate said, “They become addicted to caffeine on a higher level, and it takes four to six hours to clear out of the system. Sleep is not as good, and you're tired the next day." Losing sleep can also have a negative effect on your workouts too since you won’t have as much energy or be as focused. Case in point, avoid drinking several cups of coffee a day.

Dangerous Diet Tip #3: Low-fat foods help you cut fat.

Just because a label says fat-free or low-fat does not mean that the food is healthier for you. That’s because the lowered fat content can easily be replaced with extra calories from a variety of other sources – some of which turns into fat.

For instance, you might see low-fat ice cream in the grocery store, which would lead you to believe it is healthier. However, a quick glance at the nutritional values on the back suggest otherwise since most low-fat ice cream contains more sugar. And sugar eventually turns into fat so you’re only delaying the process.

One more thing to look out for in regards to this diet tip is that buying low-fat foods might cause you to eat more. As leading nutritionist Alan Sullivan says, “Watching the quantity is important. People tend to have half-fat spread, but then use twice as much.” So keep in mind that just because a food is low in fat does not mean it is okay for you to eat a larger quantity.

Dangerous Diet Tip #4: Small meals spread throughout the day boosts metabolism

Everyone from ripped bodybuilders to your average stay-at-home mom has been convinced that eating small meals throughout the day provides a big boost to one’s metabolism. The thinking behind this is that smaller amounts of food over the course of a day will continually add fuel to the body and keep you going.

But the reality is that food has little to no effect on a person’s metabolism. Now foods with caffeine in them can boost a person’s metabolism for a short time, but it won’t cause any effect on weight loss. The only thing that truly affects people’s ability to burn calories and lose weight is their body size and composition. As mentioned before, bigger people need more food to keep their bodies going, and are thus able to burn more calories when at rest.

Of course, it helps a lot more when people are bigger because of their muscle rather than fat. That’s because a pound of fat only burns about 3 calories a day while a pound of muscle burn 14 calories a day. If you’ve got 130 pounds of extra muscle on your frame, as opposed to 130 pounds of extra fat, the different is huge since you would be burning 1,820 calories as opposed to 390 when at rest.

Dangerous Diet Tip #5: Food eaten late at night will be stored as fat.

Some people are terrified to eat anytime before bed since they’ve always been told that the food will be stored as fat. And it certainly makes sense when you think about it because you’re not burning many calories while sleeping. However, a recent study by the Dunn Nutrition Centre in Cambridge, England suggests something very different.

The study placed a group of people within a whole body calorimeter, which measures stored and burned calories. While in this whole body calorimeter, the volunteers ate a big lunch and small late-night meal for a certain time period. After doing this, the group ate a small lunch and a big late-night supper for another test period. Once the results were in, the Dunn Nutrition Centre found that late-night meals do not cause the body to store more fat.

Their findings suggested it’s not the time of day when you eat that is important, but rather how much you’re eating each day. World-renowned dietician Lyndel Costain added, “It is true that people who skip meals during the day, then eat loads in the evening, are more likely to be overweight than those who eat regularly throughout the day. This may be because eating regular meals helps people regulate their appetite and overall food intake.”

Dangerous Diet Tip #6: Foods rich in carbs make you fat.

There are more than a few people who are scared to eat foods like spaghetti and lasagna because they are loaded with carbs. And with many fads diets these days calling for an elimination of carbs, the fear has only gotten worse. Those who are scared to eat carbs buy into the diet tip that carbohydrates will eventually be stored as fat.

However, people should understand that eating carbs is not what’s going to make them overweight. Overeating will make them overweight since an excess of any kind of food can turn into fat. The fact that many people tend to overeat when having pasta is probably why they’ve come to believe it will make them fat.

But you really don’t need to fear eating pasts at all. In fact, pastas are actually pretty healthy when not overloaded onto one’s plate. Next time you eat pasta, make sure that you’re having it in moderation instead of centering your whole meal on it.

Dangerous Diet Tip #7: Eating fattening foods causes people to gain weight much quicker.

Many bodybuilders avoid fatty food like it’s a plague. And if you’re trying to reach an optimum level of performance, avoiding fatty foods is definitely necessary. But don’t expect to pack on lots of pounds around the waistline just because you ate a cheeseburger and fries for dinner.

That’s because true weight gain takes a long time to “accomplish”. Just as you need to burn 3,500 calories to drop a pound, it also takes an extra 3,500 calories to gain a pound. With this being the case, gaining real weight is just as slow of a process as losing it. So don’t freak out the next time you eat a heavy meal at Applebee’s or Chilli’s, and weigh a couple of pounds more afterwards….it’s water weight that will eventually be dropped.

Dangerous Diet Tip #8: Splitting protein and carbohydrates into different meals helps you lose weight.

What fuels this diet tip is that certain people believe carbs and protein are digested differently. So if you’re eating the two nutrients at different meals, your digestion will improve and fat loss will supposedly follow.

This diet tip is really unfounded because our body’s digestive system is capable of handling all kinds of different food at the same time. As nutritionist Chris Gardner says, there is absolutely no proof that you’ll lose more weight by eating protein and carbohydrates separately.

The only thing you should really focus on in regards to protein and carbs is selecting the best sources for them. Fish, lean meat, and dairy products are excellent sources of protein while fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are a great place to get your daily carbohydrates.

Dangerous Diet Tip #9: Vegetables don’t help pack on muscle.

Regardless of whether or not you think vegetables help put on muscle, you most likely eat them to stay healthy. However, bodybuilders aren’t usually motivated to eat a great deal of vegetables since they aren’t packed with protein. But the truth is that you should try to spread your protein sources out over a variety of foods other than meat. Vegetable sources such as grains, nuts, and pulses are an excellent place to get extra protein.

In addition to getting your protein from a variety of sources, it is also important to avoid overdoing it with the protein. Claire MacEvilly, a nutritionist at MRC Human Nutrition Research, echoed this sentiment by saying, “The body can only store a certain amount of protein. So too much can do damage to the kidneys.”

Dangerous Diet Tip #10: Fad diets (a.k.a. crash diets) can help you lose weight quick

It’s true there are fad diets that can cause you to lose weight and fat at a rapid rate. However, there is a big price to pay for this rapid weight loss in the form of lean muscle tissue. Claire MacEvilly weighed in on this matter by saying, “Losing weight over the long-term burns off fat. Crash dieting or fasting not only removes fat, but also lean muscle and tissue.”

In addition to the loss of lean muscle tissue, these crash diets also slow your basal metabolic rate (amount of calories needed on a daily basis). So basically, your body will need fewer calories due to decreased muscle tissue, and excess calories will be stored as fat. Fad diets may be a temporary solution to your problem, but in the end, they’ll hurt your weight loss goals rather than help them.

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