Why The Most Popular ‘Rule’ For Weight Loss Is A Total Myth

You’ve probably heard of this weight loss rule before, and perhaps even your health care professional advised you of it. But it turns out that what the diet world has been promoting as a fact for many years is actually total Bull.

I’m talking about the 3,500 calorie rule, which states that in order to shed a single pound you must cut or burn 3,500 calories. It’s everywhere, and it seems like common knowledge. Some doctors and nutritionists go by it. So how did this phony fact originate?

Back in the 1950s, a medical researcher by the name of Max Wishnofsky measured how much energy is represented by one pound of fat. He discovered that 3,500 calories made up one pound, but he assumed without much forethought that a person could linearly lose weight by cutting or burning this amount of energy.

His theory didn’t include much research on how the body actually reacts to losing weight, and that not all pound loss is comprised of pure body fat. It also didn’t factor in that once a person gets lighter, their calorie-burning power and food intake changes drastically. Yet somehow this miscalculation became popular dieting advise.

So scientists have revised this theory and now say that weight loss is an individualized process which is different for every body type. The amount of calories that need to cut or burned off to shed a pound is surprisingly over 7,000 on average, and your diet and fitness routine needs to be tailored to your own body’s needs, and not a ‘rule’.

What are your thoughts on this new finding? What diet and exercise tricks have worked for you?

Source: Washington Post

 

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