from my clients is that

I need to skip meals and starve in order to lose weight.

It's not true.

So, if you skip meals,

it's gonna have such a negative effect on your body

that when you do go to sit down and eat,

you'll probably overconsume.

Narrator: That's Lorraine Kearney,

one of three dietitians we brought into our studios.

My name is Ryan Turner.

My name is Nikita Kapur.

Narrator: To debunk 18 of the most common

weight-loss myths.

Kearney: The biggest myth that frustrates me the most

is that all calories are created equally.

A calorie is not just a calorie.

It depends on the source of your calories,

whether it's coming from caloric-dense foods

or nutritional-dense foods.

Caloric-dense foods would be more so

our cookies, our cakes.

We can have a cookie that's 100 calories,

we'll eat it, it'll digest really fast,

then it's gonna spike our blood sugar levels

where, when we start to crash again,

we're gonna crave more sugar

for that energy pick-me-up.

Narrator: And that can make you gain weight.

Kearney: On the other hand, you can have a banana.

Narrator: Which is an example

of a nutritionally dense food.

Kearney: I get the question a lot,

do bananas make you fat?

Bananas do not make you fat.

Bananas, they're a great source of potassium,

but for those 100 calories

you're also gonna get the fiber and the nutrients

that your body needs in that cellular level

to make sure that you are healthy

and that you're nourished.

Narrator: And you definitely need to nourish your body

if you're trying to lose weight.

Kapur: When we are restricting calories,

you are restricting the energy source of your body.

You're also restricting the energy source of your brain.

And if that's happening,

then, you know, very primitive,

protective mechanisms

start to kick into place

where your body senses that as

a physiological threat

and does start to shift your metabolic balance

to burn less because it's getting less.

It's kinda like a budget. Right?

So, if you have a paycheck

and you're running out of funds,

you're going to conserve how much you pay

till your next paycheck.

Your body does the same.

Your body will jump into this protective

physiological, biological mechanism

to reduce the amount of energy you're using,

which is why it is hard for people to maintain weight.

Narrator: And starving yourself

can also shrink your muscles.

Turner: You wanna make sure that

you're not eating less

than 70% of your overall calorie needs.

If you do, that's where not only

are you probably gonna feel extremely hungry

and it's gonna take you off

of any goals that you're setting,

but you're probably gonna start compromising

your muscle mass as well,

and that's where weight loss is gonna be unhealthy.

Narrator: But while the amount of calories

you consume matters,

the timing might not.

Turner: Timing your meals is always a big question.

Everyone comes to me and they kinda smirk

and they think that I'm gonna give them a thumbs up

when they say, "I don't eat

after 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock."

And I say, "Oh, all right, do you enjoy that?"

And they say, "No."

And I say, "Well then maybe eating after is OK."

Because timing of day

is not going to affect weight loss.

Calories are what's going to affect

weight loss or body-fat loss.

So, if you eat a bunch of additional calories

and you're in calorie surplus

and those are coming late at night,

then that's what's causing something like weight gain.

Narrator: And what about eating

first thing in the morning?

Kearney: It depends on the body, and it depends on

the person and their relationship with food.

For a lot of people, me included,

if I don't eat a meal, I usually feel very deprived,

and it's like I want to make up for it later.

If that happens,

then that's when we can add in a lot of calories.

Personally, I'm a huge advocate of breakfast.

Our body runs on fuel, and food is our fuel.

So if we have our breakfast,

then we feel we have more sustained energy

throughout the day.

Narrator: And if you do choose to eat breakfast,

feel free to go for that 2% yogurt.

Turner: Now, fat is incredibly necessary.

We should not be afraid of fat.

We need fat in the diet.

Fat's gonna be necessary for things

like absorbing nutrients, like the fat-soluble nutrients

like vitamin A and D and E and K.

And you also need to make sure that fat,

specifically cholesterol,

is what's gonna help produce things like your hormones,

so things like estrogen and

testosterone, growth hormones,

so we need all those kind of things.

Narrator: Not only is fat healthy,

but fat-free foods are often loaded with sugar or salt.

Kearney: So, if you have a wholesome product

and you're removing the fat of it,

it's gonna taste completely different.

You probably wouldn't even like it.

But what they're gonna do is replace that flavor

with something else,

and usually it's either sodium or sugar.

So, with sugar,

when we have, like, a yogurt

that has the fruit at the bottom,

they're gonna have way more sugars

than if you had, like, a 2% Greek yogurt.

Narrator: And, as it turns out,

fat isn't the only nutrient you can keep in your diet

and still lose weight.

Kearney: One of the biggest myths I get about carbs

is that you must omit them from your diet to lose weight,

or my body doesn't digest them

well and I have to omit them

because I'd never lose weight

unless I restrict myself.

It's not true.

Narrator: And it's just not sustainable.

Kearney: It's almost impossible to have

a no-carb diet.

Fruits and vegetables are known as carbohydrates,

and we must get those for their nutrients.

Why carbs have a bad name?

It's because of the simple carbs.

The carbs that you see prepackaged

that are the cookies,

the cakes, the sodas, the potato chips.

They're called simple carbs

because the chemical structure of them

is usually one to two glucose molecules put together.

So, when you have, like, a small glucose molecule,

it's easy for them to break away.

But with our complex carbs,

they are really long chains of carbon

that usually are about 18-carbon long,

and then, by the time that your body

starts to break it down,

it's gonna take a while, and that's exactly what we want

because it helps balance our blood sugar

and also that fiber keeps us full for longer

and then also prevents us from snacking.

So, eat your carbs.

Definitely eat your carbs and eat your bread.

Bread's delicious; it's one of my favorite things.

Narrator: And she has a pro tip

for finding bread with more complex carbs.

Kearney: Read your ingredient list.

With bread, a lot of those mass-produced breads

that are in the bread aisle that are shelf-stable,

they can last a month

without getting mold on them.

And when you look at the ingredient list,

it's probably about 50 ingredients long.

They're the ones we wanna avoid.

When you're getting bread,

get the fresh bread that comes from the local bakery,

which is usually around the deli counter area

inside of grocery stores.

Those will have maybe four or five ingredients,

it'll mold after two days,

but you can preserve it

by just putting it into the freezer

and take it out as you need it.

Narrator: And, speaking of bread,

what about going gluten-free to lose weight?

Kearney: Gluten-free for weight loss

can be a huge marketing ploy.

So, with gluten-free, there are a lot of people

that do have an intolerance to gluten.

Or they have celiac disease,

which is where the body starts attacking itself

and can deteriorate the body.

Narrator: But there are also people

without these conditions who are looking to...

Kearney: Blame something like the gluten

without checking the rest of their diet.

If you are honest with yourself,

recording your food, checking the ingredients,

and then you eat the gluten

and you feel the intolerance, then great.

But a lot of people will choose to just jump in

and be like, gluten's the enemy.

Narrator: So, most of us don't need to cut out gluten

or fat or carbs to lose weight.

But there are some products better left on the shelf.

Kearney: The diet sodas are terrible,

with all the additives, preservatives in them,

and the hidden sugars.

A lot of the added sugars are the synthetic sugars

that are supposed to be great

because they don't release insulin,

which then doesn't cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

But, internally,

if we don't stimulate the release of insulin,

those sugars, the synthetic sugars, go to the liver,

build up around the liver,

hinder the functioning of the liver,

and then can lead to nonalcoholic fatty disease.

If I'm gonna have a soda,

which I have once in a blue moon,

it will be the real thing.

Yes, there's more sugar in it,

but it's something that I don't have on a regular basis.

Narrator: Better yet, she says, drink water.

Kearney: Jazz up your water.

Add fruit to it, add some mint or cucumber, lemon.

Yes, it'll take a little bit for your taste buds to reset,

but you're getting so many nutrients from that water,

and your body requires water

for it to function optimally.

Water is one of the six nutrients

that the body needs.

And when we're dehydrated,

it also mimics the signs of hunger.

So people turn to food a lot if they're dehydrated,

not realizing that they're not hungry,

it's just your body saying,

"Give me some water, I'm thirsty."

Narrator: And what about juice?

Kearney: Oh, juice cleanses. [laughs]

So, juice cleanses are, like, one of my pet peeves.

If you're having a juice every once in a while, great.

You're still getting the antioxidants out of it,

you're still getting the nutrients,

but you're removing that fiber.

And fiber is key for the body to support gut health.

With a lot of juice cleanses, they're hella expensive,

and we have this belief