It’s great if you’re comfortable with your body.

But many people are not, especially after they start working and realise exactly why their parents or themselves became fat. Lack of a weight management plan and those fast foods are probably some of the causes.

Pressed for time and sleep, they seek out information online on how to lose weight. But here’s the thing – there’s plenty of information out there that’s false.

Here are seven weight loss myths Singaporeans often subscribe to that aren’t exactly the most accurate, or are often misinterpreted.

1. Late night suppers make you fat

Eating late night supper makes you fat? Well, not exactly. According to Health Promotion Board (HPB), the time you snack doesn’t quite matter.

However, the food that you eat does – and since people like to spend the wee hours of the morning snacking on prata and eating packets of instant noodles, supper gets a bad rep.

But hey, we all know you’re not going to eat clean for supper – because no salad places are open at 2 am in the morning.

2. Fat-free means doesn’t always mean healthier

Items labelled as fat-free may have less calories than their full-fat counterparts. But the reverse can also be true. More sugar and carbs – that also contain calories – may have been added to the item to replace the fat.

Because weight loss is all about eating fewer calories, ‘fat-free’ technically doesn’t mean anything when you’re trying to lose weight. Always read the nutritional information instead.

3. Drinking ice cold water/bathing with cold water will help you lose weight

Fact: You will lose calories by drinking ice cold water because your body will have to work so as to raise temperature of the liquid.

Also a fact: You’ll burn approximately 8 calories from doing that.

Same with the icy shower, which you can’t have in Singapore anyway. Turns out shivering your way to toned abs never worked out for anyone. You will just get hypothermia. Exercise and a healthy diet is infinitely more productive.

4. Doing sit ups will make you lose belly fat

Spot training – the idea that if you work out one part of your body and you will lose weight there – is a lie. If that were true, keyboard warriors’ fingers will be as slim as chopsticks because of all the typing they do.

So no, doing 1000 sit ups and crunches a day won’t make your tummy go away.

5. Brown sugar is significantly better than white sugar/ Sea salt is better than table salt

Just because something is brown and looks unrefined, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a lot healthier. That’s just marketing.

So yes, brown wholemeal bread is significantly healthier than processed white bread, but the same does not apply to sugar. Brown sugar is actually just white sugar made brown again by adding molasses.

According the New York Times, this means that….

… the two varieties of sugar are similar nutritionally. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, brown sugar contains about 17 kilocalories per teaspoon, compared with 16 kilocalories per teaspoon for white sugar.

But what about sea salt? Can one type of salt be marginally healthier than normal table salt? The answer is yes – some salts have more minerals than others, but only in tiny amounts.

So for you to benefit from one kind of salt, you’ll have to use a ton of it. Which is unhealthy anyway.

6. Yong Tau Foo is hands down the healthiest food ever

Yong Tau Foo is a popular dish among Singaporeans looking to cut some flab. And yes, it can be healthy if you pick the right ingredients.

The problem is that the tastiest ingredients are also often the unhealthiest. Deep fried wanton? Deep fried fish paste? No longer as healthy as you think. If you want healthy, make your meal the least oily as possible.

7. You need to lose weight to be happy

Think you don’t have the ideal body? Well, you probably don’t, at least according to all those magazines and fitspo posts. But what about yourself? Contrary to what blogshops/influencers tell you, skinny isn’t always healthy.

Do you feel happy? Do you feel healthy? If the answer to both are a resounding yes, then hey, that’s all that matters.

If the answer to one is no, then it’s a time to have a look to see how you can manage your weight.

Most people typically go exercise, but if you can’t muster the discipline, or have a pre-existing condition that makes that impossible for you, don’t be discouraged.

After all, abs are not made solely in the kitchen – you can always consult the professional services of a weight management centre to help you get on a diet that’s safe and effective.

Worried? You could try out a trial session and have London Weight Management review your current weight concerns -- just to get started.

This sponsored post is brought to you by London Weight Management. The money paid to Mothership for this post goes a long way in making sure our writers eat healthily, and can exercise often...so we can remain trim and fit.

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