There are a great many myths about how to lose weight, and especially about the importance of exercise and nutrition, beginning with the fact that a lack of exercise can make you gain weight. In truth, when the level of your blood sugar goes up higher than what you are using. This is a good indication that you are consuming too many calories. Exercising every day can help you burn those calories, but not exercising is not the cause at the heart of your weight gain, so just exercising will not make you lose weight.

The second myth is that your metabolism will start to slow down after you hit 30 years of age. There has been research done that shows strong evidence to the contrary. Rather, a slowing metabolic rate as it occurs with age is generally due to the loss of muscle tissue, which itself is linked to a lack of sufficient exercise and/or activity. Your metabolism does not have to slow down, not when you are 30, not when you are 40, and not when you are 50. If you remain active, you can keep your metabolism in good shape.

Another myth is the mistaken believe that carbohydrates make you gain weight and/or are fattening. This myth has gotten more popular as more and more no carb fad diets emerge. In truth, there are some carbohydrates that your body needs for vital energy. In truth, any food can be fattening, if you eat too much of it. Your body only needs so much food, and it needs so much of certain foods. A fist sized portion of pasta is essential; a huge heaping plate of it is not. A gigantic portion of practically anything is going to be fattening in some way.

The belief that you cannot or should not eat after seven o'clock at night is the fourth myth. This simply is not so. However, it is better not to go to bed on a full stomach. That does not mean that a small snack that your body needs at 7:00 pm is going to hurt you.

Another myth about weight loss involves the mistaken belief that strength training will make you bulky. Women in particular worry about this but, in truth; the size of your muscles is mostly genetic, in addition to being due to your body's production of hormones. Women are not genetically built to be bulky, so strength training will generally just give them as much muscle tone as they want. In addition, weight training is very advantageous to women because it helps burn a lot of calories. For either gender, weight training helps promote tightness and tautness in your muscles, so that not only will you look and feel stronger and healthier, you will also look thinner.