3 Weight-Loss Myths You Keep Falling For

This article was written by Markham Heid and provided by our partners at Prevention.

The smaller your dish, the less you'll eat. You've heard health experts offer this as a simple psychological trick to lower your calorie intake. But a new study suggests that small plate may actually be detrimental to your diet.

When 85 people served themselves from a buffet, those spooning their food onto large plates did not consume any more calories than those given smaller dishes, according to the study published in the journal Appetite. Instead, the people given large plates tended to fill up that extra space with healthy vegetables and fruit.

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"We took a closer look at the existing literature and found people only consumed more calories from larger dishes when the dish was a bowl and the person eating was distracted," explains study co-author Tamara Bucher, Ph.D., a professor of consumer behavior at ETH Zürich in Switzerland.

Translation: If you're watching TV or sitting at your computer, eating a big bowl of ice cream is a bad idea. But if you're serving yourself dinner? You tend to fill up empty space with more healthy stuff, not junk, says Bucher.

Here are two more weight-loss myths debunked by recent research findings:

Myth: You Should Weigh Yourself Every Day
Lots of dieters are told to step on a scale every day in order to stay (literally) on top of their weight problem. But new research from the U.K. suggests you shouldn't run out to buy a bathroom scale any time soon. People who weighed themselves daily lost no more weight than those who skipped the regular scale sessions. Focusing on healthier eating behaviors and physical activity is more important than the number on the scale, suggests researchers. 

Myth: You Need to Cut Carbs to Lose Weight
All bread is not bad. A research team from Spain kept tabs on the eating habits and weight of more than 9,000 people. After about five years, they found no links between multi-grain bread consumption and weight gain or obesity rates. In fact, people who ate whole-grain bread most days of the week were actually less likely to put on weight than those who ate it less frequently. Unfortunately, eating white bread on a daily basis was associated with a greater risk for obesity and weight gain. The higher quantities of refined grains and lower fiber content explains why white bread isn't very waistline-friendly, says study authors.

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