Theory: You burn up the food you eat earlier in the day, while late-night calories sit in your system and turn into fat.
Reality: Calories can't tell time. "Your body digests and uses calories the same way morning, noon, and night.
Myth No. 2: Eating Small, Frequent Meals Boosts Your Metabolism
Theory: If you keep adding small amounts of food to your fire (the fire being your metabolism), you will keep it going strong and burn more calories overall.
Reality: Food intake has a negligible effect on metabolism. Some foods, including those with caffeine, may slightly and temporarily increase metabolism, but the effect is too small to help you lose weight. What most affects your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the rate at which your body burns calories at rest, is body composition and size. More muscles and bigger bodies generally burn more calories overall.
Myth No. 3: Pasta Makes You Fat
Theory: When you eat carbohydrates, your body turns them into sugars, which are then stored as fat.
Reality: Carbohydrates per se don't make you fat; extra calories do, whether you eat them in the form of carbs, fats, or protein. Besides, carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which are important parts of a healthy diet. In short, the problem isn't pasta but the sheer volume consumed.
Myth No. 4: Coffee Can Help You Lose Weight
Theory: The caffeine in coffee acts as an appetite suppressant and a metabolism booster.
Reality: While coffee may temporarily squelch your appetite, drinking a couple of cups a day won't have enough of an effect to help you lose weight. Besides, pouring too much coffee into your system―drinking, say, four to seven cups a day―may lead to anxiety, sleeplessness, and an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
Myth No. 5: Milk Can Help You Lose Weight
Theory: Calcium helps the body break down fat more efficiently, stimulating weight loss.Reality: Dairy doesn't appear to have magic properties. A few studies from the mid-2000s concluded that dieters who consumed dairy lost more weight than dieters who did not. But other studies showed no effect, and still others showed a link between high milk consumption and eating more calories.
article courtesy of: http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/weight-loss/busting-10-diet-myths-10000001700385/index.html
