Everyone loves to preach diet rules that they swear by, but is there any truth in them or did they just happen to lose weight due to other factors? Here we have 8 common diet ‘rules’ that you can safely break and not feel bad for it…

1. Don’t eat late at night because you will store it as fat and pile on the pounds.

This is rubbish, a consistent excess of calories per day/week will cause you to gain weight, no matter what time you consume them, so go on, have that midnight snack!

2. Eat at set meal times everyday.

Nah, Eat when you feel hungry, when you want to, or when you don’t want to, its up to you. As long as you stick within your calorie target you will be fine.

3. When you cheat, you might as well write the whole day off.

This one is nonsense, but a lot of you out there cave in after eating one ‘cheat’ food. A biscuit or two is no reason to eat the whole packet and then work your way through the chocolate in the fridge, the reality is that one cheat meal will not have a significant impact on your progress, it can in fact be good for you mentally, however the opposite is true if that ice cream after lunch turns in to pizzas and kebabs for dinner.

4. Fat will make you feel full, making you eat less.

Although fat takes longer to digest, it will not make you feel fuller for longer, if you find yourself getting hungry the easiest thing to do is add more fibrous veg to your diet, this will keep your stomach physically more full and is extremely low in calories.

5. Dieting with a friend always makes weight loss easier.

While its good to have a friend to do something with, your weight loss journey is YOUR journey, you may become demotivated if your friend makes more progress than you which could cause you to binge eat or starve yourself if you’re desperate to catch them up, both will be detrimental to your overall progress and widen the gap between you and your friend. Use each other for motivation instead of competition.

6. Carbs are fattening.

I’m not sure why carbs have been hung out to dry as the main macro-nutrient that causes fat gain in recent years, however there is no macro-nutrient that is fattening, excess of calories however is very fattening, no matter what type of food they come from.

7. Skipping a meal every now and then will help you lose weight.

Or will you just be so hungry by the time your next meal rolls around that you devour twice the portion you had planned?

8. Saying no to food at a party or when at a friends is rude.

No, it isn’t, this shows willpower and demonstrates excellent control when tempted with something which may slow down your progress. Remember, you can always reward yourself with a cheat meal once a week for having the willpower to say no to those cakes in the office.

So there you have it, 8 diet rules that can be broken without making you feel guilty, the next time someone tells you that slice of bread will make you fat, you can devour it safe in the knowledge that unless you’re eating a whole loaf you’ll be fine!