Helping other people reach their goals.

Swyser

Hey guys,

Here is my story. Word of my success in losing weight has spread like wildfire in the res where I stay. So naturally a couple of guys have come to me for advice to get into shape. First thing, I point them to this awesome MFP site to calculate their RMR and BMI (which is stupid, BMI sucks) which I then use to workout a general diet and provide guidelines for them to help change their lifestyle and gym programs. I have had quite a bit of success with some of the guys. Some have lost up to 12kg in a 5 month period. Now, for my question, is there any danger in giving weight loss advice if I am not registered or even qualified to do so? What if something happens to one of these guys due to the low calorie diets?

What do you guys think? Should I make them sign a waiver or something? Or am I just paranoid?

Kind regards
Francois

elphie754

Seriously? Sign a waiver for telling them about a free app/website to track calories? Am I missing something? Like are you charging them?

Alatariel75

It's a sad fact that there is always a chance that if something happens to someone you have advised, they could take action against you. To protect yourself you need to be very clear in making it known that your advice is simply advice, it's based on personal experience and not on any qualifications, and that it's an 'own risk' type deal. The more detailed your advice, the greater the chance that you could be found liable if something was to happen and they took action.

But in mitigation of that risk, as long as your advice is sensible, reasonable and not extreme and the likelihood of something bad happening is remote or unforeseeable, you'd be less likely to be found liable if that chain of events were to occur.

*this is in no way legal advice and any reliance hereupon is at the risk of the reader

Sued0nim

I would not be giving out diet plans - just point them in the direction to work it out themselves and encourage them to think it through themselves

you've had success because you've gained the knowledge - kudos - you need to allow your friends to do the same .. make them learn what foods are their go-to foods, what are the portion sizes, what they have to moderate in order to include that food they love, how exercise helps .. don't deny them the chance to grow and learn for themselves, which IMO is what prescriptive diet plans do

TimothyFish

I don't think we can answer that without you signing a waiver stating that you aren't going to sue us for giving you legal advice.

50452

My doctor suggested this site the day before I signed up for an account.

What she said was, "Use myfitnesspal.com. I had a patient who used it and a year later came back and had lost 50 pounds. It's great. You can download an app to make it even more convenient."

That's it. That's all she said. If I'm serious, I'll take her advice. If not, then I won't. You can't talk anyone into embracing weight loss. They have to want it from deep in their core. I've been to sites that are similar, but this is what she suggested, and I am following her advice to the letter.

The database is great. The tracking is great. Sometimes you have to separate the chaff on the message boards, but I found out that once you friend someone, you can interact with them in a facebookie sort of way. It's nice.

If you are concerned about liability issues, just tell people how much the site helped you and let them decide. If they are serious, they will do it, and they will do it in a way that works for them.