The joys of office broscience - misguided food/nutrition advice

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  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    stealthq wrote: »
    icanplay3 wrote: »
    I wish I would've never announced that I'm starting the weight loss "journey" to my family/friends. They ALL have great advice for me. Don't eat carbs because they make you fat. Don't eat dessert because it makes you fat. Oh, you want to lose 100 pounds!? You will NEVER do that without doing EXTREME exercise! You will NEVER lose weight if you don't exercise. Then my best friend, who's also 100 lbs overweight, is on the "hcg diet" where she is consuming only about 500 cals per day, then is STARVING so she "cheats" on her diet every other day and isn't losing weight. I wonder why!? smh...I am not going to announce my weight loss plans to anyone ever again. Lesson learned. LOL

    Trust me, it wouldn't have mattered. I never said a thing, and when it became obvious I had lost a bunch of weight, the questions started.

    What was I doing? For how long? Did I exercise? Did I know that the only way to lose weight is to avoid X food or only eat at specific times of the day? Surely I couldn't possibly be eating that piece of pie on my diet? Etc, ad nauseum.

    Meanwhile, I'm wondering if they thought I had some kind of extreme lipo done since I couldn't possibly have lost weight doing the things I'd done and was still doing.

    More than a year later, I still get those comments from the same people.

    Trying to lose weight/get fit/get healthy is like having to live a double life or have a secret identity, I swear.

    I actively avoid discussing my eating habits, my workouts, my gains/losses, because EVERYONE has some sort of opinion they want to talk at you.

    Lets not even get into if you just want to lose a little excess weight if you're not extremely overweight or something. Then you have to get into the "Yes, I KNOW I'm not 'fat', I'm just trying to get in better shape NO I'm not commenting on your eating habits or calling YOU fat, oh god why are we now talking about YOUR weight I didn't even wanna talk about this in the first place NO thank you I don't really even like cupcakes honestly no SERIOUSLY it isn't because I'm trying to be 'so perfect' I just-"

    Yep.

    It got worse when I started lifting (that was after I hit goal weight), and now that I'm running as well ...

    People clearly think I'm silently passing judgement on them. I just don't say anything about any of it unless asked directly. And even then, I keep it as close to a monosyllabic response as I can.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    stealthq wrote: »
    icanplay3 wrote: »
    I wish I would've never announced that I'm starting the weight loss "journey" to my family/friends. They ALL have great advice for me. Don't eat carbs because they make you fat. Don't eat dessert because it makes you fat. Oh, you want to lose 100 pounds!? You will NEVER do that without doing EXTREME exercise! You will NEVER lose weight if you don't exercise. Then my best friend, who's also 100 lbs overweight, is on the "hcg diet" where she is consuming only about 500 cals per day, then is STARVING so she "cheats" on her diet every other day and isn't losing weight. I wonder why!? smh...I am not going to announce my weight loss plans to anyone ever again. Lesson learned. LOL

    Trust me, it wouldn't have mattered. I never said a thing, and when it became obvious I had lost a bunch of weight, the questions started.

    I'm actually really glad that I never said anything. People of course noticed and some asked questions, but that was after it was established that I knew what I was doing, so I didn't have to deal with the well-meaning advice and judgments (you can't eat that when dieting! you must go low carb!) before I felt confident in what I was doing. By the time they noticed I was pretty secure in my choices.

    Also, maybe I'm just lucky in my social circle, but while some asked me about it many others did not bring it up assuming I was private about it, and I heard that a few others had asked about it of mutual friends to whom I am closer, basically to make sure it was a good thing and not the result of illness before bringing it up.
    Meanwhile, I'm wondering if they thought I had some kind of extreme lipo done since I couldn't possibly have lost weight doing the things I'd done and was still doing.

    I mentioned this in another thread, but our office cleaning woman is super tactless (last time she "complemented" me on a haircut she basically said that I'd looked terrible before and let it go too long, she told me I look 30 years younger with the weight loss and keeps asking me how much I've lost and asked a male co-worker to comment on how great I look (to both of our extreme embarrassment), she has tried to set another co-worker up with various people, numerous other stories).

    Anyway, she would not give up on asking me how I lost the weight "so fast" and did not buy exercise and eating less, kept asking about special diets and blah, blah. I had no idea where her mind was until finally she asked me straight out if I'd had surgery. I denied it--since it's not true--but acknowledged that I'd cut carbs some which seems to have finally helped her get over it.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
    Lizzy622 wrote: »
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    Is there any truth to touching fat with your bare hands making you fat? Something about it being able to be absorbed through the press in your hands?
    That's why I gained weight this winter. I put coconut oil on my skin.

    Ah, but if you believe some of the broscience I've seen on MFP, coconut oil is a MAJICKAL SUPERFOOD that KICK STARTS YOUR METABOLISM for FAT BURNING.

    So, really, you should have lost weight, if we are riding that train.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    cblue315 wrote: »
    I was told today that I should never allow my heart rate to go above 120 while exercising. I replied that I lost most of my weight (down over 110 pounds) was with cardio and weight lifting. She told me to stop because it does not work. Mmmmm.

    Haha
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    My family always says eating after 8pm guarantees weight gain. They had a tough time in Europe.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    @Lizzy622 , Yeah I use it a lot too but people have told me stories....stories they believe.
  • DaveAkeman
    DaveAkeman Posts: 296 Member
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    My family always says eating after 8pm guarantees weight gain. They had a tough time in Europe.

    Is that 8PM where you ARE, or where you LIVE? I'm getting really confused.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    DaveAkeman wrote: »
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    My family always says eating after 8pm guarantees weight gain. They had a tough time in Europe.

    Is that 8PM where you ARE, or where you LIVE? I'm getting really confused.

    Oh sorry. They believed that if you ate after 2000hrs in the time zone you were staying in that you woke up heavier.

    When they begin to travel and meet other cultures they found a world of people that are after that time and never woke up h heavier than when they went to sleep.
    They found it baffling and said the 8pm weight thing may just apply to family members.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    I rub coconut oil into my skin daily and use a homemade scrub containing either olive oil or coconut oil twice a week and have managed to hit my goal weight.

    We use it for the same things my house too :)
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    For the hot sauce eaters I have a question. :p Your use of hot sauce doesn't have any thing to do with that girlie magazine a few years back that had an article about Penelope Cruz does it?

    The one that said she would drink a cup of water and eat hot pepper or cinnamon with every meal to avoid gaining weight.
  • lauracups
    lauracups Posts: 533 Member
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    For the hot sauce eaters I have a question. :p Your use of hot sauce doesn't have any thing to do with that girlie magazine a few years back that had an article about Penelope Cruz does it?

    The one that said she would drink a cup of water and eat hot pepper or cinnamon with every meal to avoid gaining weight.

    I love hot sauce of various types on everything. ..but only because of flavor. Been "using " way before the cool kids did;)
  • DaveinSK
    DaveinSK Posts: 86 Member
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    For the hot sauce eaters I have a question. :p Your use of hot sauce doesn't have any thing to do with that girlie magazine a few years back that had an article about Penelope Cruz does it?

    The one that said she would drink a cup of water and eat hot pepper or cinnamon with every meal to avoid gaining weight.

    That makes sense to me. I know every once in awhile I'll go a little nuts with the peppers when making Chili, and my portion size for that batch is probably 1/2 cup. The majority of those calories are probably spent sweating and shaking too.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    DaveinSK wrote: »
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    For the hot sauce eaters I have a question. :p Your use of hot sauce doesn't have any thing to do with that girlie magazine a few years back that had an article about Penelope Cruz does it?

    The one that said she would drink a cup of water and eat hot pepper or cinnamon with every meal to avoid gaining weight.

    That makes sense to me. I know every once in awhile I'll go a little nuts with the peppers when making Chili, and my portion size for that batch is probably 1/2 cup. The majority of those calories are probably spent sweating and shaking too.

    Lol :D
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    I rub coconut oil into my skin daily and use a homemade scrub containing either olive oil or coconut oil twice a week and have managed to hit my goal weight.
    We use it for the same things my house too :)
    It just makes the skin feel so guuuuud. :#

  • CJsf1t
    CJsf1t Posts: 414 Member
    I recently started working at a Physio clinic (I am a physiotherapist). The owner is also a physiotherapist and a Pilate's instructor and conducts classes . She also gives "diet" advice to her clients for weight loss. She has a scale that measures body fat % and states BMR. So recently she was telling one of her new client how her BMR was 1500 cals which means that is the amount of cals she requires to just survive a day. Then she went on to say how if she eats more than that it will be converted to fat. She explained her that to lose one lb she needs to burn 3500 cals a week or 500 cals per day. She told the client she could burn 250 cals through exercise. And then she lost the plot. She continued to tell her she has to save the other 250 cals from her diet!!! Basically contradicting herself!!!
    So anyway after the client left I explained her the whole concept of BMR and tdee and tdee- 15%. And I showed her how her client could eat 1800 cals per day and still lose 1 lb .
    So she replied, " oh OK I understand all this , but tell me they don't lose weight when they eat this much (1500) so there is no way they will lose weight if they eat 1800 cals. "
    I just nodded and and smiled weakly.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    edited May 2015
    @bcomingfitmom they probably didn't accurately count calories like on something like MFP. I don't know why the CICO never made sense to me before.

    Reading the stuff you guys say on the forums clicks more now that I've been doing it.

    Before I was more likely to believe the 'eat before 8pm', 'only certain foods on certain days', and 'your body shape can't eat this' type of spill.

    And if it doesn't all come off in a month, or the weight loss isn't completely linear, or you ate something not on a certain list, you anger the weight loss gods and they will curse you with the weight of their wrath sort of thing.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    fr3smyl wrote: »
    @bcomingfitmom they probably didn't accurately count calories like on something like MFP. I don't know why the CICO never made sense to me before.

    Reading the stuff you guys say on the forums clicks more now that I've been doing it.

    Before I was more likely to believe the 'eat before 8pm', 'only certain foods on certain days', and 'your body shape can't eat this' type of spill.

    And if it doesn't all come off in a month or the weight loss isn't completely linear or you ate something not on a certain list you anger the weight loss gods and they will curse you with the weight of their wrath sort of thing.


    Yup. The owner gave a simple answer to something that could have a whole slew of possible answers. Heck we've had people on here say even if you're not counting accurately, why not reduce the total amount and you'll lose weight anyway.
  • athena61
    athena61 Posts: 54 Member
    seric2000 wrote: »
    I have a coworker who refuses to eat meat. I told her it was nice that she was a vegetarian.
    She said "no, I'm not a vegetarian. I just don't eat anything with muscles because I read that muscle weighs so much more than fat and I don't want to ingest all that heavy meat muscle". (shovels in the macaroni and cheese)
    Go ahead...be flabbergasted.

    I'm mostly reading this for entertainment, but I must interrupt to say OMG (face palm). I hope she's on birth control.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    Well I tried smelling the food today. I don't know....there may be something to this. I will try smelling food over the next few weeks and see what happens. ;)
  • DaveAkeman
    DaveAkeman Posts: 296 Member
    When I smell food I crave food.

    When I crave food I eat food.

    When I eat food I gain weight.

    Therefore, smelling food makes me gain weight.

    Q.E.D.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    All man. That's the opposite of how the technique should work. Maybe you're the exception and not the rule.
  • ihearthanson
    ihearthanson Posts: 6 Member
    Did you not know that if you break a biscuit in half, all the calories fall out?!

    I overheard someone at work telling her friend this. I was convinced, obviously, that she knew it was a wind up. But I genuinely think she actually believed it. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the box I might add....
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    DaveAkeman wrote: »
    When I smell food I crave food.

    When I crave food I eat food.

    When I eat food I gain weight.

    Therefore, smelling food makes me gain weight.

    Q.E.D.

    **Slow Clap**

    Great job, Man. You're my hero
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    lol

    kuv1946nc7cw.png
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    Did you not know that if you break a biscuit in half, all the calories fall out?!

    I overheard someone at work telling her friend this. I was convinced, obviously, that she knew it was a wind up. But I genuinely think she actually believed it. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the box I might add....

    Wow. That's one I have actually never heard before. I may use it.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    lol

    kuv1946nc7cw.png

    Hmmmm...

  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    Did you not know that if you break a biscuit in half, all the calories fall out?!

    I overheard someone at work telling her friend this. I was convinced, obviously, that she knew it was a wind up. But I genuinely think she actually believed it. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the box I might add....

    This reminds me of a few entries I've seen in the database, where an incalculable thing is changed by a user and suddenly half of the calories are gone.

  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    edited May 2015
    As a kid my aunt told me weight doesn't come off after you it age 30. Which completely baffled my mind when a year later my grandma (aged 62 at the time) loss 65 pounds.
    I was such a gullible kid.
  • Bobbie63
    Bobbie63 Posts: 55 Member
    So, ok I haven't read much in the past few years, but, as long as I can remember, eating late was bad, and carbs (except slow) such as breads, potatoes and such were bad as they turned to sugar much faster than veggies or other things that had carbs in them. So, what is the easiest book to read to find out what all the dieting things I was told, are now not true.
  • marcelo_templario
    marcelo_templario Posts: 653 Member
    In ye old times people did not feed according their blood type, we're unhealthier now that's why general population goes heavier. I think myths are scarce nowdays.
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