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What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

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Replies

  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    I'm late to the thread (it's been a fun read!) but figured I'd throw in my two cents...

    I hate the "my coworker is trying to sabotage my weight loss by bringing in treats!" whine. And I don't just say this as a coworker who brings in said treats, I say it as a human being who has free will and doesn't have a paranoid chip on her shoulder, chocolate or otherwise.

    You are not so special, and the world not so petty, that Becky from accounting is trying to derail your – yes, YOUR! PERSONAL!– weight loss goals. Even if she is, you aren't tied to your office chair while she crams cookies fois gras-style down your gullet (if this is the case, I think OSHA would be a better organization to contact than MFP). Occam's razor would say that your coworker is trying to be nice and, also, you aren't the only person in the office, buttercup. Maybe Josh from marketing or that guy who delivers the mail whom you've never bothered to learn the name of would like an afternoon pick-me-up.

    The "solutions" to this "problem" are usually just as bad. I especially hate the, "throw it away in front of them, they'll get the hint" one. Again, I AM that coworker who brings in homemade goods, and based on feedback, I am a damn good cook. I've also lost 35lb in the last year. I love to bake (it's very soothing) but I don't have much of a sweet tooth so I undoubtedly make more than I know I'd eat for weeks. So, why not share the bounty? Honestly, if a coworker accepted a brownie and then made sure that I saw them throw it in the trash, I wouldn't "take the hint" that I'm not supposed to bring in treats. I'd be a little hurt because I put time, money and effort into doing something nice for the office and you're frankly coming across like a world-class kittenhole and remarkable egotist for no good reason. Even if your coworker is bringing in dollar-store doughnuts, they spent their money to be nice. Hell, my supervisor's treat last month sent me into anaphylaxis and I don't shout "murderer!" every time I see her (sometimes. Not every time.)

    Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe there really are Brazil-esque businesses where your coworkers surround you chanting "EAT! THE! CAKE!!! EAT! THE! CAKE!!!" and you get a zap to the cajones if you refuse. Is that what real office jobs are like? I've worked in non-profits my professional career, we're kind of the hippies of the corporate world.

    I personally think this cake culture is a damaging maladaption. It's not a "nice" thing to bring in fat pills. It's definitely a bad thing to do. But because we have a cake culture in offices, it's almost expected that everyone take their turn bringing in sugary, fatty foods with which to tempt each other. Also to order and share a cake when a coworker has a birthday...yuck. It's just not a healthy practice for us humans to have adopted and yet we have and there's all kind of societal expectations around accepting the food, taking your turn to bring in food, etc. The sooner gone the better.

    You've inspired me...I plan to bring in donuts for my team tomorrow.

    Seriously, there's no reason we can't eat sweets in moderation, especially as part of a celebration of a person and/or their achievements.

    Lol. I hate sweets. Cannot stomach icing...so sweet my teeth hurt. So to me, it's torture to have to pretend to eat some kind of gooey treat. Blerg.

    Or you could just not eat it.

    I don't. But I see and watch others get pressured into eating this stuff when they'd obviously rather wouldn't.

    That's their fault for acquiescing. Not the fault of "cake culture".

    Really? So would you apply this thought process to other cultural practices which encourage certain behaviours? Such as encouraging young teens to engage in drinking, but when they do drink to say it's all their fault for swallowing the alcoholic beverages?

    Yes. I don't drink alcohol. Guess how I do that in "party" atmospheres?


    "No, thanks."


    See my post above for more ^^
    Ok, but the fact you say no, does not mean that the pressure to conform to a cultural norm...eating the cake or drinking...does not exist. It does exist and it encourages a behaviour that is not healthy.

    See this is where you completely lose me in this argument. Eating cake in itself is not unhealthy. Eating the whole cake would be. I can eat a piece of cake and still be well within my calorie goals for the day. Having a beer when I am out for a very rare date night with my wife is not unhealthy. If I were to do a kegstand followed by a half dozen shots of Jaeger then that would be unhealthy.

    Throughout this thread it has been preached over and over again that moderation is key and that is no different in this situation. I have no idea why you would feel the need to pretend to eat something. Maybe try being an adult and just politely declining. You say it is "not polite" for co-workers to bring in treats and I think you are completely wrong. I think it is a nice gesture on their part and not a personal vendetta directed at you.

    I never said it was a personal vendetta or anything of the sort. All I've done is point out that it's a cultural practice, "cake culture" which is by definition impersonal. Also that it is unhealthy and imho not a nice thing to do. Yes moderation is key in all things BUT who needs to snack on unhealthy foods while doing a very sedentary job? How is it healthy to do so? How is it "nice" or "kind" to encourage unhealthy snacking in coworkers? Why should we have to resist pressure to conform?

    I think I understand where you are coming from. I have found the office culture to be generally one of overeating and under-exercising. Those high-calorie foods (like cake) that are brought into the office aren't the totality of the problem, but heaping more excess calories on top of the general overeating isn't helpful.
  • wmd1979
    wmd1979 Posts: 469 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Today I learned that bringing cake into work is not a nice thing to do. Wow. What's next? Saying bless you to someone who sneezes is an insult? Opening a door for someone who has their hands full is degrading?

    I did completely get cussed out by a lady for holding the door open for her at Target once. She said something along the lines of "I can open the door for my *kitten* self". I couldn't believe it.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    As long as someone will eat the cake, then someone is enjoying it. Why worry? It will get eaten or it will be thrown out. It doesn't affect me one way or the other.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    crap, I walked away for a few minutes and lost the plot.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    So many people have been socialised by cake culture into thinking it's a nice gesture or a kindness when people bring in unhealthy snacks. They literally cannot open their minds enough to look at it objectively. It used to be considered a polite thing to offer a person a cigarette even at work....a nice thing to do...now people would be like, are you seriously offering me a cancer stick? Culture can and does change over time. One day I hope people will view these fat pills the same way and that cake culture will change.

    Cake causes cancer now???
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    Made me smile! Now, I'm off to walk to the shopping mall and get my nephew his birthday present. Back in an hour and a half or so!
  • Speziface
    Speziface Posts: 1,687 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Today I learned that bringing cake into work is not a nice thing to do. Wow. What's next? Saying bless you to someone who sneezes is an insult? Opening a door for someone who has their hands full is degrading?

    You really need to stop encouraging people to be sick...

    It can be depending on their level of superstition. It was once believed that sneezing was the soul trying to escape the body. The blessing was supposed to force it back in.

    I prefer to say, 'Gesundheit.' (Roughly, 'good health to you.')
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    bweath2 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    bweath2 wrote: »
    Cardio is a waste of time (unless you actually enjoy it).

    Or enjoy the stronger heart and more plentiful food.

    I'll stick with my strong heart and plentiful food from weightlifting and HIIT. More bang for the buck.

    Not in my experience. Can't sustain HIIT long enough to burn any meaningful amount of calories, and whatever I burn I eat back twofold or more because it increases my hunger substantially. Now don't get me wrong, no one has to do cardio (or weight lifting, or HIIT for that matter), but you can't call any form of exercise a waste of time because there are clear benefits to being active, health and otherwise.

    Yes, sitting on your *kitten* is a much greater waste of time.
    Since I don't like exercising in general, I'm going to spend the least amount of time possible to get the greatest benefit which means high intensity. I just want to get it over with so I can get back to thing I enjoy.

    And that's totally alright! It's just, this sounds more like preference than opinion.

    Nah, I still am not a fan of cardio(but it's better than nothing). I believe there are much greater benefits from high intensity exercise.
    How do you know you don't burn as much calories doing HIIT? I believe that much shorter, high intensity exercise may not burn as much at the time, but the residual calorie burn from greater muscle stimulation lasts much longer resulting in more CO.

    EPOC (Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consunption) for HIIT is 14%, for Low Impact Steady State it's 7%. That's the % of residual burn of calories burned during. FWIW. HIIT can't be done for very long so the overall burn is not that big. If you could do 30 minutes of HIIT, your Butner with EPOCH would be about the same as 60 minutes of LISS but who can do 30 minutes of HIIT??

    This would depend on the intensity of the HIIT. And as @GottaBurnEmAll stated not all "HIIT" is equal. To me, HIIT means the intervals are 100% all out.

    That is the HIIT I'm talking about and in exercise physiology circle based on studies, that is the commonly accepted number. This was discussed in detail on the Lyle McDonald article sjomial linked to. It is also the number Dr. Brad Shoenfeld uses. It pretty objective and not really the subject of much speculation as to variance.

    Less that 100% all out would not technically be HIIT but would be considered interval training. The EPOC would fall somewhere between LISS and HIIT depending on intensity. All HIIT is not equal because the Marketing woo machines call everything HIIT today. Things like 1 hours HIIT classes. If you can do it for 1 hour, it ain't HIIT!!

    PS: The link sjomial gave is the 2nd in a series of in depth article about the subject and references a lot of the current research. If that is the link you are kind of dismissive of in one of your posts above, I suggest you didn't read it thoroughly. There are links to both the initial article in the series and the following ones at the bottom of the one posted.

    I did read it, but I'll look at the references too. My main leaning to HIIT over cardio is that it is closer to weightlifting in it's muscle building potential... if I am not mistaken. However, I pretty much just lift and try to stay away from all that gross running stuff...

    It's been said here already but...HIIT is cardio.

    Then so is weightlifting....
    Should I say ""aerobic exercise " to be specific?

    In general, the cardiovascular benefits of weightlifting are secondary to muscle/strength building (there can be exceptions depending on the program).
    The same can't be said for HIIT.
    In general, the muscle/strength benefits of HIIT are secondary to the cardiovascular benefits.

    I have found no conclusive evidence that aerobic exercise has greater CV benefits than anaerobic exercise. Neither did this study:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5329739/
    "Despite all the research, further studies are still warranted to delve further into the impact that both aerobic and anaerobic exercise may have on human physiology to unequivocally determine if there is superiority of one type of exercise over another."

    I wasn't comparing the cardiovascular benefits of aerobic vs anaerobic exercise.
    I simply stated that weightlifting generally has greater strength/muscle building benefits which is not the case for cardio (including HIIT).

    Ah, my mistake.
    But this just reaffirms my opinion about steady state cardio. But I should clarify that: if someone is going to do one form of exercise, strength training is the way to go since it offers similar CV benefits, but also increases muscle mass. However, my opinion is heavily influence by my preference for a higher than average muscle mass. If the goal is simply to get skinny, the go for the cardio.

    That actually matches my approach...I tend to mainly focus on lifting without worrying too much about cardio (though I have been running more to build some steady state endurance and because my dog prefers it to walking).
    That said, my original point was just that HIIT falls into the same category as steady state cardio for anyone who already lifts (but mmapags explained it better than I did).
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    edited September 2017
    meh..
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    Speziface wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Today I learned that bringing cake into work is not a nice thing to do. Wow. What's next? Saying bless you to someone who sneezes is an insult? Opening a door for someone who has their hands full is degrading?

    You really need to stop encouraging people to be sick...

    It can be depending on their level of superstition. It was once believed that sneezing was the soul trying to escape the body. The blessing was supposed to force it back in.

    I prefer to say, 'Gesundheit.' (Roughly, 'good health to you.')

    I prefer gesundheit just because it's more fun to say.
  • Speziface
    Speziface Posts: 1,687 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Speziface wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Today I learned that bringing cake into work is not a nice thing to do. Wow. What's next? Saying bless you to someone who sneezes is an insult? Opening a door for someone who has their hands full is degrading?

    You really need to stop encouraging people to be sick...

    It can be depending on their level of superstition. It was once believed that sneezing was the soul trying to escape the body. The blessing was supposed to force it back in.

    I prefer to say, 'Gesundheit.' (Roughly, 'good health to you.')

    I prefer gesundheit just because it's more fun to say.

    German is a fun language.
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