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What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

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Replies

  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    Jruzer wrote: »
    Here's a good one: exercise is only for fitness, and anyone who doesn't agree is doing it wrong.

    OK, I couldn't disagree more. But I "liked" because it is certainly an unpopular opinion.

    I think I phrased it wrong. A while ago there was a thread for favorite fitness myths, that's what I had in mind when I wrote that. I see "exercise is for fitness, diet is for weight" a lot here, and always disagree; my unpopular opinion is that exercise is for whatever you want to get out of it. Calories, entertainment, to see if your new jacket breathes well enough when you walk up a hill, or even fitness.

    Thumbs up, man. Gotcha.

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    The concept of intuitive eating. The idea that we are somehow supposed to know when to start or stop eating to maintain a subjective weight is entirely absurd. The endless threads of people leaving MFP and starting up again give a small degree of insight into this.

    Expecting people to manage a checkbook without balancing is a little more plausible because once your expenses overtake your income, the consequences are immediate and direct. There are no such immediate consequences in weight management.

    I love this. I do think there are alternatives to calorie counting that work, but they aren't intuitive eating and require some kind of monitoring.

    Sure, some people don't have to think about it, perhaps, but they didn't get fat.

    Why would intuitive eating mean not thinking about it?? It's quite the opposite really.

    I think there might be different understandings of the term at play here.

    Of late, some play has been given on the boards to the idea of natural hunger signaling being some sort of standard to which we should all be held.

    That's the type of "intuitive eating" that would require no thinking, because our bodies would provide the "I'm full, please stop" signal.

    Learned intuitive eating as taught in other circles of listening to your body in a continuous cycle of questioning and feedback is something else which would, of course, require thought.

    I think the first scenario I mentioned is bunk. I think the idea that it's a standard to which everyone should be held is laughable.

    I think for some people, especially those for whom any sort of conscientious portioning or accounting becomes obsessive, can really benefit from the second kind of intuitive eating. IIRC, someone on Reddit's LoseIt community was using that approach, and while she realized that she might never get to be really really thin, she knew that it was the healthiest psychological path for her.

    I agree wholeheartedly with the bolded statement, and think it true of every weight loss method. Not the bunk part, just the 'standard to which everyone should be held' part.
  • WayTooHonest
    WayTooHonest Posts: 144 Member
    Blaming your metabolism is such a cop-out.

    Nothing drives me crazier than someone telling me they can't lose ANY weight because their metabolism is too slow. It's simple, CICO. Yes there are cellular differences in how your body metabolizes things, but at the end of the day, if you burn 2000 calories and only put in 1500, you're going to lose weight. Your metabolism is not some magical thing that defies the laws of thermodynamics.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA you obviously haven't hit menopause yet.

    Menopause or not, you still will lose weight if you eat 1500 calories, and burn 2000 calories.

    You REALLY have no idea what women's hormones do to our bodies, do you love? Decreased estrogen, slower metabolism, affects our ability to metabolize sugars, bone density declines, and SO MUCH MORE...all medical facts.

    From the Mayo Clinic:
    "The hormonal changes of menopause make you more likely to gain weight around your abdomen than around your hips and thighs."

    But apparently both my GP and my OB/GYN don't know what they are talking about, either. It's not as simple as CICO once you cross 40. It's so much more complicated now that our hormones are shutting down. That's science, friend.

    Fun Fact: Men have the same problem, they are now starting to call it MANopause. Just wait.

    That quote is about the differences in where fat is stored on the body. That is clearly related to hormones. But you seem to be arguing that a menopausal body can store energy even when in a deficit. What is the source for that?

    That quote is one part of a whole statement. No, what I said is that menopause and the loss of hormones slows the whole process down. Never said it couldn't be done (congrats to the lady above who lost 90#). In fact, I said, and I quote "Decreased estrogen, slower metabolism, affects our ability to metabolize sugars, bone density declines, and SO MUCH MORE...all medical facts." I have a bad habit of going to reputable medical sites and peer reviewed journal articles, but I am not a physician so what do I know.

    Decreased estrogen is a given. But slower metabolism and loss of bone density are not. They can be combatted with proper diet and exercise. This is why resistance training is more important than ever during and after menopause.

    Oh, it's a given, but you are correct, we can do things to combat them. Weight lifting is the one I feel is most important, because of the resulting increase in bone density. That being said, I ALWAYS say that it doesn't matter what workout a person chooses to do, as long as it is one they enjoy and will stick to.

    I found a great link from the Women's Health Research Institute @ Northwestern University that shows what menopause does to the body (well...great being relative, because allthethings actually suck...)

    http://menopause.northwestern.edu/content/how-hormone-depletion-affects-you
  • WayTooHonest
    WayTooHonest Posts: 144 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    @GottaBurnEmAll has one of the most inspirational backgrounds on here. I'm using her model when I go through the change and dealing with manopause. Still don't know what these...feelingz...are people keep talking about. For years I thought this was a Journey cover band.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
    I am stealing that line 100%.
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