Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
Fitness and diet myths that just won't go away
Replies
-
Oh, along those lines, actually heard in a commercial years ago.
If you skip breakfast your metabolism will tank.2 -
If all these crazy myths were true our species would have become extinct long ago...3
-
If all these crazy myths were true our species would have become extinct long ago...
There are a lot of things that, considered with a nickel's worth of common sense, and an eye on the context of natural selection, ought to make any person's eyes roll around in their head like loose marbles:
* Certain foods must be eaten in a particular order, or particular combinations, for health (like raw food before cooked)
* Macro combinations must be tailored to time of day
* It's healthier to stop eating (some food humans have eaten for millennia)
* Etc.4 -
One from the late 80s/early 90s was "take your goal weight and multiply it by 10 to get your calories needed to get to that weight " or the variation "whatever your weight is now, multiply it by 10 to figure out how many calories you eat a day". I don't know why, but that one has stuck with me all these years.0
-
Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?1 -
BuiltLikeAPeep wrote: »One from the late 80s/early 90s was "take your goal weight and multiply it by 10 to get your calories needed to get to that weight " or the variation "whatever your weight is now, multiply it by 10 to figure out how many calories you eat a day". I don't know why, but that one has stuck with me all these years.
Ohhh, I've still seen that super simple formula thrown out still on sites and by people. It's stuck with many people it appears.1 -
BuiltLikeAPeep wrote: »One from the late 80s/early 90s was "take your goal weight and multiply it by 10 to get your calories needed to get to that weight " or the variation "whatever your weight is now, multiply it by 10 to figure out how many calories you eat a day". I don't know why, but that one has stuck with me all these years.
If I did that I'd get to my goal weight all right! In like 2-3 weeks, based on what I'm eating and how fast I'm losing now 😬3 -
If all these crazy myths were true our species would have become extinct long ago...
There are a lot of things that, considered with a nickel's worth of common sense, and an eye on the context of natural selection, ought to make any person's eyes roll around in their head like loose marbles:
* Certain foods must be eaten in a particular order, or particular combinations, for health (like raw food before cooked)
* Macro combinations must be tailored to time of day
* It's healthier to stop eating (some food humans have eaten for millennia)
* Etc.
100%0 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.1 -
Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.
Getting skinny wasn't due to the exercise but not eating appropriately for his level of activity.
He could have eaten more and done the exercise and not ended up looking that way.
Doing less just makes it easier to eat more to stop the gap.
Wouldn't be surprised if he had some other issues from what sounds like an extreme diet from that weight loss rate.
I guess off topic enough.
But to swing it around back to the myths - thinking exercise by itself causes weight loss.4 -
Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.
Getting skinny wasn't due to the exercise but not eating appropriately for his level of activity.
He could have eaten more and done the exercise and not ended up looking that way.
Doing less just makes it easier to eat more to stop the gap.
Wouldn't be surprised if he had some other issues from what sounds like an extreme diet from that weight loss rate.
I guess off topic enough.
But to swing it around back to the myths - thinking exercise by itself causes weight loss.
I would challenge that that is a universal myth. For MOST people, yes, a change in eating habits is needed to lose weight.
But, if a person is sedentary and maintaining their weight, then adding exercise could definitely create enough of a deficit, even if they kept their diet the same.
It's not as common, but I wouldn't automatically say it can't be done.5 -
Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.
Getting skinny wasn't due to the exercise but not eating appropriately for his level of activity.
He could have eaten more and done the exercise and not ended up looking that way.
Doing less just makes it easier to eat more to stop the gap.
Wouldn't be surprised if he had some other issues from what sounds like an extreme diet from that weight loss rate.
I guess off topic enough.
But to swing it around back to the myths - thinking exercise by itself causes weight loss.Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.
Really doesn't sound like excessive exercise. He lost a bit over 40 pounds in 9 months so just over a pound a week, again doesn't seem excessive unless his doctor told him he didn't need to lose that much,. Maybe when he got closer to a normal weight you weren't use to his appearance.
8 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.
Getting skinny wasn't due to the exercise but not eating appropriately for his level of activity.
He could have eaten more and done the exercise and not ended up looking that way.
Doing less just makes it easier to eat more to stop the gap.
Wouldn't be surprised if he had some other issues from what sounds like an extreme diet from that weight loss rate.
I guess off topic enough.
But to swing it around back to the myths - thinking exercise by itself causes weight loss.
I would challenge that that is a universal myth. For MOST people, yes, a change in eating habits is needed to lose weight.
But, if a person is sedentary and maintaining their weight, then adding exercise could definitely create enough of a deficit, even if they kept their diet the same.
It's not as common, but I wouldn't automatically say it can't be done.
If the statement is "Exercise, by itself, can create a deficit for some people," then I would agree (although it seems like it's very easy for most people to just eat more to cancel out the increased activity unless they're deliberately focusing on calorie control). But I think when it was mentioned as a myth, the meaning was more like "Exercise, in and of itself, causes weight loss."4 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Frompumpkin2cinderella wrote: »Overexercising.!
My dad's a diabetic-since the past 25 years- and in Feb 2020 he went to a doctor who claimed to completely cure people of diabetes and promised to get them off meds/insulin. He was put on a high protein low carb diet and my dad lost 20 kgs by sept 2020 but the amount of overexercising my dad did was crazy and he used to force me to do the same but I only used to feel light headed and hungry so for me I thought it was defeating the purpose coz I used to overeat 😢
What sort of exercising do you think was crazy? Did he have any medical issues due to it?
We live on the second floor of an apartment building and he was prescribed to run up and down the stairs 3x a day and also encouraged to add weights so he started carrying total of 5-6 kgs of dumbbells in a backpack. So basically he was climbing the equivalent of 7 floors per session and also used to do exercises with the said weights. He was overdoing it so much so that his shoulder blades became very visible and he used to look emaciated. So he was adviced to tone down his exercises and increase his food intake to look normal.
Getting skinny wasn't due to the exercise but not eating appropriately for his level of activity.
He could have eaten more and done the exercise and not ended up looking that way.
Doing less just makes it easier to eat more to stop the gap.
Wouldn't be surprised if he had some other issues from what sounds like an extreme diet from that weight loss rate.
I guess off topic enough.
But to swing it around back to the myths - thinking exercise by itself causes weight loss.
I would challenge that that is a universal myth. For MOST people, yes, a change in eating habits is needed to lose weight.
But, if a person is sedentary and maintaining their weight, then adding exercise could definitely create enough of a deficit, even if they kept their diet the same.
It's not as common, but I wouldn't automatically say it can't be done.
As many of the myths mentioned, was speaking of what seems to be a common accepted saying or thinking.
As many of the myths mentioned, there can be specific use cases where it does not apply (cutting out some foods, not eating certain times, ect).
But the slew of people that ask if they'll lose weight because they can't exercise, or only started the exercise before logging food and wondered why no loss, shows how much confusion on this matter is still out there.
But it is a myth as I stated it - thinking exercise BY ITSELF causes weight loss.
If you don't account for calories.... as you stated.2 -
If you exercise you are trying to lose weight.
I've had so many people ask why I bike/run/walk for hours. They automatically think exercise = trying to lose weight. I just exercise because I enjoy it and I like to eat! I always have people asking me why I exercise if I don't want to lose weight.9 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »If you exercise you are trying to lose weight.
I've had so many people ask why I bike/run/walk for hours. They automatically think exercise = trying to lose weight. I just exercise because I enjoy it and I like to eat! I always have people asking me why I exercise if I don't want to lose weight.
Yup, and I had relatives/others attributing my weight loss to my exercise, too, when I started losing. "It's your rowing, isn't it?" = common idea. No, at that point I'd been rowing the same amount for over a decade, and staying fat (and these were people who knew I'd been rowing that whole time). I didn't increase exercise. I ate fewer calories.
They didn't want to believe that, usually, and quite emphatically so. Some people magically think exercise = weight loss, unavoidably and always, nothing else to consider.7 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »If you exercise you are trying to lose weight.
Or, if you're drinking a protein shake you're trying to lose weight.
A coworker saw one sitting on my desk and actually asked me that. I explained no, I was trying to get more protein. I guess protein supplementation causes weight loss?
Or "diet" means weight loss diet. I was speaking to someone about trying to incorporate principles from the OmniHeart diet and someone else piped up "But you don't need to go on a diet!" Dude, diet is just what you eat, and we're all on one.6 -
Here is a funny one: All vegans a skinny
Go to India where most of the population is vegetarian and you will see not everyone is skinny or underweight.4 -
Get_Back_To_Feeling_Good wrote: »Here is a funny one: All vegans a skinny
Go to India where most of the population is vegetarian and you will see not everyone is skinny or underweight.
That's true. Skinny people left only in rural India. We are also the diabetes capital of the world. We have a culture here of offering boxes of sweets on every occasion.4 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »If you exercise you are trying to lose weight.
I've had so many people ask why I bike/run/walk for hours. They automatically think exercise = trying to lose weight. I just exercise because I enjoy it and I like to eat! I always have people asking me why I exercise if I don't want to lose weight.
My response would be...
"I don't diet and exercise, I eat and train..."
Totally different mindset.4 -
Everybody knows that it's unpossible to loose weight without drink Apple Cider Vinegar three times a day.
It's True !!11 -
Motorsheen wrote: »Everybody knows that it's unpossible to loose weight without drink Apple Cider Vinegar three times a day.
It's True !!
4 -
Misery burns calories8
-
-
Telling someone that they’re adding muscle and that’s why the scale isn’t moving. This is usually said when someone talks about a lack of results after few weeks or a month and often to women.7
-
One needs to "hydrate" and/or bring a water bottle for a 30 minute leisurely walk around the neighborhood.10
-
Recovery "carbs" after a workout. While it won't hurt you, your glycogen gets restored after just eating any carbs at anytime in the day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
4 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »One needs to "hydrate" and/or bring a water bottle for a 30 minute leisurely walk around the neighborhood.
That doesn't sound silly to me - I guess not something you absolutely need, depending on the climate but seems sensible especially in hot weather.5 -
Sweat is your fat crying- I've heard some people say and seen at my gym too that if you workout without switching on fan/ac you're burning fat. I don't believe it! I've overactive sweat glands coz I live in humid weather so I shouldn't be on this site coz all that sweating would keep me thin.7
-
I want to add one to the "muscle weighs more than fat, that's why you haven't lost weight". Sigh.
And the worst that sadly I believed for years. Starvation mode. You have eaten so few calories your body is hanging on to the fat10
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions