Weight loss myths
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Exercise to lose weight
It’s harder to lose weight over 40
Drink at least 8 glasses of water7 -
scarlett_k wrote: »The idea that you have to suffer to lose weight. I've been losing weight steadily for 4 years now and the only suffering I experienced was when I was trying to lose too fast.
This is immediately what I thought of: the myth that if you're "serious," you have to be "all in," which means several major dietary changes at once, plus a lot of intense exercise, and you should live and breathe weight loss at all times or you'll FAIL.
It's a good way to get people to hate themselves when they inevitably burn out.
(On the flipside, I have seen people think that making one small change will immediately make them drop 20 pounds, and then they're disappointed when it doesn't happen. Not that small changes can't make any difference, but there's a real issue of appropriate and reasonable expectations.)
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wunderkindking wrote: »It's been the key to my success too, and the last is a myth.
The other 3? It can be all of those things and is variable by individual.
(I have family with serious EDs. It would be difficult, damaging and unsustainable for them.)concordancia wrote: »
Yeah, I get a bit manic and obsessive when I use calorie counting. I still haven't found the key to long term success for me, but lower carb eating keeps me away from binges longer than all things in moderation. Instead, I do "some things on a very rare basis, preferably paired with a good workout." Which probably sounds disordered to some people, but I am diabetic, so moving my body well on a higher carb day is important to my health.
@concordancia, @wunderkindking,I don't disagree that calorie counting will work for everyone. There's no one dietary approach that will work for everyone. A keto diet could be bad news for a cardiac patient, and a high carb diet could be bad for a diabetic. That doesn't mean that these are bad strategies in general. There are always exceptions.
But I think that calorie counting is woefully underappreciated. The conspiracy theorist in me says that this is because no one makes money off of it. I think many people would be successful if they legitimately tried it and stuck with it. I was reading @RunsWithBees excellent post from a few weeks ago which touches on many themes that I have observed over the years. See here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10826289/fitness-and-diet-myths-that-just-wont-go-away/p7
Keep in mind that there are people who actively argue against calorie counting and "CICO", as if this were a fad diet instead of a law of nature. This stuff makes me unreasonably angry:
What is this CICO diet, and is it really as bad as people are claiming?
10 Reasons to Avoid CICO, the New Fad Diet
3 Reasons Why Counting Calories Doesn't Work (And What to Do Instead!)
You've got the good Google-fu going, for sure: Those links are appallingly, ridiculously awful. 😬4 -
those article are ridiculous.
At least the last one was arguing against calorie counting rather than CICO
and whilst I accept that calorie counting, as a method, is not for everyone - their reasons were absurd
and all 3 presented the false dichotomy that it is calorie counting vs nutritious eating - as if one somehow cannot do both or people calorie counting are just living on chips and cakes7 -
paperpudding wrote: »those article are ridiculous.
At least the last one was arguing against calorie counting rather than CICO
and whilst I accept that calorie counting, as a method, is not for everyone - their reasons were absurd
and all 3 presented the false dichotomy that it is calorie counting vs nutritious eating - as if one somehow cannot do both or people calorie counting are just living on chips and cakes
I'd argue one of the great things about calorie counting is that it works with all styles of eating. Want to focus on nutrient-rich foods? It will work. Want to have cake sometimes? It also works. It's flexible and that's one reason why I'm such a fan.4 -
It’s harder to lose weight in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s. When you’re premenopausal. When you’re post menopausal.10
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Keto is the only way. Intermittent fasting is the only way. Drinking bulletproof coffee at 8:27am - and only 8:27am- while riding a Pygmy elephant in silk pajamas is the only way.18
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Please , no one post that mental health issues play no part in weight gain. That may be your experience but it is not mine. I went to therapy to resolve a binge eating disorder and since then am learning emotional regulation skills and have lost 77 pounds and still losing. Therapy has improved the quality of my life immensely.10
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I heard some time ago that men lose weight quicker than women because men usually have more muscles and muscles help to burn more calories. just another myth? 🙂0
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That you need to switch up your cardio to "shock your body" because after a while your body "gets used to it" and it doesn't burn calories anymore.
No, because physics. *Feels* easier as you get fitter? Sure. Calorie expenditure isn't about "feels", it's about physics.6 -
I heard some time ago that men lose weight quicker than women because men usually have more muscles and muscles help to burn more calories. just another myth? 🙂
Not completely a myth. The actual caloric effect of the muscles at rest is estimated by most researchers to be fairly small, on the order of 4 calories per pound per day (i.e., a pound of muscle at rest burns something like 6 calories per day, a pound of fat - which is also metabolically active - something like 2 calories per day, if I recall correctly). So, women with more muscle mass will tend to burn more calories daily than women with less muscle mass . . . but the differences are still fairly small, and muscle mass is devilishly slow and effortful to build, perhaps especially so for women. Worth working to do, for various reasons, though.
Suspicion is that there are other relevant differences between men and women, but I'm not up on the mechanisms. (Hormones? Metabolisms? Dunno.)
I suspect, but have no proof, that there's another beneficial affect of being more muscular, in calorie terms. Generally speaking, stronger people can do more things, comfortably, compared to less muscular ones. I'm betting that means that, in a day to day sense, they tend to do more things, and burn more calories, as a result . . . probably more than 4 calories difference per day.
Silly example: My neighbor's girlfriend, a woman around my age, came over the other day to ask for my help to right the full trash cart. She'd tipped it over, couldn't pick it up again. It turns out that I'm stronger, and as we picked up up kinda-together, it was obvious that it was me doing more of the lifting (she said so, so not just my ego). I asked her if, now that we had it upright, she was OK, or should I push it down the driveway. She started to try, struggled, so I took over and pushed it out by the road. Who burned more calories during that episode? Me. Why? Did more stuff, because I could. It was a tiny difference, but trivia adds up.5 -
Beautyofdreams wrote: »Please , no one post that mental health issues play no part in weight gain. That may be your experience but it is not mine. I went to therapy to resolve a binge eating disorder and since then am learning emotional regulation skills and have lost 77 pounds and still losing. Therapy has improved the quality of my life immensely.
Of course mental health issues can play a part in weight gain, and (IMO) commonly do! Therapy can be extremely helpful, probably even among many people who don't feel as if they need it. I don't understand why there's more stigma around therapy, in our common culture, than there is around (say) consulting a registered dietitian for advice within their professional expertise.
It's a myth, I think, that mental health issues are *universally* behind excess body weight, because there are other potential contributors/causes as well. (We've seen people post here sometimes claiming that excess weight is universally a mental health issue in some way. But I don't see you as saying that in your post - not at all.)2 -
Lemon water has turned up on another thread. Cue the eye rolls.7
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I heard some time ago that men lose weight quicker than women because men usually have more muscles and muscles help to burn more calories. just another myth? 🙂
In addition to what Ann said, men usually lose faster than women since on average they are bigger than women. The bigger you are, the faster you can lose.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »those article are ridiculous.
At least the last one was arguing against calorie counting rather than CICO
and whilst I accept that calorie counting, as a method, is not for everyone - their reasons were absurd
and all 3 presented the false dichotomy that it is calorie counting vs nutritious eating - as if one somehow cannot do both or people calorie counting are just living on chips and cakes
I'd argue one of the great things about calorie counting is that it works with all styles of eating. Want to focus on nutrient-rich foods? It will work. Want to have cake sometimes? It also works. It's flexible and that's one reason why I'm such a fan.
Oh I agree.
But the articles all posted as though calorie counting automatically equated eating ONLY nutrient poor foods like cake and chips0 -
I saw a headline as I was checking out at the grocery store : LOSE 56 POUNDS BY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!!!
The magazine’s “date” was April 25th. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s 56 pounds in 36 days.
And we wonder why people come here and quit when they don’t lose ten pounds their first week. People’s expectations are so skewed because of unscrupulous media, marketers , and social media.5 -
springlering62 wrote: »Keto is the only way. Intermittent fasting is the only way. Drinking bulletproof coffee at 8:27am - and only 8:27am- while riding a Pygmy elephant in silk pajamas is the only way.
Crap! I tried to cheat and save a little money. Went with the cheap cotton pajamas. Hopefully I can get a refund on the elephant.2 -
richardgavel wrote: »springlering62 wrote: »Keto is the only way. Intermittent fasting is the only way. Drinking bulletproof coffee at 8:27am - and only 8:27am- while riding a Pygmy elephant in silk pajamas is the only way.
Crap! I tried to cheat and save a little money. Went with the cheap cotton pajamas. Hopefully I can get a refund on the elephant.
The refund policy is quite liberal. It’s the return shipping that’s gonna be a *kitten*.2 -
springlering62 wrote: »I saw a headline as I was checking out at the grocery store : LOSE 56 POUNDS BY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!!!
The magazine’s “date” was April 25th. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s 56 pounds in 36 days.
And we wonder why people come here and quit when they don’t lose ten pounds their first week. People’s expectations are so skewed because of unscrupulous media, marketers , and social media.
Hey, hey, hey now... this is totally doable... I might have to sacrifice 1 or 2 body parts along the way but I CAN TOTALLY lose 56 pounds in the next 36 days!!!
Before I start getting hate mail, I am totally joking here...
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