What have you learned are myths, since joining MyFitnessPal?

24

Replies

  • Nordichorseman
    Nordichorseman Posts: 12 Member
    "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" The sales pitch for peanuts or nuts in general. When on a diet, nuts are one of the most calorie dense items on the shelf! Have some low fat ice cream instead. I ate peanut-butter all the time trying to be "healthy".
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    Hi all. I find this site and many of its posters to be very informative.

    Since joining MyFitnessPal, I've come to learn that a lot of the things I've been taught about nutrition and exercise (Since Elementary School.) have been false.

    For me, I would say the two huge items have been "You gain weight if you eat after 6:00," and "Muscle weighs more than fat."

    What have you learned since joining MyFitnessPal.
    Muscle does weigh more than fat when comparing volume vs volume (which is how scientific measuring is done). You don't weigh EQUAL amounts of weights against each other to find weight.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    THANK YOU!! I am so tired of hearing this same debate over semantics every day!
  • glenclouser
    glenclouser Posts: 21 Member
    My biggest myth that I believed is that you can out train a bad diet.
    Tell me about it! You can be killing it in the gym and you won't do anything if good you don't match it with a quality nutrition plan.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    I've learned (to my shame) that obesity isn't a product of greed or laziness.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" The sales pitch for peanuts or nuts in general. When on a diet, nuts are one of the most calorie dense items on the shelf! Have some low fat ice cream instead. I ate peanut-butter all the time trying to be "healthy".

    but, but, but, half my calories come from fat. Especially nuts!

    Which is about the only new thing that I have learned over the past year. That you can have a 50% fat diet and still lose weight!

    Oh, and the whole intermittent fasting/ calorie cycling thing, really DOES help break plateaus!
  • RoyBeck
    RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
    I've learned (to my shame) that obesity isn't a product of greed or laziness.

    You mean not all cases yes? Obviously some are.

    For me it's eating carbs later on in the day.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
    that I can't lose weight.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    that I can't lose weight.
    Amen to that!
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!
    Some people DON'T know how to research (using pseudoscience and blogs are references) and if doing "what works for them" isn't always correct either.
    There's lots to learn from people on here who are "in the know". You just have to find the right ones who don't just spout a bunch of BS.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    ^^this, so much
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    Muscle does weigh more than fat when comparing volume vs volume (which is how scientific measuring is done). You don't weigh EQUAL amounts of weights against each other to find weight.

    Almost... but it's not the 'weight' you're finding... you weigh equal amounts of weights and measure the volume in order to find the DENSITY of a substance.

    Scientific measuring is done in units.... so the unit of time is seconds, the unit of length is metres etc. The unit of weight is mass (multiplied by g)* measured in kg but the unit of DENSITY is mass per volume measured in kg/m3.

    Hope that clears it up! *ducks before rotten tomatoes get thrown*

    *the acceleration due to gravity ie 10m/s2 approx.

    And anyone jumping to correct anyone else on this IS a smarta*se! If they do it in a sarcastic manner they're a MEAN smarta*se. :wink:
  • FitFabFlirty92
    FitFabFlirty92 Posts: 384 Member
    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!
    Some people DON'T know how to research (using pseudoscience and blogs are references) and if doing "what works for them" isn't always correct either.
    There's lots to learn from people on here who are "in the know". You just have to find the right ones who don't just spout a bunch of BS.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    That's kind of an insult to the intelligence of the people on this site. People DO know how to research, and there IS a lot of false information on here from people who think their way of losing weight is the ONLY way. It's very aggravating.

    And to answer the OP, the biggest myth for me was that I had to eat next to nothing to lose. When I'm trying to lose weight, I always end up eating a ton of food, it's just lower calorie, healthier options.
  • confused_truffle
    confused_truffle Posts: 38 Member
    I've learned (to my shame) that obesity isn't a product of greed or laziness.

    This, right here. So powerful and enlightening, heartbreaking all at the same time.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    that people actually eat black licorice and think its yummy!
  • PosterGuy1
    PosterGuy1 Posts: 163 Member
    Muscle does weigh more than fat when comparing volume vs volume (which is how scientific measuring is done). You don't weigh EQUAL amounts of weights against each other to find weight.

    Almost... but it's not the 'weight' you're finding... you weigh equal amounts of weights and measure the volume in order to find the DENSITY of a substance.

    Scientific measuring is done in units.... so the unit of time is seconds, the unit of length is metres etc. The unit of weight is mass (multiplied by g)* measured in kg but the unit of DENSITY is mass per volume measured in kg/m3.

    Hope that clears it up! *ducks before rotten tomatoes get thrown*

    *the acceleration due to gravity ie 10m/s2 approx.

    And anyone jumping to correct anyone else on this IS a smarta*se! If they do it in a sarcastic manner they're a MEAN smarta*se. :wink:

    The plot thickens.:bigsmile:
  • donjessop
    donjessop Posts: 186
    What I've learned is that a lot of people don't bother to do the research and they grab on to anything that justifies their opinion. There are a lot of facts out there, but if people don't agree with them so they call it B.S. or just a "myth".
  • tallmansix
    tallmansix Posts: 57
    Any claim about food, diet and exercise can be shown to be true. It just depends on who is paying for the research.
  • kaseysospacey
    kaseysospacey Posts: 499 Member
    For me, that fat makes you fat. Um, other people used to tell me to eat less to lose weight but they literally meant physically less....like they thought if I just skipped the apple that would help. Eating more (lean meats, vegetables, eggs) and less (muffins, candy, chips) is what helps.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    You have to eat "clean" to lose weight.

    I was literally told by a Beachbody "coach" (cough, cough) that I was incorrect when I said that nobody breaks the laws of thermodynamics and that you all you need is a calorie deficit to lose weight. Little Miss proceeded to whine at me that she was "eating super clean on a deficit" and was gaining weight and was offended that I suggested she was really eating over her TDEE anyway. She proceeded to make a joke trying to make me look stupid by saying that "I suppose you think you can lose weight eating nothing but 500 calories of chocolate everyday." I immediately left the conversation at that point as it became painfully clear that even the so-called "founding coaches" of Beachbody have exactly ZERO knowledge in science and physiology.

    But I digress...
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    People like to be pedantic on this topic. When someone says "muscle weighs more than fat", we all know that they really mean "muscle is denser than fat", as you correctly identified, but for some reason, people love to jump on the semantics of this.

    It is pedantics and semantry or is it accuracy? If someone is insisting the world is flat, it's kind of hard to nod along and agree..

    But yeah, I've seen people jump down others' throats on here over it (and many other things too!)... you know what people are getting at when they say it... there's never any reason belittle people for getting things wrong - who doesn't?
  • keithmustloseweight
    keithmustloseweight Posts: 309 Member
    That women are in love with the word 'toning'
  • TMLPatrick
    TMLPatrick Posts: 558 Member
    That you need to drink 8(!) glasses of water a day...
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    That women are in love with the word 'toning'

    LOL, some of us (myself included) hate that word.
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,159 Member
    STARVATION mode ---- it is just horrible what people have been writing to other people based on themselves and not facts!!!
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Hi all. I find this site and many of its posters to be very informative.

    Since joining MyFitnessPal, I've come to learn that a lot of the things I've been taught about nutrition and exercise (Since Elementary School.) have been false.

    For me, I would say the two huge items have been "You gain weight if you eat after 6:00," and "Muscle weighs more than fat."

    What have you learned since joining MyFitnessPal.

    Hmmm. Maybe I haven't learned anything.

    I must admit, I still currently held the notion that a given quantity of muscle (mass) weighed more than a given quantity of fat (mass). Is that incorrect?

    Now, I'm assuming that you aren't referring to whether a given weight of muscle weighs more than the same weight of fat (e.g. 1lb of muscle weighs more than1lb of fat), right?

    I mean no one would think that, correct?

    People like to be pedantic on this topic. When someone says "muscle weighs more than fat", we all know that they really mean "muscle is denser than fat", as you correctly identified, but for some reason, people love to jump on the semantics of this. It does get thrown around a lot when someone is supposedly eating at a deficit as a reason why they aren't losing weight, which is usually not the case (aside from small newbie gains, you can't gain muscle at a deficit).


    You CAN gain muscle at a deficit. What I think you mean is that you can't gain weight at a deficit (unless it's water).

    And muscle does weigh more than fat (don't know about pedantic - it's all semantics to me :D)
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
    I have learned a lot of myths about Americans, are actually true.
  • Tickateeboo
    Tickateeboo Posts: 132 Member
    If you are overweight and want to lose weight, then there is only one way that you can achieve this.

    Eat less.

    Move more.
  • jan3h
    jan3h Posts: 55 Member
    I have learned that you don't get anywhere without a damned lot of focus, commitment, persistence and sheer hard work! Nothing comes for free.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    I have learned a lot of myths about Americans, are actually true.

    Light the blue touchpaper... and stand well back. :bigsmile:
  • PJ64
    PJ64 Posts: 866 Member
    No mythbusting really. . There are good tips but I do my own research. Support is the biggest thing my FRIENDS LIST ROCKS!!!!

    Oh & I learned this place has way more "Cowards with Keyboards" than any other site I've ever been on, but I have a built in ignore button :smile:
  • Minnie2361
    Minnie2361 Posts: 281 Member
    That somehow I am going to go into deprivation mode if I don't indulge in that ice cream, cake, chocolate candy bar and I will binge is a huge myth. With all the fruit I am eating and what is in my fridge it is hard to see myself in deprivation mode because I am not allowing myself the odd junk fix.

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