What have you learned are myths, since joining MyFitnessPal?

liittlesparrow

Let's see..

Breakfast isn't necessary, your metabolism doesn't "speed up" or "slow down" depending on the times you eat or how frequently, fasting for short period is actually beneficial, a calorie is a calorie, regardless of where it's from, "starvation mode" is mostly bull****..

I'm sure there's more, but that's the most prominent few.

TheDoctorDana

That women shouldn't lift weights because it will make them bulky. That Mc Donalds, Taco Bell, (insert fast food corporation here) made me fat.

dittmarml

That (sugar, fat, sodium, diet soda, <insert your pick here>), is THE cause of (weight gain, failure to lose weight, osteoporosis, general poor health <insert your pick here>).

lsorci919

Cardio machines overestimate! I did not burn 1200 calories in 60 minutes, it's more like 400. lol

sweetkat75

everything everyone has said is a myth to someone else. I spent so much time listening and taking advice from others, that I gained weight based on the advice. I stopped...got angry...took stock in what was happening and asked myself...what if this advice is wrong for me? And it was. I have learned that things that work and are right for some people's bodies may not be necessary right for mine, and that's okay.

bookworm_847

You must give up "unhealthy" foods if you want to lose weight.

Women shouldn't lift weights or they'll look like The Hulk.

People generally understand sarcasm.

brraanndi

You can lose weight while eating junk food. While there are more nutritious options, a calorie is just a calorie. Really.

This has made losing weight a total breeze. I always stupidly struggled to eat "healthy" diet food when I didn't need to.

chelseascounter

"carbs are bad"
"starvation mode"

Warchortle

If you gain weight it's water if you lose weight it's 100% fat.

Lichent

that I can lose weight by keeping the nasty sweet stuff, the fast food crud in my diet. that keeping it out will cause me to go into overdrive and binge like crazy.


Lifestyle change is more than weight loss it is about changes to the diet {keeping the fast food and sugar crud out} so my buddy and me don't come down with diabetes, clogged arteries, stroke, and heart disease.

NonnyMary

when i first got on MFP, I felt i was in the Twilight Zone, that a website promoting fitness had people promoting junk food. That was very hard for me to wrap my little head around. I get it now. But it took me awhile to get it.

phred_52

Mentioned that my walking 2 hrs/day 5 times/wk is too much. It only equates to 7.5 miles. Back in time I was cycling appx. 200 mi/wk. Makes no sense to me, but that's cool.

PinkNinjaLaura

I have learned that for most topics if somebody throws out a question you will find people who passionately believe the exact opposite of each other and will debate it endlessly.

I have learned in most longer threads there has to be at least one person who feels the need to be a jerk just for the sake of being a jerk and they're best ignored. If you engage that takes over the topic and then you never really do get to see advice from people who want to offer you their wisdom.

I have learned that the majority of the people accused of being "bullies" actually know their stuff so you should listen to them. The reason why they're so direct is that they've answered that same question 600,000 times and 99/100 the OP doesn't actually want the answer they're giving. Just yesterday I read a thread where the OP got it and changed her mind. That didn't stop 100 other people from trying to still convince her she was wrong because they couldn't be bothered to read all the posts to see her response. (Side note: would be nice if the OP could edit their original post at any time so they could add on additional comments there in response to all the replies.)

I have learned there is no one right answer that fits everybody. What may be "myths" to other people are things that I do need to follow in order for me to lose weight at my age and at my fitness level. Conversely there are probably things that work for me that wouldn't for somebody else. You read the advice, you hopefully use some common sense, and then you see what works for you.

GBRhusker

What I have learned is a myth is that I can eat the healthiest food (generally agreed upon by most people), in the correct volume generally agreed upon by most people, at the right time of day, at the right frequency, with the right spices/supplements, in combination with vitamins etc, at a calorie deficit level, a calorie maintenance level, a calorie surplus level......all this in many permutations, and I won't lose an ounce of weight without constant exercise and hydration. It is exhaustively complex to me. And it is damn hard, and I hate the day I tried my first chocolate eclaire.

BrainyBurro

i learned that not everybody understands sarcasm.

bridgie101

You can't speed up or slow down your own metabolism except by gaining or losing muscle or fat: you can't 'damage' your metabolism by dieting.

Your Metabolism is determined by how energy expensive it is to pump blood around your body, run the blood cleaning filters and the gut and the intestine and respiration.

You cannot change this. Of course at very low weights essential services will shut down and heart muscle will be used to fuel the body, leading to death by organ failure - but ultimately you cannot "Slow" your metabolism. It's just the rent you pay on your size body.

MizMimi111

I don't have to be hungry all the time to lose weight.

snazzyjazzy21

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 )

But what will I have left without my semantics?!?!?!?!?!

Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat :flowerforyou:

I found that people use :flowerforyou: in a very passive aggressive manner, and I love it.

ninerbuff

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.

When comparing to materials to each other, one will use equal VOLUME to determine which material is of higher weight. Science 101. This intern will normally mean a higher density, but not always. Water is a good example. Take a cup of water and measure it's density. Freeze it and the density will reduce. But the volume of water is still the same.

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

ninerbuff

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.

How is it an insult? I didn't say ALL PEOPLE. Ask many people what a peer reviewed clinical study is and probably most wouldn't know unless they googled it. There are lots of people that follow lots of broscience and unsupported methods because they read it in a fitness magazine or watched it on the BL or saw it on Dr. Oz, etc. That's not research, that's just following the crowd which many dieters do (which is why they are still dieting and not just changing their actual lifestyle).

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