Do you correct people on weight loss myths?

ShellyBell999

I went for many years believing in fad diets and quick fixes. Then I found MFP and studied the forums and listened to what the successful people were doing.
Once I shifted my thoughts from gimicks to eating however I wanted while staying within my macros and exercising regularly, the weight dropped, my body changed, and I feel better about myself than ever.

Some things folks just have to figure out for themselves.

kaylorraine44

I've had a lot of people comment on my weight loss recently and one lady specifically asked me "what diet did you use?" .....the healthy eating/at a caloric deficit diet? I never bring up my weight loss in conversation but if someone says something that is flat out wrong I just give them the truth. I let them make up there own mind on what they do with that information. The only person I've ever been vocally angry at for doing some fad diet is my Mom because a) it's a waste of money and b) she's diabetic and putting her health at risk.

MinnieInMaine

Depends on the person and the situation. My gym buddy used to buy into every gimmick out there and I didn't say much because they made her happy, at least temporarily and I figured she's an adult so if she wants to waste her money on shakes or whatnot, who am I to object even if it doesn't makes sense. However, i just couldn't control myself when she announced a year or so ago that she bought some Zaggora Hot Pants. Have you guys heard of these? They're supposed to be worn while exercising to help you burn more calories. I smirked and laughed and when she asked I told her it was time to be honest. I mean really...you won't spend money on good sneakers, eventhough you have PF issues, but you'll spend money on a gimmick? SMH... Thankfully she's smarted up quite a bit since then - but I still can't convince her to log her food. ~

zchastain

If people ask for my opinion I'll give it. If they ask how I've had success over the last few years (down 50 lbs) I'll tell them I ate at a deficit, tracked my food, etc. Only if I think someone I love is potentially harming themselves (pills, etc.) will I interject.

ihadabadidea

Usually, people notice I've lost weight and then give me their crackpot advice, like the seamstress taking in my suit jacket who was going to start dropping pounds by ordering pork tenderloin sandwiches from a local burger joint and not eating the bread, or my friend who read "Wheat Belly" and claims she's losing weight because she's not eating all that evil bread, not because she was diagnosed as a diabetic recently and has had to adjust her diet and medications accordingly.

Matiara

Only my mom, because she's willing to listen and learn. I don't bother with other people unless they say something so egregious that I can't hold it in.

For example, I keep my mouth shut when my coworkers talk about their latest fad diets, but when we were bantering at the end of a meeting and a bunch of them thought that sugar causes diabetes and that diabetics can't eat sugar at all, I had to say something.

I was talking to my grandmother on Christmas. She lives in another state, haven't seen her in a long time, and she asked me how much I weigh. I told her and I also told her that I'm in the process of losing weight and still have 25-30 pounds to go. She said it was good that I'm losing weight, but that weight gain in our family is hereditary and that as I get older, it's going to be inevitable. I wasn't going to argue, so I just said that as long as I work on it, I can keep the weight off. No point in arguing with an 80+ year old woman who has no bearing on what I do.

Emilie04444

I don't bring up weight loss, but if someone else brings it up and says something false, yes, I correct them.

This! Just went through this Christmas Eve, my 2 sister-in-laws were both discussing how they keep bouncing between the same 5 lb weight loss, and that they were going to try the "wraps" and some new diet pill. I couldn't help myself and said you can just give me the money you will waste on those, and do this miracle diet: Weigh your food, and Get off your butt.

Yeah I can see that not going well, lol. I find that people don't really want to know what to do. Because at a certain point it is just common sense... I have an acquaintance that is willing to travel to another country next year to get lipo and tummy tuck rather than stop eating cake in the morning and chips and pizza. I know how that will end up already.

But whatever I hear, I just sit and listen. NO INPUT from me AT ALL

seltzermint555

goodness no

People tend to believe crazy things when it comes to diet and weight loss.

Same with religion.

I will shut up right there.

Wildtigerx

I used to but then I came to realise people don't believe the truth and only believe in a quick and easy option, and unfortunately to them I was the wrong one. So now, I rarely bother.

sybrix

Unless someone asks me outright or states they are open to advice then I don't bother. People have to come to their own conclusions. A lot of the gimmicky stuff always focus on rapid and questionably high weight loss, but never talk about how long those people kept that weight off. It breeds this idea that you should be losing 10-20 lbs easily in a month when most of us know that is mostly BS. There's been a month I lost less than 2 but had to remind myself that was normal and still successful since I have MFP set to 0.5 a week. I can understand how someone can work hard for a month, see something like 3-4 lbs lost in a month when people on infomercials or fads claim to lose 20 or something ridiculous, and think they're doing something wrong and get frustrated and give up.

I honestly don't blame people for buying into that stuff if that is their only exposure to weight loss options. We take for granted having found the "calories in vs. calories out" solution and repeat this everywhere within this small community. It's beautifully simple and seems so obvious and like common sense once we finally get it... But not everyone has the luxury of learning this and get bombarded with the fads and gimmicks wherever they turn without ever really being exposed to anything different. I was never properly educated in weight loss and food and only found out most of what I know by seeking out my own answers. I probably still have a lot more to learn and can be wrong about things, but I had to start somewhere like everyone else.

kelly_e_montana

My best friend insists she gained a lot of weight while she was only eating one meal a day and not getting enough calories. When has a friend who puts her on fad juicing cleanses (you can't have grapefruit or other citrus fruits, OMG!!!) Who told her the common myth of the body storing any fat when you don't eat enough. I tried to explain to her she cant gain weight while in deficit, But she is convinced, because she lost on the juice cleanse. She is vegetarian, But doesn't eat much protein, mostly potatoes, pasta with lots of cream and cheese, and I can see how one meal a day could potentially put her over, especially if her body doesn't have the energy tomove as kmuch as she normally would. Also she drinks alcohol so there's that.

Now she's happy with her weight since when she gained she got boobs along with the other fat. Her new goal is to "firm up ". I am not even trying to explain to her that you can't firm up fat. Sigh.

Can you explain what you mean by you can't firm up fat please?

In case you're serious, fat is fat, it's soft, flabby tissue. You can't do anything to change that, other than lose it.

So would I have to eat at a calorie deficit until I have a flat stomach before I try and make it look leaner?

Now you're just trolling and setting up the bait to go on a lifting soapbox. I am a lifter but I can see this coming.

BinaryPulsar

goodness no

People tend to believe crazy things when it comes to diet and weight loss.

Same with religion.

I will shut up right there.

Usually this.

Unless it seems like they will accept my advice and be thankful for it and then of course I don't leave them to suffer through a bad plan. A lot of people are aware that I am into fitness and very fit, so sometimes people will ask me for advice on how to lose weight.

neandermagnon

it really depends on the situation and the person. most of the time, people don't want to be corrected or to learn the truth. They prefer to carry on believing whatever snake oil salesman mythology they're currently got their heart set on, and can't seem to cognitively process the idea that someone might be correcting them to actually help them find a way to achieve their goals that actually stands a chance of working.

There are some situations where the person genuinely wants help and wants to listen to advice and opinions, and wants to try something that has a chance of working.

nicenhealthy

If they involve me, I will tell them what I believe to be the truth (on health/weightloss matters). :laugh: I generally do not ruin their perfect delusion tho.

ell_v131

My best friend insists she gained a lot of weight while she was only eating one meal a day and not getting enough calories. When has a friend who puts her on fad juicing cleanses (you can't have grapefruit or other citrus fruits, OMG!!!) Who told her the common myth of the body storing any fat when you don't eat enough. I tried to explain to her she cant gain weight while in deficit, But she is convinced, because she lost on the juice cleanse. She is vegetarian, But doesn't eat much protein, mostly potatoes, pasta with lots of cream and cheese, and I can see how one meal a day could potentially put her over, especially if her body doesn't have the energy tomove as kmuch as she normally would. Also she drinks alcohol so there's that.

Now she's happy with her weight since when she gained she got boobs along with the other fat. Her new goal is to "firm up ". I am not even trying to explain to her that you can't firm up fat. Sigh.

Can you explain what you mean by you can't firm up fat please?

In case you're serious, fat is fat, it's soft, flabby tissue. You can't do anything to change that, other than lose it.

So would I have to eat at a calorie deficit until I have a flat stomach before I try and make it look leaner?

Now you're just trolling and setting up the bait to go on a lifting soapbox. I am a lifter but I can see this coming.

Yeah, I lift too, But even though she has her own gym, her "weightless equipment" (treadmill and elliptical) are broken. When I suggest lifting she is convinced she will get bulky although she can see how I'm only getting leaner.

Also, she doesn't want to lose weight/fat if you read my first post. She just wants her fat to be firm.

edwardkim85

I'm not sure if this is the right board for this, but no other board seemed to fit, so....

So my cousin is having a destination wedding in 2015, so yesterday at Christmas dinner all my aunts and uncles and cousins were discussing the "group diet" they all plan on embarking on Jan 6th. I didn't really join in, because I already started my own weight loss and fitness journey a while ago, so I just listened to them come up with TERRIBLE ideas.

A couple times I pointed out when something was flat out wrong, but they are so convinced that these crash diets and miracle pills work.

In a different instance, my co-worker started selling those "It Works" wraps, and I listened to her one day telling someone how you can lose 10 inches in 45 minutes, and it's permanent. The person asked how it works, and the explanation was "It pulls the lipids right out of your fat cells". I just cringed.

So my question is, when you encounter something like this, do you speak up and correct people when their information is so far off? I sometimes do, but I'm doing it less and less because it seems so futile... but at the same time, it seems like if I don't say something, I will feel responsible if they harm themselves with dangerous diet methods.... or in the case of the It Works wraps, waste their money!!

if you can't give them scientifically sound advice, I would just stay quiet. This is because just because Jared lost 300 pounds eating subway sandwiches(for example), all he did was do " calorie intake < calorie spent ".

There is no right or wrong diet. You can eat pizza all day 24/7 and lose weight as long as it is below your maintenance.

Vitamin/leptin levels, etc are a diff story but if you don't have detailed knowledge of how such a diet would affect your health, most people wouldn't listen.

edwardkim85

Also, "healthy" weight loss is just a myth.

Some people panick if they lose more than 1% of their body weight in any given week(2-3 pounds for example), but us humans can live for months on just water and salt tabs.

Sure you will lack vitamins if you just drink water and salt tabs, and it will be 'unhealthy', but crash diets are used all the time by actors and actresses for weight gain/weight loss.

If you have the scientific know-how I believe that even with crash diets, there are proper ways to crash diet and still not 'ruin' your metabolism and regain all that weight after.

Most of us with excess weight like to blame the weight gain on 'slow metabolism' or wacky 'hormonal' levels but realitistically that's an extremely small % of the population.

If you think you gain weight faster than your 'friends' who eat the same amount, they either diet or eat healthy compared to you when they are alone and/or they are generally more active.

I had a friend who I thought ate big all the time whenever we hung out at night ; turns out that he skips breakfast and lunch and eats a light dinner if he pigged out 4k calories the night before. It's def. not healthy but it works and he stays at his ideal body weight.

This just shows there's no right or wrong way to lose /maintain weight. It's all different based on our life style.

Some people that eat healthy have high blood pressures while some people that eat junk all the time have perfectly normal blood press. levels until death.

There are no myths in weight loss imo. Just diff. ways based on one's life style.

Frank_Just_Frank

Seeing as I've tried so many things, I can't shut up when someone tries to lecture me on the "true way" things work...I just tell them that I already tried that and it didn't work as far as those wraps go, I'm so disappointed people still fall for that crap.

tigersword

Also, "healthy" weight loss is just a myth.

Some people panick if they lose more than 1% of their body weight in any given week(2-3 pounds for example), but us humans can live for months on just water and salt tabs.

Sure you will lack vitamins if you just drink water and salt tabs, and it will be 'unhealthy', but crash diets are used all the time by actors and actresses for weight gain/weight loss.

If you have the scientific know-how I believe that even with crash diets, there are proper ways to crash diet and still not 'ruin' your metabolism and regain all that weight after.

Most of us with excess weight like to blame the weight gain on 'slow metabolism' or wacky 'hormonal' levels but realitistically that's an extremely small % of the population.

If you think you gain weight faster than your 'friends' who eat the same amount, they either diet or eat healthy compared to you when they are alone and/or they are generally more active.

I had a friend who I thought ate big all the time whenever we hung out at night ; turns out that he skips breakfast and lunch and eats a light dinner if he pigged out 4k calories the night before. It's def. not healthy but it works and he stays at his ideal body weight.

This just shows there's no right or wrong way to lose /maintain weight. It's all different based on our life style.

Some people that eat healthy have high blood pressures while some people that eat junk all the time have perfectly normal blood press. levels until death.

There are no myths in weight loss imo. Just diff. ways based on one's life style.

Healthy weight loss is just a myth, but there are no weight loss myths? Huh? There certainly is healthy and unhealthy weight loss, it depends on the ratio of fat/muscle loss. Does crash dieting work? Sure, in the short term. Does it drastically affect metabolism? It can. Does it drastically affect health and body composition? Yes. Using celebrities as a guide stick as to whether something is healthy or not is silly. Professional fighters dehydrate themselves to make weight for a fight, that doesn't mean it's a healthy way to lose weight. It's funny, because you said people without the scientific knowledge should just stay quiet, then you spout off this nonsense. Should've taken your own advice.

smc122977

I have found that most people looking for a quick fix (wraps, cleanses, magic pills, etc) don't want to hear about anything except quick fixes. I avoid those conversations like the plague.

sun_fish

If I am around people who are discussing fad diets, etc., I generally don't chime in. I find that most people who believe in those approaches are not going to change their minds.

It's different if someone asks me how I have lost weight. I answer a very simple, short "I ate less than I burned". At that time most people just get a look of disbelief, and the subject gets changed. Some might go on to ask further questions, like "so you did a program like Medi-fast, right?". I just repeat what I said before, "no, I just ate less than I burned". Sometimes this goes on for a while with more questions. If I get the feeling the person is really interested in my approach, I will explain further about how I don't believe in fad diets, cleanses, etc, and about my exercise, but honestly this has only happened once where I felt the person was really wanting to learn. Everyone else just wants to hear about a quick fix.