What is the weirdest weight loss advice you've ever had?

riirii93_

Butter on top of cheese eggs doesn't sound that tasty. In fact, it might make me retch...

then what the hell do you make your cheese omelets with? the butter goes in the pan before the eggs, not on top of the eggs after they'r cooked.

riirii93_

Not weight loss advice but weight loss fail: my mom tries to eat the 'mediterranean' diet but all she does is eat a ton of and doesn't watch her portions at all and barely exercises. She just dumps copious amounts of olive oil into everything she eats, eats several handfuls of nuts as a snack because "protein and healthy fat", and has gotten into that stupid coconut oil trend. She also ordered raspberry ketones, african orange mango pills, and green coffee pills from Dr. Oz. My dad and I staged an intervention and threw them away. She just keeps gaining weight and she doesn't know why. She is not interested in monitoring her caloric intake/burn.

zchastain

So I wonder on the calorie negative foods if someone has actually done some research on that:

Celery - How many calories does it take to digest 1 calorie of celery?
Vodka - How many calories does it take for one's liver to process 1 calorie of vodka?
Eating ice - How many colories does it take to heat up 1 ice cube?

I'm sure they are all soooo small that it wouldn't matter unless one is stuffing themselves with celery, getting alcohol poisoning, and being way too cold. But it would be interesting to know still.

Not sure about vodka or celery but water generally has no calories unless you add to it, so I guess the logic is that crunching the ice would expend calories. Can't imagine it's all that pleasant for your teeth, though.

A calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 liter of water by 1 degree celsius (If I remember correctly). Assuming an ice cube is 20 milliliters, that's 2/100 of a liter, temperature is raised by 37° C to body temperature, so 0.74 calories are expended by eating an ice cube if the function is linear. Not counting the energy needed if you bite on it and the movements of your face muscles.

A calorie increases 1g (or mL) of water by 1 deg C (but this is not kilocalories, or Calories, which you see on nutrition labels). But to get the energy expenditure needed you'll also have to account for the melting of the ice, overcoming the heat of fusion (~80cal/g). Then the water can be heated. For simplicity's sake I'll assume the ice is at 0C.

For the rather large 20 mL (20g) ice cube you mentioned above the energy required would be:
20g*80cal/g + 20g*(37C-0C) = 2,340 calories = 2.34 kcals

Not the biggest Calorie burn considering how much you'd have to eat to lose a pound of fat. (Using the numbers above that amounts to 1,496 very large 20g ice cubes)

SteampunkSongbird

I've also been told in the past that you can eat as much non-chocolate candy as you like because it's normally fat free. It probably just comes from the misconception that eating fat is what makes you fat.

I've also heard a snacking variation of the 5 bites thing; allegedly your taste buds are satisfied after 3 bites, so if you have a craving for a snack food when you're not actually hungry, you should have 3 little bites, chewing slowly, and it makes it easier to put away the rest. I never tried it so can neither confirm nor deny the usefulness of that one.

Happymelz

Basically everyone I went to high school with is now selling protein shakes in various multi-level-marketing schemes on Facebook. So I hear about these magical shakes constantly, with no mention of the calories in the shake, total daily calories, macros, etc. Just "Ask me about losing weight so easy with Herbalife/Mynt/whatever!"

YES!!!!
My cousin started selling that stuff and got her overweight mother and Aunts to try it.

They eat the shakes WITH their meals. lol.

nicsflyingcircus

From this book someone told me about, whole milk is horrible for you. They use it to plump baby calves up to 1000lbs. Definatly dont think thats right. Skim milk basicaly just has added water.

Nope, skim milk is literally the liquid left when you SKIM all the cream off.

Edited to fix typo.

helenarriaza

Coconut. Yuck.

I was told to try the "not swallow" diet. Basically taking bites of anything I wanted, tasting it, then spitting it out.

You don't want to hear what I told her in response.

I do I do!

joepage612

I saw on tv JOAN COLLINS say she never drinks diet sodas because she only see's fat people drinking them.

aethre

"You have to just completely cut out salt to lose weight, salt is the worst thing for you."

Oh god, my father-in-law goes by this to the extent that my other half has to cook his dad's pasta in a separate pan because he won't have the water salted... I took them for fish & chips once when they were visiting, and when the girl asked if we wanted salt & vinegar he literally dived across the place on one leg and yelled 'NOOOOOO NO SALT IT'S POISON! It makes you thirsty because your body's trying to flush it out because it's POISON!'

I lost weight from avoiding the chip shop for several months after that. ^_~

amandzor

I've heard many of these before.

The strangest (and one of the most dangerous) one's I've come across is the "cotton-ball diet"

You dip a "cotton" (it's not actually cotton) in oil, then swallow it. It, supposedly fills up your stomach so you eat less.

I have no words....

AceCC86

This is the best thread ever.

- If you drink a vodka and grapefruit juice it won't make you gain weight. The grapefruit burns away all of the fat in the drink.

- Foods with "good fat" (avocado, nuts, what have you) won't make you fat. Because it's good fat. Not bad fat.

- If you eat anything after 9 p.m. your body will save all of the calories as fat.

- "Why don't you just order the Cobb salad?"

NurseLisaRN

I have a friend who is doing some diet plan where she only eats during a 5 hour window every day. She eats only whole foods, nothing processed, no sugar, no bread, no alcohol, no juices, etc. She will actually meet us for dinner then sit and drink water while everyone else eats. She doesn't eat in front of people either.

It just sounds like an eating disorder to me. She doesn't look like she needs to lose weight, so I"m not sure of her thinking.

AceCC86

She doesn't eat in front of people either.

Um yeah. Red flag.

Jordan_Gregers

*Don't eat bread because it's made of sugar
*Fruit is bad for you

And my personal (least) favorite:

*Diet Soda causes you to gain weight

Veil5577

Coconut. Yuck.

I was told to try the "not swallow" diet. Basically taking bites of anything I wanted, tasting it, then spitting it out.

You don't want to hear what I told her in response.

I do I do!

Okay, you asked for it..

I told her I only do that with ONE thing, much to my then husband's disappointment.

richardositosanchez

Don't eat carbs after 3pm.

You can eat vegetables all you want because they're non fat.

earlyxer

The Grape Diet.

Happymelz

The Grape Diet.

I had to use the google.
Lololol.

I'm pretty sure you could substitute that with any other fruit or berry for the same results. Wow.

endermako

I was just told by someone that I should be eating several tablespoons of coconut oil per day if I want to lose weight.

Apparently coconut oil has a thermogenic ? effect and will boost my metabolism significantly. When I asked if the added calories and fat should be counted I was told no because the calories where actually negative calories and could be deducted from my total eaten.

Now I know enough to get that this is probably BS but where does this stuff come from????

Also, just for interest sake, anyone else been given some weird advice?

Yea I've heard the coconut oil one before. A lot of people at my job do it. It's just the same as any other diet fad. I've heard about that cayenne pepper and lemon juice thing. I'm pretty sure that just gives you diarrhea though

lzepeda89

That if I rub grapefruit extract essential oils on my stomach, the fat will "literally melt off"/

My grandmother used to tell me that all the time except it wasn't grapefruit oils. It was Olive Oil. I remember when I was little if I ever got a stomach ache or had any intestinal problem, she'd make me lay down rub olive oil on my stomach....:noway: