Weightloss myths!!!!

taso42_DELETED

These have probably already been covered, but just in case. Common myths:

- "Don't eat late at night". You can eat late at night. There's no magic time when your body will stop burning calories. Protein at night aids in building muscle overnight.
- "Don't take a free day aka cheat day". Free days are good because they give you a slight metabolic boost and give a signal to your body that it's not starving, so it can burn fat more readily. There is the psychological benefit as well, that nothing is 100% off limits.
- "Don't eat back exercise calories". When you're doing a calorie restriction program, you are restricting calories to lose a fixed amount of lbs every week by way of a calorie deficit. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, then your deficit is larger than the plan, meaning you are not sticking to the plan. While it may work at first causing weight to come off quicker, you will eventually stall as your metabolism slows. Moreover, you will likely be in a constant state of hunger, which is no good psychologically and may lead to binging later.

123456654321

How about the one always starting arguments here: muscle weighs more than fat.

Most the time this one doesn't bother me too much because it's usually said in response to people who are confused as to why they have lost inches but not pounds. As most of us know, muscle is more dense than fat, so a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. So technically, muscle does weigh more then fat....per volume. People just tend to leave off that last part to simplify things I think.

However this does really annoy me when people say it to someone who complains of any random weight fluctuation.

I retract my statement. After hearing it used wrong way in the wrong situation about 10 times in a row tonight, it bugs the hell out of me.

...that is all.

BunnybeeJG

Myth: If women life any weights, they'll bulk up like the Hulk

Truth: Women simply don't have the ability to naturally hulk out

but they can do it ... I've seen it... and sorry if i offend anyone but its absolutely disgusting. why a woman would want to look like a man is beyond me

BunnybeeJG

These have probably already been covered, but just in case. Common myths:

- "Don't eat late at night". You can eat late at night. There's no magic time when your body will stop burning calories. Protein at night aids in building muscle overnight.
- "Don't take a free day aka cheat day". Free days are good because they give you a slight metabolic boost and give a signal to your body that it's not starving, so it can burn fat more readily. There is the psychological benefit as well, that nothing is 100% off limits.
- "Don't eat back exercise calories". When you're doing a calorie restriction program, you are restricting calories to lose a fixed amount of lbs every week by way of a calorie deficit. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, then your deficit is larger than the plan, meaning you are not sticking to the plan. While it may work at first causing weight to come off quicker, you will eventually stall as your metabolism slows. Moreover, you will likely be in a constant state of hunger, which is no good psychologically and may lead to binging later.

haha or you need to wake up and eat in the morning. um.. if my body is on a different schedule than yours why does it matter when I'm eating if I'm eating within the hour that I awake and not eating right before bed? my body has no real concept of time .. time in its numeric state is man made anyway.. the sun and moon have nothing to do with weight loss or gain. lol my grandmother says this to me all the time. mainly i think cuz my schedule and hatred of morning bugs the living shiite out of her. She gets up at like 8 am every morning and blasts the tv cuz she can't hear.. and ... then I have to wake up.. and It really sucks. But it always bothers me when people say you have to eat between certain hours..

corpus_validum

but they can do it ... I've seen it... and sorry if i offend anyone but its absolutely disgusting. why a woman would want to look like a man is beyond me

why bring up the extreme?!?! I don't think anyone here is encouraging any women to bulk up beyond reason.

besides, what's more disgusting in the extreme case? the rare woman with lots of muscles or the much more common obese woman with loads of fat?!?! in any case, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it's a good thing we all have differing opinions.

the whole point of the myth bust, which many here seem to be missing, is that the proven most efficient and effective manner for both men and women to attain a leaner body with less body fat is to incorporate proper resistance training with some cardio rather than tons of aerobic activity or even HIIT alone. but hey, if you're just starting out towards better health, than any exercise is worthwhile. but when you hit that plateau, come back and revisit this.

sorry if this comes across as being blunt

PolyTeine

bump .. interesting topic, good reading material

rileysowner

Myth: If women life any weights, they'll bulk up like the Hulk

Truth: Women simply don't have the ability to naturally hulk out

but they can do it ... I've seen it... and sorry if i offend anyone but its absolutely disgusting. why a woman would want to look like a man is beyond me

And my guess is the vast majority of those women are on some sort of chemically enhanced program. Yes, some, very few in fact, women can put on a lot of muscle. The vast majority will not, nor will they lift weights with such intensity that they might accidentally do so. I was a bodybuilder in highschool and a few years after. The amount of work I as a young male had to do to put on muscle was huge. It would be even harder for me as an older male. For a female it would be much harder, but for a woman to count out weight training because they think they will suddenly get bulging muscles is silly. It simply won't happen, and if it does, the muscle will go away very quickly if you cut back the training.

sweetage123

I was doing some creeping, this is a good post.

Bump.

bbb84

How about the one always starting arguments here: muscle weighs more than fat.

My kids and I just discussed this one today.

I really, really dislike this saying. Please do your research, a pound is pound! However 5 pounds of muscle does take us less space than 5 pounds of fat.

believetoachieve

Myth: If women life any weights, they'll bulk up like the Hulk

Truth: Women simply don't have the ability to naturally hulk out

but they can do it ... I've seen it... and sorry if i offend anyone but its absolutely disgusting. why a woman would want to look like a man is beyond me

And my guess is the vast majority of those women are on some sort of chemically enhanced program. Yes, some, very few in fact, women can put on a lot of muscle. The vast majority will not, nor will they lift weights with such intensity that they might accidentally do so. I was a bodybuilder in highschool and a few years after. The amount of work I as a young male had to do to put on muscle was huge. It would be even harder for me as an older male. For a female it would be much harder, but for a woman to count out weight training because they think they will suddenly get bulging muscles is silly. It simply won't happen, and if it does, the muscle will go away very quickly if you cut back the training.

I agree. I'm lifting weights 5x a week, taking creatine, protein & other supplements, and I'm STILL not building "hulk" worthy muscles. I'm STILL extremely feminine, and look like the average woman. If I can put this much massive effort into purposely getting bulky and not see efforts, then a woman won't accidentally become hulk. Trust me!

SaraTonin

- "Don't eat back exercise calories". When you're doing a calorie restriction program, you are restricting calories to lose a fixed amount of lbs every week by way of a calorie deficit. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, then your deficit is larger than the plan, meaning you are not sticking to the plan. While it may work at first causing weight to come off quicker, you will eventually stall as your metabolism slows. Moreover, you will likely be in a constant state of hunger, which is no good psychologically and may lead to binging later.

I want to quote this forever and ever, Taso.

slimmerchick

How about the one always starting arguments here: muscle weighs more than fat.

My kids and I just discussed this one today.

I really, really dislike this saying. Please do your research, a pound is pound! However 5 pounds of muscle does take us less space than 5 pounds of fat.

This is a myth busting thread - the whole point is to list things that are common misunderstandings!

Excellent thread btw

ryzola

I love the people who go into the sauna to lose fat. I heard one guy saying 'It's the only way I'm going to get slim'. Brilliant.

goron59

Love the topic!

On muscle weighs more than fat, well these statements are usually related to the same volume of matter (a brick weighs more than a sponge of the same size) and is true. In the common case of losing inches, but not pounds, this bears out, so whilst anoying, it's not fundamentally wrong.

Huffdogg

I'd love to get a nutritionist's or doctor's opinion on this. Everyone who supports this supposed "starvation mode" claims that 1200 is the magic number. How can 1200 be the magic number for me who currently weighs 264 lbs AND the magic number for another woman weighing 164 lbs? At the risk of offending people I'll go ahead and call bull----

I don't think the original poster is trying to say that anything is specifically the magic number. What I hope they're saying is that if you run at a substantial deficit for a period of time, and then return to your proper caloric intake, your metabolism will be so out of sorts that you will see rapid gain. Essentially, the idea is just to stick as close as you can to your caloric budget without going over.