Misinformation.
Options
Sidesteal
Posts: 5,510 Member
I'd like to talk about something.
Often times on the forums, we'll see someone post what looks like a helpful post full of dieting information. If the information is faulty, some people will reply with the intent to correct it in the hopes that too many people don't buy into the bad information.
Then a bunch of people will get upset with the guy or gal who is trying to correct the person, saying "Stop hating" or "Stop being so negative!". (Sometimes people do post rude replies but it seems like any disagreement is arbitrarily viewed as negative as of late).
Misinformation is bad.
I will give you a few examples to attempt to explain why:
Let's look at meal frequency, which would fall into the personal preference category. Does meal frequency matter?
It might matter for behavioral reasons and it might matter for performance reasons and if it leads to better gym performance it could minimally effect expenditure. But it DOES NOT effect metabolism and if someone says this gem:
"It's very important to eat every 3 hours so that your metabolism keeps burning. If you skip a meal your metabolism will slow down and your body will actually STORE FAT. So please make sure to eat every 3 hours". (<--- this claim is entirely false)
...this is problematic because people who DON'T currently eat frequently might think "Crap, I'm doing it wrong. I'm going to have to fix this". Now they're going to reschedule what could be an eating pattern that works very well for them based on the bad information that increasing their frequency will increase metabolic rate. Additionally, they'll have to eat smaller meals (because they would obviously keep kcals/macros constant) which would probably have a negative effect on adherence/satiety.
Is eating frequently arbitrarily bad? No. It's personal preference. But convincing someone that it's metabolically relevant is BAD, because this convinces them that they must follow this advice.
Lets look at a different example from a recent thread:
"You shouldn't combine carbs and fats in the same meal because it will cause your body to store fat!"
This was recently posted in a topic and not only is it completely bogus and not supported by anything, but the end result was (literally) that someone replied with:
"Thanks so much for this, I'm going to stop eating PB+J sandwiches".
So someone comes on here and posts something completely false and out of fear, another person eliminates something they enjoy from their diet. Now, for all we know someone else is reading that post and not replying, because they're in the kitchen stressed out over how they're going to re-arrange every meal in their day so that the carb sources aren't ever eaten with fat.
This is not a good thing.
There's a very small list of things that are necessary to lose weight.
There's a very large list of things that are personal preference for losing weight. (In this list I include medical reasons, moral reasons, individual intolerances).
Both of these are important, but focus on the necessities first and customize the personal preference aspects to give you the best adherence or most enjoyment possible out of your journey.
And don't confuse the two for yourself or others.
/end rant.
Often times on the forums, we'll see someone post what looks like a helpful post full of dieting information. If the information is faulty, some people will reply with the intent to correct it in the hopes that too many people don't buy into the bad information.
Then a bunch of people will get upset with the guy or gal who is trying to correct the person, saying "Stop hating" or "Stop being so negative!". (Sometimes people do post rude replies but it seems like any disagreement is arbitrarily viewed as negative as of late).
Misinformation is bad.
I will give you a few examples to attempt to explain why:
Let's look at meal frequency, which would fall into the personal preference category. Does meal frequency matter?
It might matter for behavioral reasons and it might matter for performance reasons and if it leads to better gym performance it could minimally effect expenditure. But it DOES NOT effect metabolism and if someone says this gem:
"It's very important to eat every 3 hours so that your metabolism keeps burning. If you skip a meal your metabolism will slow down and your body will actually STORE FAT. So please make sure to eat every 3 hours". (<--- this claim is entirely false)
...this is problematic because people who DON'T currently eat frequently might think "Crap, I'm doing it wrong. I'm going to have to fix this". Now they're going to reschedule what could be an eating pattern that works very well for them based on the bad information that increasing their frequency will increase metabolic rate. Additionally, they'll have to eat smaller meals (because they would obviously keep kcals/macros constant) which would probably have a negative effect on adherence/satiety.
Is eating frequently arbitrarily bad? No. It's personal preference. But convincing someone that it's metabolically relevant is BAD, because this convinces them that they must follow this advice.
Lets look at a different example from a recent thread:
"You shouldn't combine carbs and fats in the same meal because it will cause your body to store fat!"
This was recently posted in a topic and not only is it completely bogus and not supported by anything, but the end result was (literally) that someone replied with:
"Thanks so much for this, I'm going to stop eating PB+J sandwiches".
So someone comes on here and posts something completely false and out of fear, another person eliminates something they enjoy from their diet. Now, for all we know someone else is reading that post and not replying, because they're in the kitchen stressed out over how they're going to re-arrange every meal in their day so that the carb sources aren't ever eaten with fat.
This is not a good thing.
There's a very small list of things that are necessary to lose weight.
There's a very large list of things that are personal preference for losing weight. (In this list I include medical reasons, moral reasons, individual intolerances).
Both of these are important, but focus on the necessities first and customize the personal preference aspects to give you the best adherence or most enjoyment possible out of your journey.
And don't confuse the two for yourself or others.
/end rant.
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Replies
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AWESOME!!!0
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There's nothing more catastrophic than not eating PB&J anymore.
Just teasing. Thanks much for the post. I agree.0 -
YES!
I hope people take this to heart. It's almost like you have to post about exercise calories or the "evils" of carbs and insulin to get a response around here.0 -
It is each member's responsibility to take every piece of advice with a grain of salt.
Also, for those posting misinformation, if they knew what they were saying was false, they probably wouldn't keep saying it. I think the big problem is many of the posters giving advice only look at the OP, but never read the actual thread. That's why you have these long threads with lots of arguing, and then you have the same piece of misinformation repeated over and over, and the posters never learn the truth about what they are saying. If they simply read the thread, they would see that their beliefs are false and they wouldn't keep contributing to the misinformation.
But I think the larger issue is the misinformation all over the internet. There are too many web resources from people with MD or PhD credentials perpetuating these myths.0 -
A lot of fitness junk is pretty grey-area. You'll see people argue til they're blue in the face (blue in the monitor???) and post articles/facts/studies supporting both sides.
I usually trust the advice of whoever is sexier.
Never steers me wrong.0 -
Very well put!0
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100% correct. This is one of THE best posts I've read in a long time. Thank you for taking the time to post this.
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thank you. I miss my pbj but so worried about eating bread all the time lol0
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Great post. And I peeked at your pictures, your baby is absolutely ADORABLE!0
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YES!
I hope people take this to heart. It's almost like you have to post about exercise calories or the "evils" of carbs and insulin to get a response around here.
I actually had the following thread titles ready to go:
"It's not about calories, it's about clean eating"
and
"I have massive breasts and I cannot jog"
But I thought I'd make one more attempt at a legit title. Next time it's on.0 -
The gospel of personal anecdote outweighs science and reason in most cases. Look at any Paleo thread ("But it worked for MEEEE!!!!).
I could say more about this, but I'm going to bite my tongue (a rarity for me, lol).0 -
WELL SAID!!!!
While there are some universal truths in weight loss/fitness goals (like: ya gotta burn more calories than you are consuming to lose weight, muscle burns fuel more efficently than fat, and 1 lb of muscle takes up less space than 1lb of fat), we are each so unique we each need to find what works for us and not be led astray by well-meaning persons who may or may not know what they are talking about.
If you are stalled in your progress and unsure why, try something different for a couple weeks and see if it works for you. Use MFP as a tool for ideas, support, and tracking your own progress. There are so many resources available today, yet looking at all of them at once is sure to result in confusion and conflicting advice! If what you are doing works, stay with it and let your results speak for you.0 -
"You shouldn't combine carbs and fats in the same meal because it will cause your body to store fat!"
This was recently posted in a topic and not only is it completely bogus and not supported by anything, but the end result was (literally) that someone replied with:
"Thanks so much for this, I'm going to stop eating PB+J sandwiches".
THANK YOU, omg. I read that one and was afraid my head was going to explode.
Everyone has to do their own research. Just because you read it on the intarwebz doesn't mean it's truth. People really need to realize there's a definite 'reader beware' aspect to these boards.0 -
The gospel of personal anecdote outweighs science and reason in many cases.
I could say more about this, but I'm going to bite my tongue (a rarity for me, lol).
Do as you please, but I welcome your commentary/thoughts if you want to expand on it.0 -
your alternate titles would make this puppy ROLL! one of them anyway. next time!0
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Very well said.0
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I always " sift " through the BS and hope that most people can decipher the truth from all the crap ! I feel you ... Your always so " spot on " and I look forward to reading your information ! Thanks for keeping me honest !
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Great post...I (and i'm sure many others) appreciate the thought and effort that you and a few other people on here put in to making sure that everyone gets good information.0
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Great post! I think there are some things that work for certain people, and some things that work for other people. I have great reasons for the way I'm doing my weight-loss journey and it's working for me. I'm happy to share with anyone who asks but I'm not going to condem anyone else for how they are doing it (unless it's a drastic measure that will harm them - like an eating disorder or magic-cure pills).0
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Thanks for this post.0
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