Debunking diet or exercise scams

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2

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  • eriny
    eriny Posts: 1,509 Member
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    :glasses: lets do it and so it begins .. im slowly starting to un button my shirt .........
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    We all see lots of "diets" and exercise routines out there that claim wondrous benefits. Some people even post on here to "ask" about them.

    PT Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

    DON'T BE THAT SUCKER! Here are a few tips from a web expert on finding real facts and discerning true plans from those that are just scams for money.

    1) Testimonials are useless. Testimonials by definition are anecdotal. They provide no true data and you should completely ignore them. If a "diet" site has lots of testimonials, GIANT red flags should go off in your head, one or two is fine, it's good marketing, but if they list testimonials as their main "proof" then click the back button immediately until you are away from that site!


    -Banks

    I completely disagree with this part

    with all due respect of course
  • eriny
    eriny Posts: 1,509 Member
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    morning dave how are you
  • JoyousMaximus
    JoyousMaximus Posts: 9,285 Member
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    We all see lots of "diets" and exercise routines out there that claim wondrous benefits. Some people even post on here to "ask" about them.

    PT Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

    DON'T BE THAT SUCKER! Here are a few tips from a web expert on finding real facts and discerning true plans from those that are just scams for money.

    1) Testimonials are useless. Testimonials by definition are anecdotal. They provide no true data and you should completely ignore them. If a "diet" site has lots of testimonials, GIANT red flags should go off in your head, one or two is fine, it's good marketing, but if they list testimonials as their main "proof" then click the back button immediately until you are away from that site!


    -Banks

    I completely disagree with this part

    with all due respect of course

    I don't buy diet products but when I buy any product, I always go to a third party site (amazon, etc) and read the worst customer reviews as well. Then you can find out what people really think of a product. If you can deal with the worst that people say then it stands up to the test.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    We all see lots of "diets" and exercise routines out there that claim wondrous benefits. Some people even post on here to "ask" about them.

    PT Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

    DON'T BE THAT SUCKER! Here are a few tips from a web expert on finding real facts and discerning true plans from those that are just scams for money.

    1) Testimonials are useless. Testimonials by definition are anecdotal. They provide no true data and you should completely ignore them. If a "diet" site has lots of testimonials, GIANT red flags should go off in your head, one or two is fine, it's good marketing, but if they list testimonials as their main "proof" then click the back button immediately until you are away from that site!


    -Banks

    I completely disagree with this part

    with all due respect of course

    Well? don't just leave that phrase out there, explain why. You don't agree that testimonials are anecdotal? Or that they don't provide true data? What part don't you agree with.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    We all see lots of "diets" and exercise routines out there that claim wondrous benefits. Some people even post on here to "ask" about them.

    PT Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

    DON'T BE THAT SUCKER! Here are a few tips from a web expert on finding real facts and discerning true plans from those that are just scams for money.

    1) Testimonials are useless. Testimonials by definition are anecdotal. They provide no true data and you should completely ignore them. If a "diet" site has lots of testimonials, GIANT red flags should go off in your head, one or two is fine, it's good marketing, but if they list testimonials as their main "proof" then click the back button immediately until you are away from that site!


    -Banks

    I completely disagree with this part

    with all due respect of course

    I don't buy diet products but when I buy any product, I always go to a third party site (amazon, etc) and read the worst customer reviews as well. Then you can find out what people really think of a product. If you can deal with the worst that people say then it stands up to the test.

    I would agree with this. It's a good to have the opinions of real consumers. But they probably shouldn't be your only facts, at least on larger purchases anyway. for something relatively cheap I wouldn't have a problem with going by consumer opinion.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    We all see lots of "diets" and exercise routines out there that claim wondrous benefits. Some people even post on here to "ask" about them.

    PT Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

    DON'T BE THAT SUCKER! Here are a few tips from a web expert on finding real facts and discerning true plans from those that are just scams for money.

    1) Testimonials are useless. Testimonials by definition are anecdotal. They provide no true data and you should completely ignore them. If a "diet" site has lots of testimonials, GIANT red flags should go off in your head, one or two is fine, it's good marketing, but if they list testimonials as their main "proof" then click the back button immediately until you are away from that site!


    -Banks

    I completely disagree with this part

    with all due respect of course

    Well? don't just leave that phrase out there, explain why. You don't agree that testimonials are anecdotal? Or that they don't provide true data? What part don't you agree with.

    well of course they are anecdotal...........everything everyone says here about their own experiences are anecdotal

    I disagree that testimonials are "useless" and I disagree that they provide no true data.......if I "testify" that running in place is better than sitting at my computer and I can get my heart rate up and lose weight when combined with good nutrition...that is all anecdotal....do you really need a scientific study to beleive me? the data is there....true...the data is unique to me...but it is general enough that it would apply to many

    .do we really need to require an independant study to be told that something works? I dont...I think testimonials can be both good and bad....but they are not useless unless you require the science behind the actual experience of someone who has done whatever they are testifying to....you testify about hiit......I believe it....I dont need you to give me the science behind it to convince me....testimonials can be what some need to hear that something has worked

    they are not "useless"

    I am not suggesting that people beleive everything they hear....but real life experiences relayed thru testimonials can be helpful and motivating
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    Dave (how are ya today my friend?)

    I feel they are useless because we do not know they are true. If you tell me you burned 200 calories jumping up and down, I would beleive you because what do you have to gain from telling me this.

    As I stated before I have a personal friend who was hired as a before and after for a weight loss supp. He was in beautiful shape:love: when approached. He stopped working out for 1 month, gained 20 pounds, slouched and took befores. They already had the afters because he took them before he gained weight.

    He said that when you are built up, and lean it is easy to gain and then remove it really quickly if all done within a few months. he was paid a few thousand dollars, and free product.

    He then had me stand for before and afters........wish I had them now, and I 'lost' 15 pounds in 5 minutes.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    Dave (how are ya today my friend?)

    I feel they are useless because we do not know they are true. If you tell me you burned 200 calories jumping up and down, I would beleive you because what do you have to gain from telling me this.

    As I stated before I have a personal friend who was hired as a before and after for a weight loss supp. He was in beautiful shape:love: when approached. He stopped working out for 1 month, gained 20 pounds, slouched and took befores. They already had the afters because he took them before he gained weight.

    He said that when you are built up, and lean it is easy to gain and then remove it really quickly if all done within a few months. he was paid a few thousand dollars, and free product.

    He then had me stand for before and afters........wish I had them now, and I 'lost' 15 pounds in 5 minutes.

    I am good my friend...how are you?

    so...using this logic then....when someone posts a recipe and says it tastes great or someone posts a method of running and says it worked for them....that is all useless because we dont know if it is true?

    I disagree that all the thousands of posts here from people giving their testimonials about their experiences are usless...I have benefited from some of your tetimonials my friend

    sure...some may be crap and some may be phoney....but I imagine most are true and thus have some benefit and thus are not "useless"

    if someone paid me to give my testimonial that hard work and clean eating has improved my life...would it be useless because I am being paid to say it?
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    well of course they are anecdotal...........everything everyone says here about their own experiences are anecdotal

    I disagree that testimonials are "useless" and I disagree that they provide no true data.......if I "testify" that running in place is better than sitting at my computer and I can get my heart rate up and lose weight when combined with good nutrition...that is all anecdotal....do you really need a scientific study to beleive me? the data is there....true...the data is unique to me...but it is general enough that it would apply to many

    The above statement has nothing to do with product testimonials, I don't know why you even typed it. Just because something is anecdotal doesn't make it a product testimonial.

    .do we really need to require an independant study to be told that something works? I dont...I think testimonials can be both good and bad....but they are not useless unless you require the science behind the actual experience of someone who has done whatever they are testifying to....you testify about hiit......I believe it....I dont need you to give me the science behind it to convince me....testimonials can be what some need to hear that something has worked

    they are not "useless"

    I am not suggesting that people beleive everything they hear....but real life experiences relayed thru testimonials can be helpful and motivating

    I think you're missing what I mean by testimonials. Testimonials with regards to product sales on a website are, in the overwhelming majority of cases, only positive results thus they provide no valuable information (see my side note after). In that sense they are useless. Plus testimonials of this type are usually paid for. A testimonial is different from an opinion. Me liking HIIT training and talking about it is NOT a product testimonial as nobody asked me to sell a product and show my results for them. And ahh, yeah, I DO need a product to be fully tested by a solid scientific process before I use it, especially diet and/or exercise products, I'll leave it at that. Look, I'm not talking about consumer opinions left by real people (usually on a review site of some type), I'm talking about product testimonials, which are by for profit companies, for product sales, written by people who have usually been coached, almost always paid or compensated in one way or another, and almost always show the product in a good light.

    Side note: by provide no VALUABLE information I mean just that. Providing only the benefits of a product and refusing to offer up the possible side effects, is tantamount to fraud in my opinion! Sure they provide information, but a) it IS in fact anecdotal, with no way to prove it's validity. and b) because we know it's always going to be in support of the product, we know what the results are are going to be, they just differ by degrees. Thus no value is added by reading them, they may make you feel good, but they don't add value. Now if a company posted both positive and negative testimonials in the same light, then maybe I'd say they add value, but I have yet to find one that does that, at least in this industry.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    whatever Banks

    I forgot.... noone is allowed an opinion that doesnt completely agree with yours

    I will refrain from posting to your threads and hope you have a great day

    peace
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    if someone paid me to give my testimonial that hard work and clean eating has improved my life...would it be useless because I am being paid to say it?

    Only if hard work and clean eating were a product being sold by someone. Then YES it would be useless. Because A) how do I know you are telling the whole truth? and B) If clean eating and hard work were an unknown quantity being sold, then how do I know that you did this, but also breathed in cigarette smoke all day, and maybe THAT improved your life. This is obviously a silly comparison, but see what I mean? Anything based on small samplings of facts from a bias party that is unverifiable cannot be relied upon as a solid source of information!
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    whatever Banks

    I forgot.... noone is allowed an opinion that doesnt completely agree with yours

    I will refrain from posting to your threads and hope you have a great day

    peace

    LOL, wow, really? Dude, you can't post something like that and expect me not to defend my point of view. I'm fine with you disagreeing, but that doesn't mean I can't argue my point.
  • FluffnStuff
    FluffnStuff Posts: 387
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    http://www.dietitian.com/calchelp.php

    I just stumbled upon this site and thought it was pretty cool. I pretty much do what it suggests, but I wish I had it when I started.


    LOVE this site...but it has one HUGE flaw... the pages don't print.
    I tried, but all I get are blanks with the website addy. :grumble:
  • JoyousMaximus
    JoyousMaximus Posts: 9,285 Member
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    We all see lots of "diets" and exercise routines out there that claim wondrous benefits. Some people even post on here to "ask" about them.

    PT Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

    DON'T BE THAT SUCKER! Here are a few tips from a web expert on finding real facts and discerning true plans from those that are just scams for money.

    1) Testimonials are useless. Testimonials by definition are anecdotal. They provide no true data and you should completely ignore them. If a "diet" site has lots of testimonials, GIANT red flags should go off in your head, one or two is fine, it's good marketing, but if they list testimonials as their main "proof" then click the back button immediately until you are away from that site!


    -Banks

    I completely disagree with this part

    with all due respect of course

    I don't buy diet products but when I buy any product, I always go to a third party site (amazon, etc) and read the worst customer reviews as well. Then you can find out what people really think of a product. If you can deal with the worst that people say then it stands up to the test.

    I would agree with this. It's a good to have the opinions of real consumers. But they probably shouldn't be your only facts, at least on larger purchases anyway. for something relatively cheap I wouldn't have a problem with going by consumer opinion.

    I meant it in response to that criteria (criterion??). I agree, especially on things involving your health, you should use additional research and reference clinical trials, when available (though, we all know that they can be rather scarce on certain issues).
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Options
    http://www.dietitian.com/calchelp.php

    I just stumbled upon this site and thought it was pretty cool. I pretty much do what it suggests, but I wish I had it when I started.


    LOVE this site...but it has one HUGE flaw... the pages don't print.
    I tried, but all I get are blanks with the website addy. :grumble:

    hmm, trick it! If you use a different type of browser it will print (I use Google Chrome) there are I.E. and Mozilla specific commands that allow them to deny you the ability to print, but using some other browser like chrome, or safari should work (I know chrome works, I just did it)
  • FluffnStuff
    FluffnStuff Posts: 387
    Options
    http://www.dietitian.com/calchelp.php

    I just stumbled upon this site and thought it was pretty cool. I pretty much do what it suggests, but I wish I had it when I started.


    LOVE this site...but it has one HUGE flaw... the pages don't print.
    I tried, but all I get are blanks with the website addy. :grumble:

    hmm, trick it! If you use a different type of browser it will print (I use Google Chrome) there are I.E. and Mozilla specific commands that allow them to deny you the ability to print, but using some other browser like chrome, or safari should work (I know chrome works, I just did it)

    Crap, there was a whole lot of nerd talk there :tongue: .... and I am tech challenged.... It's also the schools computer and I don't want to break it my last day here! :laugh:
    How do you do the google thing?
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Options
    http://www.dietitian.com/calchelp.php

    I just stumbled upon this site and thought it was pretty cool. I pretty much do what it suggests, but I wish I had it when I started.


    LOVE this site...but it has one HUGE flaw... the pages don't print.
    I tried, but all I get are blanks with the website addy. :grumble:

    hmm, trick it! If you use a different type of browser it will print (I use Google Chrome) there are I.E. and Mozilla specific commands that allow them to deny you the ability to print, but using some other browser like chrome, or safari should work (I know chrome works, I just did it)

    Crap, there was a whole lot of nerd talk there :tongue: .... and I am tech challenged.... It's also the schools computer and I don't want to break it my last day here! :laugh:
    How do you do the google thing?

    oh well if it's not your computer then I would refrain, they probably frown on you installing stuff on their machines. but if someone else wants it, it's at http://www.google.com/chrome

    it's pretty cool actually, slightly different then Internet Explorer, but still pretty good, very fast too. Renders nicly. A few websites don't work with it though, just an FYI.
  • FluffnStuff
    FluffnStuff Posts: 387
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    Dang.... I have Mozilla at home too. :grumble:
    It's a conspiracy!
  • tashjs21
    tashjs21 Posts: 4,584 Member
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    Thanks Banks!!!

    I was discussing this with a co-worker yesterday...she has seen what I have done but still keeps reading these websites and looking for the quick fix. :huh: I tell her time and time again that the "quick" weightloss is a mythical thing (quick and keeping it off)

    Oh well, some people will never learn.

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