Do you(r) research?!

shodaimetruth

I am curious if people actually research the mass amounts of information out there or if they only accept the tid bits of information they read from the MFP forums and friends?

do you eat your calories back or dont? which burns weight faster cardio/weights? can i eat before bedtime?

when you have these questions do you only put them to the forums or do you actually go out there to try and find the information? I myself come to the forums to add to the things that I read. Mostly hoping that someone might be able to explain the information a bit or help me tie the information the current things that i'm doing.

pissymissy323

I always do as much research as possible, one thing I learned calories in calories out. What ever I gain back from exercise I never eat the extra

shodaimetruth

there is so much information out there....that you should actually look in to it to figure out what is being said and what might work best for you.

mcarter99

there is so much information out there....that you should actually look in to it to figure out what is being said and what might work best for you.

Are you talking to the poster above? She said she researches. ?

I personally research things to death. Anyone who uses MFP as their main info source is sort of screwed, in my opinion. I've never seen so much bad information in one place. I beg you to please read one book, at least. Not a blog or forum or ebook, an actual book.

siliisobel

I do research but there is so much conflicting information out there its sometimes hard to know what to trust. I find its sometimes good to ask real people on here that may have experienced similar things themselves and can offer advice based on what works for them.

bathsheba_c

I do a mix, though I weigh the sources. My first line of information is my doctor. My second line of information is a book recommended to me by a dietitian. My third line of information is the internet, with a lot more credence given to scientific studies, government recommendations, and medical websites than to unsubstantiated forum fluff.

Cait_Sidhe

No, I do not take what some random poster on MFP tells me as truth. Why on earth would anyone do that?

There are certain people who back their posts up with facts and studies. I read the links they post and draw my own conclusions. Also, common sense.

mcorange01

I always research. when i first got on here there was alot of misleading information!!

ncwall

I have no clue what so ever to be honest. I like talking to people who have done research but then again they have already formed their opinions and things they do work for them are not alwasy accurate for me. I have issues researching online due to being very cynical I believe very little about what I can find as someone earlier said alwasy so much conflicting information.

I am working to make my self better in the heathiest possible way. finding reliable research and evidence would be awesome. Talking to others on the same journey and experimenting to see what works best fo me seems however to be the best possible method

Each of us is unique and will have to find our stride that provide us the desired results

crobl

I don't research much of anything anymore...but not because I like to blindly follow uneducated people. Instead, I don't because I have a education in sports medicine and years of experience/practice to back up what I know. Basically... I know my stuff

macpatti

I prefer to get all my info from the people who are brand new to this site and under the age of 24.

shodaimetruth

I prefer to get all my info from the people who are brand new to this site and under the age of 24.

hahahaha....yes...i take that info and do nothing with it

but like i read, it's important to not just take the information provided and also not be closed off to new information or fight against anything different to what they already know. i enjoy looking at all the information out there, even the things that seem so way off. I have just become a fan of dead lifts and shortly after saw a video saying they were the worse thing to do, then i saw another bit of information about how they should be done and I was able to see what the video was actually referring to with regards to the dead lifts. It's good to take the bad with the good because when someone generally dislikes something they point out how it's horrible and while someone who loves it points out why it's great. putting both sides together you begin to see the picture.

I love all the info i get from here, and i love the commitement i see in peoples posts about the things they think are the greatest things. They are, too them, and that should be respected and learned from, but not followed to a T!

Sidesteal

I get all of my answers from yahoo answers.

Lift_hard_eat_big

I get all my info from the bros. They never lead me astray with misinformation.

dinosnopro

I get all of my answers from yahoo answers.

I personally rely on Wikipedia.

Going4Lean

I rely on MFP forums

crobl

I get all my info from the bros. They never lead me astray with misinformation.

I like using a special kind of bro...the ones that unnecessarily grunt during every lift in the gym, and they only work out their beach muscles

Austin1988

I get all of my answers from yahoo answers.

I get all of my answers from sidesteal, who gets all of his answers from yahoo answers.

ncwall

3 sites that i have found that I like what is said is both living strong and body building and fit2fat2fit.com

I know when it comes to eating heatlhy working out I am green, however, I also realize we are each different and what one likes and works for them may not be what another needs. all infomration is objective by those giving it

I like hearing what others do to hopefully inspire me to learn more but researching itself i have trouble doing

AllTehBeers

No, I do not take what some random poster on MFP tells me as truth. Why on earth would anyone do that?

There are certain people who back their posts up with facts and studies. I read the links they post and draw my own conclusions. Also, common sense.

This. There are some people who post great info that comes from actual studies and break down the info so it's understandable. This is, for me, some of the more interesting reading. The rest, I take from my own experience and what applies best to myself.

it's important to not just take the information provided and also not be closed off to new information

Also this. I'm not opposed to reading different opinions and new things that can come up in research because science is changing and finding new things all the time.

cordianet

Let me start by saying my post here is not directed at anyone person or group here, I just wanted to make some observations I've learned as a researcher.

The problem with fitness advice is not just here on MFP. There are tons of other websites, etc. posting "bro science" that has little proof or has even been discredited. I suppose what I'm saying is even well meaning people that "do research" often get duped because there's so many different opinions and even credible sources that disagree.

The other problem is that I can probably find a legitimate scientific study to prove just about anything I want to prove. Yet, look hard enough and I could also probably find another study that says the exact opposite. So which one do I trust? Franky probably neither. One study just isn't proof of anything. Science is rarely made up of one study. It's made up of many, many studies that are able to repeat the same results.

The other problem here, is that we take studies done on populations that are different than us and try to apply them to our situation. An example would be a study that tests, say, muscle retention during VLCD in young males that are overweight, but not obese. As an older male that's much heavier, how do I know if anything from that study even applies to me? Worse yet, what if I was female? How likely are the results to be the same? I promise you that not even the researchers for that study would hazard a guess at that one!

In addition, one thing we often overlook is that these types of studies are generally done on pretty small groups of individuals and from what I've seen, I doubt most of these studies would pass a more stringent test of statistical validity. (What I mean is that frankly there's little proof that the results they got would be repeatable in a different group.) You just can't eliminate all the potential mitigating factors that could have effected results. They can only control for the things they think will matter.

The final factor we often overlook is that a common approach in such studies, is to gather all the results for all the participants and then AVERAGE those results to draw conclusions about what works and what does not. So, for example, if I'm comparing 2 different strength training routines for effectiveness, I'll tally up all the participant that participated in each test group and average the results for each group. Because they are averages, the results may be all over the map because keep in mind, we're talking about a pretty complex machine here and few of us are "average". So here's the rub: What if you're more like the guy that did much better on routine A, than all the participants in group B. Yet the researcher draws the conclusion that routine B is best because the average was better for that group. Does this mean you should switch routines? Seems like a bad plan.

Not trying to confuse anyone, but I just felt like we need to view everything we hear, both here and anywhere else with a modicum of suspicion. If you think a particular strategy, etc. might be the way to go, great! Give it a try and if you works for you, even better. Just please don't assume it's the only way to do things or that everyone that disagrees with you is wrong. There are many paths on this journey to fitness and ultimately we have to decide for ourselves which one works for us.