Diet tips that don't work

kmm7309

Yesterday my family was asking me about my weight loss and chiming in their own ideas about how loss is accomplished. I learned a long time ago that you cannot correct people on their false beliefs because they just get pissed off at you and get defensive and refuse to receive helpful information from you. Anyway, I am now officially the smallest person in my family (by at least 100 pounds) and my family was giving me the following (cringe-worthy) "tips" to boost weight loss...

1) Muscle weighs more than fat so if you gain weight, it's just muscle (FALSE: a pound is a pound-- muscle just takes up less space)
2) Drink grapefruit juice because it burns fat (FALSE: no food "burns" fat)
3) Never eat carbs because they automatically become fat. The Adkin's diet is the only way to lose weight (FALSE: carb restriction is a personal choice. I restrict my carbs to under 145 a day because of insulin resistance, but I do not eat less than 80. Adkin's is not the ONLY way to lose weight)
4) As long as you eat a salad for one meal, you can eat whatever you want for the other two meals (FALSE: calories in/calories out)
5) You can eat more than one slim-fast bar if you are hungry because they don't have any bad calories in them (FALSE: what?? What's a bad calorie? Why would you eat an unsatisfying processed chocolate bar when you can have a huge plate of veggies for less calories?)

Are there any other "diet tips" you've heard that make you cringe?

rowanwood

Anything with the word diet in it is probably bull.

kmm7309

Agreed. But everyone knows the best diet out there, right? If one diet worked for everyone, then I'm pretty sure the government would get behind that diet and push the hell out of it.

ken_hogan

I never really liked being asked 'what diet are you on' or 'are you on a diet?'...to me, I'm not on 'a diet' per se (spelling?), I just changed the way and what I eat. I rarely eat fast food like McDonalds (but allow for it from time to time), pay closer attention to my serving sizes at home vs. just loading my plate up with food, etc. I still eat what I want, just pay attention to how MUCH of it I eat, and try to make healthier options, like brown rice vs white, whole wheat pasta, etc.

scottgobuck

I have lost 112 pounds and now kept it off for over a year and never used the word diet. Its lifestyle change and part of it is exercise and the rest is your eating habits. I agree with you on a lot of your points, the biggest thing for me was eliminating almost all processed foods, totally eliminated soda and eat a lot of fruits and vegatables,fish and chicken. The people who say those things are looking for the easy way or making excuses because they arent ready for the change.

Congratulations on your change, you have done a wonderful job and it shows!!!

veggiesandkate

You should have a few servings of oil a day for healthy fats (False: oil is PURE fat and highly processed. You can get healthy fats from eating whole foods like avocados and coconuts)

dym123

I just find it kinda funny when people ask me how I lost all the weight and I tell them "healthier food choices and working my *kitten* off", they tell me that I don't need to do that, just do this, this, and this and they are at least 100 or so pounds overweight, I just smile and tell them "well, this is working for me"

groundhawg

"If you cheat and eat something bad, you might as well blow the whole day off, because its ruined"

bad bad bad, I mean, I have nothing against cheating, or schedule cheat days, but just because you ate a Big Mac at lunch does not give you a license to eat a tub of ice cream at home.

"The only way to look lean is cardio" Or "Weightlifting makes women look like men"- both nearly drive me into instant crazy mode.

castelluzzo99

I never really liked being asked 'what diet are you on' or 'are you on a diet?'...to me, I'm not on 'a diet' per se (spelling?), I just changed the way and what I eat. I rarely eat fast food like McDonalds (but allow for it from time to time), pay closer attention to my serving sizes at home vs. just loading my plate up with food, etc. I still eat what I want, just pay attention to how MUCH of it I eat, and try to make healthier options, like brown rice vs white, whole wheat pasta, etc.

Wow, exactly what I was thinking. If you make lifestyle changes instead of dieting, you can sustain it forever, instead of burning out on the diet and going back to what made you fat to begin with. For me, the biggest thing has been stopping when I'm full and not eating when I'm not hungry. If I just do those two things, and eat healthy, I'm good, and the pounds come off. Or at least the inches do... (I've been at 6-8 lb lost for the past 2 or 3 weeks... so I put the scales away and I won't check them again for a month!)

katy_trail

all of them

amandaanderson2786

the worst advice i have gotten was being told i should eat one meal a day to lose weight:noway:

mustgetmuscles1

You have to eat a lot of small meals to keep your metabolism burning.

You have to eat breakfast to jumpstart your metabolism.

You cant eat after a certain hour.

nexangelus

Um, I overheard something really stupid at the gym the other day, it went something like this: I eat really fast, I have a fast metabolism therefore. Those who eat slowly have slow metabolisms and tend to be fat.

WTF?!

susanswan

You should have a few servings of oil a day for healthy fats (False: oil is PURE fat and highly processed. You can get healthy fats from eating whole foods like avocados and coconuts)

^^^^ Lets add raw nuts and seeds to this!

splitdog79

This ex-husband of a co-worker was stopping by the office with her kids for a minute and was talking to me about weight loss and he asked me what I was going to do about loose skin around the stomach area. I told him that over time the skin may tighten back up some, but that in the meantime I'm keeping my skin moisturized and intend to work on building muscle in the near future.

He told me that his good friend wore a rubber girdle thingy everyday for a few months and drank as little as he could and after a few months his skin was as tight as new.

Now, I don't know about you guys but to me wearing a crap-ton of rubber super tight around your abdomen and then dehydrating yourself for months at a time seems like a pretty crappy idea.

zyxst

The ones that don't work for me:

1. No processed foods.

Define processed, because every food is processed in some form.

2. Only shop from the edges of the grocery store.

Does that include the dumpsters? There's plenty of "horrible" foods on the edge of the grocery store.

3. Don't eat <insert food of the moment considered evil> (re: breads, pasta, rice, anything white)

I'm already limited on what I can eat with a sodium restriction. Most of the "evil" foods are pretty damn low sodium (I'm looking at you pasta and rice). My life is crap enough now that I can't eat beef jerky anymore, so don't even try to take away my potatoes.

4a. Eat slowly. Put down your fork/spoon after each bite.

I can eat a slow as anything and still be hungry. Taking an hour to eat a meal isn't going to make my hunger go away.

4b. Drink a big glass of water before you eat.

I don't know about yours, but my stomach can tell the difference between water and food.

akindc

My mom (who doesn't know anything about nutrition so I'm not sure if I can fault her for it) has repeatedly told me to stay under 1200 calories. A few times she's told me to eat 800. I pretty much laughed in her face. I've tried showing her evidence, but I think it's mostly that she doesn't know how many calories are in foods, so 800 for her sounds like a lot.

It's a wonder I didn't grow up with an eating disorder

larryc0923

The ones that don't work for me:

1. No processed foods.

Define processed, because every food is processed in some form.

2. Only shop from the edges of the grocery store.

Does that include the dumpsters? There's plenty of "horrible" foods on the edge of the grocery store.

3. Don't eat <insert food of the moment considered evil> (re: breads, pasta, rice, anything white)

I'm already limited on what I can eat with a sodium restriction. Most of the "evil" foods are pretty damn low sodium (I'm looking at you pasta and rice). My life is crap enough now that I can't eat beef jerky anymore, so don't even try to take away my potatoes.

4a. Eat slowly. Put down your fork/spoon after each bite.

I can eat a slow as anything and still be hungry. Taking an hour to eat a meal isn't going to make my hunger go away.

4b. Drink a big glass of water before you eat.

I don't know about yours, but my stomach can tell the difference between water and food.

Agree!!

Jackson4590

It's impossible to change people's opinions with facts.

Pretty much any much unsolicited advice is cringe-worthy.

bleedingdesu

"White bread makes you lose weight because they take all the calories out of it and that's what makes it white."
no joke.

EmmaKarney

Hate it when people say "how did you do it" with regards to my weightloss..

I did it the only possible way: calories out was less than calories in - via a combination of diet and exercise.

tiggerhammon

'What you are doing looks so hard. Just try the hCg, it is working wonders for me and I don't even have to break a sweat.'

Heck no! I ain't touching that crap!

akindc

"White bread makes you lose weight because they take all the calories out of it and that's what makes it white."
no joke.

Every time I see you post your picture cracks me up.

bleedingdesu

"White bread makes you lose weight because they take all the calories out of it and that's what makes it white."
no joke.

Every time I see you post your picture cracks me up.

9/10 doctors recommend my picture.

nxd10

You can't lose weight. It's all genetic.

You can't lose weight after 30/40/50/60 (pick whatever is closest to the person telling you)

It's easy to take weight off, but you'll never keep it off. Losing weight means you'll just get fatter later. (There is some truth to this - it is harder to maintain than take it off, but mostly because people go back to their old eating habits after a 'diet'.)

Four_Leaf_Clover

Years ago (when I was younger, slimmer, and had not yet had any kids) - I complained to my doctor about how I was having a hard time losing weight. I was not eating a lot and I was working out regularly. I figured she might send me to a nutritionist or run a blood test - or provide me with some helpful (or perhaps scientific) advice.

Nope - she told me I was just plain eating too much (no way - I was easily under 1200) and that her friend had to eat only an apple and a yogurt a day for 6 mos before she lost any weight.

Uh yeah, no.

bcattoes

1) Muscle weighs more than fat so if you gain weight, it's just muscle (FALSE)

Um .... So, if someone gains weight it's never muscle???

KatLifter

1) Muscle weighs more than fat so if you gain weight, it's just muscle (FALSE)

Um .... So, if someone gains weight it's never muscle???

I agree. My measurements have gotten smaller, my body fat has decreased, but the scale was higher.
Cause: Heavy lifting

midnight333

I was once told by a relative to achieve your goal weight. You need to take your goal weight number and add a zero on the end of it (ie.115 = 1150). I'm 5'2" and it sorta sounded right so I did it for awhile.NOT!!!
After joining MFP I ate around 1200 - 1400? Don't really know if right or wrong but Doc. says whatever I'm doing to keep it up. I've lost 73 lbs total (209 - 136) since Jan '12 gonne keep on keepin' on.

Good luck to all fitness warriors out there :flowerforyou:

kmm7309

"White bread makes you lose weight because they take all the calories out of it and that's what makes it white."
no joke.

Holy crap. I wonder how many unsuspecting people have been told this. This person had to have heard it from someone!

kmm7309

1) Muscle weighs more than fat so if you gain weight, it's just muscle (FALSE)

Um .... So, if someone gains weight it's never muscle???

I agree. My measurements have gotten smaller, my body fat has decreased, but the scale was higher.
Cause: Heavy lifting

I was more addressing the "muscle weighs more than fat" part, because that's untrue, a pound is a pound (like I said in the part you cut off), and the "IF you gain weight, it's JUST muscle" because that's untrue too. If you gain weight, it's not just muscle. It could be water retention, a small fluctuation, or a million things. This statement implies that I shouldn't ever worry if I gain weight while dieting because I'm just gaining muscle, although I could be gaining weight because of inaccurate measurements, bad logging, eating above my calorie goal, etc. Those all-or-nothing statements are just bad ideas.