Ending 1200 Calorie Bashing: Respecting Your Peers

I love when Men in particular have advice for women on weight loss . It's so cute

Yeah, that's hilarious Who do they think are?

And those male OB/GYN Consultants as well giving women advice in hospitals. How dare they!

a guy OBGYN doesn't know what the hell he's doing. I've had several, and they don't know a woman's body like a woman.

A doctor is a little different than a snarky dude on the Internet

It's actually NOT easy to be snarky and judgmental. I think most of us who roll our eyes at these "I'm different! I swear it! I will die if I eat more than 8 calories per day!" posts would truly LOVE to be able to discuss healthy food and fitness techniques with the new members of the site.

The problem is that most of the people who come here claiming to be looking for advice are really only looking for confirmation of their pre-existing misconceptions about weight-loss. And when you tell them they are wrong, they immediately get defensive. Any attempt to dissuade them from bowing before the systematic starvation throne is viewed as being mean, snarky, and judgmental.The people here who say "Eat more," "lift heavy weights," "stop doing 100 hours of cardio a week," etc., are people who have been there and done that and have learned from experience what is SUSTAINABLE and what only works for about six weeks.

Then there is the inevitable "my doctor told me to do this, so you must not know what you're talking about" nonsense. Allow me to clue you in: most doctors don't know their *kitten* from their carotid arteries when it comes to losing weight. They tell you to eat 1000 calories per day because they don't KNOW what else to tell you. They spend their careers wiping noses, writing prescriptions for antibiotics, and passing people off to specialists. Experience has taught them that telling you to starve yourself will cause you to drop a lot of weight in a short amount of time, thus convincing you of their brilliance ... before you inevitably crash and burn, blame yourself, and settle on the fact that losing weight is simply not possible for you because you don't have the requisite willpower or discipline. And if you could think for yourself, you might have realized at some point along the way that maybe your doctor was wrong.

If you don't want to take my word for it, that's actually a good sign because you absolutely SHOULD be doing real, independent research. Spend some time educating yourself rather than taking your doctor's advice as gospel.

I think I love you.

'

YES YES YES!

THIS 100%.

Even when people give polite advice, if it goes against the mindset the OP has decided on (not the OP of this thread, but the OP who would ask for advice, for example) then you still can somehow upset someone....people don't like to be told that they are/may be wrong. I also quite enjoy that responses that question or challenge the OP but are polite = "I've already said this but You clearly missed the point" but responses that agree agree = "Thanks! Glad someone gets it.". No, mostly everyone "gets it"...it's just that not everyone thinks the same way and everyone needs to be a bit thoughtful that this is the INTERNET. Don't let someone's words...simple typed out letters on your screen...somehow break you.

Most immediately jump to 1200 calories, because they believe they will reach their goal faster. I can understand doing such a thing out of ignorance. However, that won't last long.

The "everyone is different" mantra is getting quite old. No, everyone is not different. You can't defy the laws of thermodynamics. 1200 calorie diets coupled with an exercise program should not be "prescribed" to anyone. I don't care how big and or how much weight you need to lose. Weight loss is not a short term solution, it's a long term endeavor.

Agree 100%

I love when Men in particular have advice for women on weight loss . It's so cute

Hate to ruin what might by my only opportunity to be "cute," but why can't men advise women on weight loss?

Weight loss between the sexes is a teeny bit different . I've been on MFP since August , logging , measuring and working hard 5 times a week . My Fiancé who thinks chicken parm subs are a healthy lunch because chicken is in the name , doesn't work out , and wakes up at 3 am and eats donuts recently lost 10 pounds due to work stress . Granted he ate a few less cookies that week . My Father also recently lost 30 pounds by cutting out Bacon ! And before you ask he was having it everyday with breakfast . My Mother who eats salad everyday told me she might just kill him . That's the difference

And that means nothing. Your husband and your father ATE under their caloric maintenance. You're acting like women follow some different set of rules. Sorry but they don't. The only difference is most require fewer calories. And when I mean by fewer, I don't mean by much.

And if I have to be called snarky the so be it. I rather be snarky than enable a "snowflake" to create a blizzard. Like I have always said, a lot of people don't come here to help. They are looking for validation.

You get to play the ignorance card once.

You can endorse a low calorie diet without directly telling people that it works for you, it'll work for them. It's implied when you make a very wordy post condemning the masses on the forums for directing people to the roadmap and other information that discourages very low calorie diets. The majority of people on the forum denounce 1200 or lower diets for a reason. It's not ideal, unsafe and unhealthy for most people. So just because your doctor recommends it for YOU, why is it offensive that it's pointed out to others to be too low. For most it IS too low and unhealthy, so pointing that out and directing them to more information isnt bashing at all. If *YOU* are called out in the forums, then defend it there. Because your post sounds like flame-baiting. It sounds like you are trying to stir up the debate. For most, it's not ideal. I'm happy for you that you are part of less than 1% it's good for. Why you wouldn't want to see the others discouraged from unhealthy dieting practices is beyond me. If I were in your position I might caution others from mimicking what I'm doing because only a doctor should be making those exceptions. Instead you seem to give the impression that it's right for many, that lots of your friends are special snowflakes bullied by the forums.