I'm shaking my head at this advice

As a vegetarian, this made me lose IQ points. It's people like this that make vegans/vegetarian look like nut cases. Everything that is natural is good for you as long as you know what the limits/moderation are and are prepared the proper way.

Many people are unaware that any lay person can call themselves a "Nutritionist". There is no certification or regulating governing body for "nutritionists". You can have ZERO training or education and sell yourself as a nutritionist. I would only take nutritional advice seriously if it came from a highly educated, certified, licenced, well-trained professional like a Registered Dietician.

Also, anyone with half a brain who is mentoring or counselling a client with weight loss needs would emphasize exercise as an EQUALLY important part of their program. If they told me you can lose weight (in a healthy way) without exercise I'd be as skeptical as if they tried to tell me ultra low cal diets or rapid weight loss would be healthy or sustainable. Red flags!!

In a nutshell, if you eat well but don't exercise you are wasting your time just as it would be a waste of time to exercise and then eat an unhealthy diet.

I hope your friend sees the light.

I do have to disagree with you on this point. I have lost all my weight through diet alone. I do not exercise - other than normal everyday life activities like housecleaning or yard work.

The OP did make me giggle especially when a vegan (nothing wrong with being vegan) recommended eating chicken and beef every day. There are some good points mixed in with a whole lot of bad points in the FB post.

I agree and disagree with the comment here.

AGREE: because weight loss from calorie control only causes you to reduce fat, water and muscle mass
DISAGREE: Some larger people who need to lose a large amount of weight need to do so first before attempting strenuous exercise (more than walking etc)

For me it's simple
I use cardio for fitness/ stamina improvements
Weight training and a calorie deficit to lose FAT and build lean muscle

Doing the above will make you fit
Losing weight through calorie deficit alone will make you skinny

I know which one i'm aiming to be...

While admittedly a lot of the information here is a bit questionable, there are still bits that I think are worth paying attention to. We should try to minimize the amount we eat processed goods and we should all try to implement more healthy foods, like raw fruits and veggies!

The thing that bugged me most about those though was the "one size fits all" way that people tried to advise this friend. Those tips and tricks may have worked for those people, but our bodies are unique. We all produce varying quantities of certain enzymes so what may work for one person (ex: lots of meat and veg with no grains) doesn't work for someone like me. Our bodies are different. Therefore, there is no one piece of advice nutritionally speaking that applies to everyone.

I hate ignorant vegans. When I was vegan, I felt like I had to defend myself because so many people had this new age, rainbows and unicorns perception of me because of stupid, ignorant vegans that just perpetuate the unbathed, pot smokin, circa 1960's hippie/flower child stereotype.

Turn off Dr. Oz, put down your gem healing books, coconut oil is just pop culture's new olive oil, and do some d*mn research before opening your mouth. That would help out a lot of us. Thanks.

But in all fairness, let's remember that all this research on eggs told us they were bad for so long, that even doctors or nutritionists still claim they are bad. And quite frankly, I have not done my homework on the matter, and I imagine most people have not taken the time to read ALL of the peer reviewed journals on it. ---It's on my "to do" list. I don't just take every peer reviewed journal as fact. I have to consider the source, the variables, and the results as well. A lot of this research is funded by the same industries that use those studies to back their products. That's how scientists are paid. It allows the company to now say they have "proof" that (insert product here _____), will help you lose belly fat! Raise your metabolism! Increase HDL cholesterol!.....When if you look at the study, the results are negligible at best, and usually aren't worth the paper they were written on.

So, until I actually sit down and pour over the egg good/bad conundrum, I'm going to say the jury's still out for me at least. But I still eat eggs. Everything in moderation.

well, i eat eggs, and im losing weight... lol, well, i eat egg whites, not for dietary reasons... only because as a child my cousin told me that the yellow yolk was the baby chick... and ive never gotten over the trauma of that story... issues i guess... lol

I have to say, the only part I agree with is eating at least 1800-2200 calories. Suggesting one eat below their BMR (the # of cals is takes to basically lay in bed all day?) is not healthy, you are not feeding your body what it needs to function and even *excel* at daily activities including exercise!

But not everyone's BMR is > 1800. I don't know my actual BMR, my TDEE is about 1900 with daily exercise.

yeah, see... there people go generalizing again... based on the mifflin - st. jeor equations, my bmr is 1603... thats not 1800!

Hmmmm.... I must be a freak of nature because I eat at least one egg almost every day and I've lost 18 lbs in just over 2 months. Can you please tell me what's wrong with me? :huh:

Ummm... your shirt! lol

You. Are. Awesome!:drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Admittedly, my reply was based on science from a non-scientist, and I didn't realise the advice was from several/many people (although that would've made more sense WRT the eggs/meat thing). When it comes to nutrition advice, there is probably "proof" that the opposite of what you believe is also true... just add site:dailymail.co.uk to your Google search. Nothing new today about nutrition, but apparently vibrating beds cure cellulite.

Everybody is both different and the same. As well as "what my body does" with food, there are also our own perceptions and beliefs. Therefore, all dietary advice that is not boiled down to absolute works-for-everyone rules (energy balance, possibly RDA's based on lean mass or full body imaging scans) is not universal.

I avoid red meat because too much might be bad. I drink goats milk because of taste and goats being more likely to be better treated and less likely to be involved in intensive dairy farming (I hear goat, I think 'head-butting', and I don't think a load of those in a small space would be good economically - plus it is probably harder to make a smaller animal produce more milk through selective breeding to the point it is detrimental to animal health). I avoid aspartame because it hasn't been around long enough (centuries/millennia) to know what effect it has long term. I don't eat eggs that are from cages/barns - unfortunately meals containing meat don't yet say how the meat was raised. I don't eat tuna that wasn't caught using pole and line fishing. I don't believe eggs are bad but am not eating many at the moment because I don't have enough energy to cook them, my Tefal Toast 'n' Egg needs a new egg poacher thing, and I don't fancy eating them. I eat wholemeal bread because I have always preferred the taste plus the slower rate of digestion. I eat salted butter as I don't believe saturated fats or salt are evil. I avoid trans fats because I believe they are evil. I believe every egg shell on the planet should be recycled because the calcium should go back in the soil rather than dumped in landfills, but I haven't looked in my wormery for a few years. I don't eat much fruit or vegetables because I end up throwing them out as I don't eat them all before they spoil. I eat processed food because I can't stick with eating clean as I can only eat clean when I'm capable of cooking. I like nuts and seeds and usually use them to make up my calories, but I'm currently using chocolate or ice cream instead because I don't fancy them. I try to limit simple sugars to after (or during) exercise. My diet at present works for me and is probably sustainable, and it is based on adapting what didn't work for me in the past after considering possible reasons it didn't work, combined with my perceptions and beliefs.

Someone can suggest eating clean, someone else can suggest a vegan diet, and someone else can suggest eating only ice cream. It doesn't bother me unless they say "scientists have proven", "the only way to lose weight", or "eating that will kill you [unless everyone is in agreement about it]".

I may not be getting enough Vitamin A, Iron and/or other vitamins/minerals MFP doesn't track, but I haven't had any bloodwork done nor am I noticing any of the side-effects noticed by each deficiency. For Vitamin A I'll probably eat some liver sausage, and for iron I'll probably have some red meat. That's because of cravings and my liver/whatever should be able to store the excess.

As far as weight loss, I've only done 2 weight training sessions last week (none in the 2 years before then) and I have lost 40.9 lb between 1st December 2012 and 24th April 2013 (20 weeks), of which 98.4%-100.7% was fat mass (Bod Pod and Brozeck formula; reason for a range instead of an exact percentage is I was tested twice (four times) yesterday for Brozeck and Siri and the machine said my body density for Siri was 1.020 kg/L and for Brozeck 1.021 kg/L) - if I use an average of 1.0205 kg/L and the Brozeck formula, 99.56% of my weight loss in the last 20 weeks has been from fat, and reaching my goal of 135-138 lb when I'm carrying 138-142+ lb of lean mass is now looking unlikely, but then I was assuming 20% of my loss would be from lean mass. In 12 weeks I should be below 30%BF so I'll see then (when Siri is supposed to be more accurate than Brozeck) if I need to change my goal date. It's also possible I've lost muscle mass in my upper body and gained the same amount of muscle mass in my legs, no idea.

That's how I'm judging if what I'm doing is "right for me" as far as weight loss is concerned, and I'll make adjustments as need be. Unless I had a clone with the same body and brain, what works for me won't work for everyone and probably isn't suitable for anyone (including me). Suggestions of "what works for me" or "what works for others" shouldn't be suggestions of "what will work for you" or "what works for everyone" because in most cases that is a myth or a belief unless talking about something so general the next question is "what does that mean?" or "how do I do that?" Eating clean works for me but is not sustainable. Eating processed food works for me and is currently sustainable.

When a friend of mine asked me what he should be eating to train for a half marathon, my response was "what you currently eat, plus a bit more, then make adjustments to see what helps your body recover quicker, I like chocolate milk, I don't know your body". When he asked me if a smoothie off the shelf was OK, I looked at the macros and said "post workout, likely". I looked at about 30 different marathon/half-marathon nutrition advice pages on the Net, disagreeing with most of the advice. Eating Snickers on my long walks works for me but probably isn't advisable for those with nut allergies or diabetes.

Finding something you can stick with requires trying different things and finding out if they work for you (not only in terms of weight management, but compliance rate too). Unless you have a good memory, logging is essential in finding out if something isn't working. Exercise might not be necessary (I didn't exercise for 7-9 weeks due to illness and still lost weight without losing lean mass, or I lost lean mass and then regained it - no idea) but I get really hungry if I eat closer to my BMR than my TDEE, so for me exercise is needed. Some days/weeks my appetite is reduced so I cut back on exercise so I'm not under-eating based on my goals, but that's me and my approach isn't "the only way".

Also, weight loss is not my only goal. Laying in bed with my laptop all day will not help me reach my goals of walking 2,000 miles in 2013, increasing my walking speed and distance, starting C25K again when my BMI is <30 (4 months away?) and being able to run for 20-30 minutes non-stop, and lowering my RHR back down to 43 bpm (or lower).

When it comes to good food and bad food, everyone currently on MFP will probably be long dead before all the scientists agree.

I love the whole "white rice makes you fat" thing. Yup, my size 0 cousins who eat white rice everyday with pretty much every meal (what? We're Asian.) sure are fat. And I guess I'm a special snowflake for losing 40 pounds while still having bread, rice, eggs, and dairy nearly every day.