What have you learned are myths, since joining MyFitnessPal?

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  • danofthedead1979
    danofthedead1979 Posts: 362 Member
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    dont eat carbs
    carbs make you fat
    dont eat after a certain time in the evening, it will turn into fat
    you have to cut out certain foods if you want to lose weight
    santa claus isnt real :(
  • Minnie2361
    Minnie2361 Posts: 281 Member
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    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!
    Some people DON'T know how to research (using pseudoscience and blogs are references) and if doing "what works for them" isn't always correct either.
    There's lots to learn from people on here who are "in the know". You just have to find the right ones who don't just spout a bunch of BS.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    That's kind of an insult to the intelligence of the people on this site. People DO know how to research, and there IS a lot of false information on here from people who think their way of losing weight is the ONLY way. It's very aggravating.
    How is it an insult? I didn't say ALL PEOPLE. Ask many people what a peer reviewed clinical study is and probably most wouldn't know unless they googled it. There are lots of people that follow lots of broscience and unsupported methods because they read it in a fitness magazine or watched it on the BL or saw it on Dr. Oz, etc. That's not research, that's just following the crowd which many dieters do (which is why they are still dieting and not just changing their actual lifestyle).

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Minnie2361
    Minnie2361 Posts: 281 Member
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    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!
    Some people DON'T know how to research (using pseudoscience and blogs are references) and if doing "what works for them" isn't always correct either.
    There's lots to learn from people on here who are "in the know". You just have to find the right ones who don't just spout a bunch of BS.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    That's kind of an insult to the intelligence of the people on this site. People DO know how to research, and there IS a lot of false information on here from people who think their way of losing weight is the ONLY way. It's very aggravating.
    How is it an insult? I didn't say ALL PEOPLE. Ask many people what a peer reviewed clinical study is and probably most wouldn't know unless they googled it. There are lots of people that follow lots of broscience and unsupported methods because they read it in a fitness magazine or watched it on the BL or saw it on Dr. Oz, etc. That's not research, that's just following the crowd which many dieters do (which is why they are still dieting and not just changing their actual lifestyle).

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    I agree with you, I believe a number of people on this board do not know what a peer reviewed study means however you can send them to google scholar to research and read the abstracts.
  • ReginaM49
    ReginaM49 Posts: 65 Member
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    Amen!
  • FitFabFlirty92
    FitFabFlirty92 Posts: 384 Member
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    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!
    Some people DON'T know how to research (using pseudoscience and blogs are references) and if doing "what works for them" isn't always correct either.
    There's lots to learn from people on here who are "in the know". You just have to find the right ones who don't just spout a bunch of BS.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    That's kind of an insult to the intelligence of the people on this site. People DO know how to research, and there IS a lot of false information on here from people who think their way of losing weight is the ONLY way. It's very aggravating.
    How is it an insult? I didn't say ALL PEOPLE. Ask many people what a peer reviewed clinical study is and probably most wouldn't know unless they googled it. There are lots of people that follow lots of broscience and unsupported methods because they read it in a fitness magazine or watched it on the BL or saw it on Dr. Oz, etc. That's not research, that's just following the crowd which many dieters do (which is why they are still dieting and not just changing their actual lifestyle).

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    If I'm 21 years old and I know what a peer reviewed clinical study is, I imagine most people on this site, who are much older than me, would know or be able to figure it out. I do agree with you that a lot of people use things like reality TV and wack jobs like Dr. Oz to get their information, and that has to stop. I'm just saying people on this site aren't stupid and they CAN research if they set their minds to it. And that research, and figuring out what works for THEM, is probably better than listening to people on this site who think they know everything because they follow one specific plan.
  • justanotherloser007
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    Myth: I thought if I joined MFP I would be able to extract fact from fiction when it comes to losing weight and nutrition.

    Reality: Accountability is where I am at. I can't even begin to know what I am doing wrong, if I don't even know what I am doing.

    I wish to learn more facts, keeping in mind everyone is completely unique. I will still be me no matter what size I am.
  • sophorae
    sophorae Posts: 17 Member
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    I've only just started. It took me 20 days to lose 6 1/2 lbs. The things that I have learnt are that fats and carbs like pasta are hideously high in calories. How could I have been eating so much of it before? lean meat, fish, fruit, veges are amazingly low. Yesterday I went back over my diary and saved all the meals I enjoyed to the meals menu. They were all meat fruit and veges. Guess the cave girl in me knows what it's about.
  • sophorae
    sophorae Posts: 17 Member
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    I agree, with FitFabFlirty9 in that good science means good cures. The weight loss and medical industry has attracted all kinds of profiteers and charlatans.

    On the topic of the unscientifically trained being able to judge cures from snake oil, they shouldn't have to. If writers, journalists and presenters held to the ethical standards they are supposed to, the information they disseminate would not be snake oil. Here's an example of very, very bad medical journalism.
    http://fitzhenrymac.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/should-i-sell-my-soul-thoughts-inspired-by-anne-surma/

    I used to suffer from fibromyalgia and restless legs like you wouldn't believe. These are common in obese women my age. Checked out the commercial sites, nothing useful except ways to spend money. Then I started reading recent research papers. I'm studying so can access full copies through my uni (even though I'm only studying writing). There I found a paper by 3 Indian researchers in which they were investigating multi B with folate to find out what was the key molecule in it that seemed to be helping Fibromyalgia (the association was found in a very large epidemiological study). As I had some sitting unused in my drawer, and because I was in such pain and having difficulty sleeping, I decided to try it. For once, something actually worked within 2 days. Not just for the fibro but also the restless legs. Now I see more researchers are looking at those vitamins. It worked the first time and after a few weeks I stopped taking them. Recently the fibromyalgia came back - it worked the second time too.

    Of course the pharmaceutical industry are livid, just like they were when it was found that a patent free drug was the cure for ulcers (Heliobacter pylori)
  • LJCannon
    LJCannon Posts: 3,636 Member
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    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!

    ^^^this!!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,574 Member
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    Myth 2: If you use bodyweight exercises to gain strength you will eventually get to a plateau where you will have to start using weights to continue gaining strength.
    Well it's partially true. Let's say one is 300lbs and can't do a pushup. Drops 50lbs and now can do 1 push up. Loses another 50lbs and now can do 10 pushups at 200lbs. Does that necessarily mean the got stronger, or did the weight loss make it easier to do a push up? Also (unless you change the leverage) how does one get stronger just using the same resistance? You can increase muscular endurance (higher reps or even just isometric holds) but one won't get stronger unless they overload the muscle being targeted.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,574 Member
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    Screw *most of everything people say on the boards ( there are a lot of know it all's in here), do your own research and just "do what works for you"!
    Some people DON'T know how to research (using pseudoscience and blogs are references) and if doing "what works for them" isn't always correct either.
    There's lots to learn from people on here who are "in the know". You just have to find the right ones who don't just spout a bunch of BS.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    That's kind of an insult to the intelligence of the people on this site. People DO know how to research, and there IS a lot of false information on here from people who think their way of losing weight is the ONLY way. It's very aggravating.
    How is it an insult? I didn't say ALL PEOPLE. Ask many people what a peer reviewed clinical study is and probably most wouldn't know unless they googled it. There are lots of people that follow lots of broscience and unsupported methods because they read it in a fitness magazine or watched it on the BL or saw it on Dr. Oz, etc. That's not research, that's just following the crowd which many dieters do (which is why they are still dieting and not just changing their actual lifestyle).

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    If I'm 21 years old and I know what a peer reviewed clinical study is, I imagine most people on this site, who are much older than me, would know or be able to figure it out. I do agree with you that a lot of people use things like reality TV and wack jobs like Dr. Oz to get their information, and that has to stop. I'm just saying people on this site aren't stupid and they CAN research if they set their minds to it. And that research, and figuring out what works for THEM, is probably better than listening to people on this site who think they know everything because they follow one specific plan.
    While there is lots of advice that's given by people from anecdotal evidence, as the thread mentioned, there are still lots of myths that people truly believe because it's been believed for so long. Even with lots of people in the fitness industry, there are lots of broscience claims that they will emphatically stick even with science debunking it. So as I mentioned most people will google something like aspartame, read all the "bad" about it from blogs, articles, media,etc. then take that information and believe it, but not read what peer reviewed clinical studies will say about them because for some reason, it doesn't pop up on the search engine unless specifically asked for. So learning how to research does count.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • shst07
    shst07 Posts: 61 Member
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    You can lose weight while eating junk food. While there are more nutritious options, a calorie is just a calorie. Really.

    This!
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,375 Member
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    That eating small frequent meals will boost my metabolism.

    That skipping meals will slow down my metabolism.

    That breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

    That I should eat more when I hit a plateau.

    And most importantly, healthy food doesn't mean low calories!

    The first 3 of these, for me. My doctor made it sound like I would go into starvation mode if I didn't eat first thing in the morning.
    While there is lots of advice that's given by people from anecdotal evidence, as the thread mentioned, there are still lots of myths that people truly believe because it's been believed for so long. Even with lots of people in the fitness industry, there are lots of broscience claims that they will emphatically stick even with science debunking it. So as I mentioned most people will google something like aspartame, read all the "bad" about it from blogs, articles, media,etc. then take that information and believe it, but not read what peer reviewed clinical studies will say about them because for some reason, it doesn't pop up on the search engine unless specifically asked for. So learning how to research does count.

    I'm not ashamed to admit that I was one of those people who believed what they read, until I really learned how to research properly.
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,655 Member
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    Myth: That doing lots of reps with very light weights is the right way for women to build strong, lean, not "bulky" muscles.
    Myth: That wearing a heart rate monitor all day long will tell you how many calories you really burned in a day.
    Myth: That "you can't outrun your fork." And, conversely, that tons of cardio will make up for a really crappy diet.
    Myth: That the fitness models in Runner's World got those figures purely by running, or by doing the little 5-minute exercise-band routines they're demonstrating.

    And the biggest myth I've unlearned: That it's "too late" to get in shape and I'll never be able to do those things I'd like to do.
  • JewelsinBigD
    JewelsinBigD Posts: 661 Member
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    I've learned that eating more often doesn't boost your metabolism, that breakfast isn't necessary (although I actually have breakfast now, never used to), that what you eat doesn't really matter that much, that you can't build muscle on a calorie deficit, and that pretty much everything has more calories than you think.
    Actually you can build muscle on a calorie deficit IF you have a lot of weight to lose. If you are lean - no. If you are morbidly obese - yes. I know there will be those who disagree- but I am fairly certain as I have done it and seen others do it too.
  • MissLuana
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    And most importantly, healthy food doesn't mean low calories!

    AMEN!!! I went to make me a "healthy" fruit smoothie the other day and abandoned it once I was up to 400 calories and hadn't even added in the calories for my almond milk!!! :huh: