Unhelpful advice by experts

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  • UnicornAmanda
    UnicornAmanda Posts: 294 Member
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    ianblackburn wrote: »
    "it's not rocket science, just eat less and exercise more" - maybe not from experts, but I see this often enough, and it makes my blood boil! My usual response is: "great idea, oh and by the way, if you want to be a billionaire here's a tip for you - it's not rocket science, just reduce your costs and increase revenue's - simple!"

    Haha, love this!!!

  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
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    I had never sought the advise of "experts" for the purpose of loosing fat so I don't have any anadotes to share from them.

    When I decided to loose the fat it had aquired in recent years I came to MFP and started reading in the Success form and took my cues from the folks who have done the work to succeed.

    But now that I am here I see such such horrible advise given by Internet experts repeated over and over. you just have to chuckle. Except it is not funny and hopefully people looking for help don't take the advise. But some will as the advise is usually the easy road. Stuff like, " eat more calories " if you are not loosing the weight because you are " in starvation mode " Arrrggg
  • Freedm16
    Freedm16 Posts: 14 Member
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    I get a lot of pressure from my Dr to lower my cholesterol, because the total is 220. However, I lift weights A LOT and workout everyday (I do Crossfit) My HDL is up around 80 while most people's is hardly above 30. My LDL is in the high end of the acceptable range and my triglycerides are well below where they need to be. Yet instead of looking at the whole picture, I get told to eat better and drop my cholesterol. I also have a BMI that puts me in the slightly overweight category. But I am well under the American average for female percentage body fat and wear a size 8 jean that fits loosely. I wish medical professionals would look at the whole picture instead of giving generic advice.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    My personal belief is that the average MD knows about as much about healthy weight loss as most of us do.
  • rcottonrph1
    rcottonrph1 Posts: 60
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    If you aren't hungry in the morning, it is a sign that your metabolism is sluggish. After 8 hours of not eating, you should be hungry!
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    My family doctor was sure my weight gain could be explained by drinking too many fruit/sugar drinks. All I had at the time was a half-cup orange juice in the morning. Guess what? I gave up the juice and I still gained weight.

    Now, I have had to make changes to lose weight (smaller snacks, calorie counting) but there was no easy fix to be found.
  • Adc7225
    Adc7225 Posts: 1,318 Member
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    I've gotten the 'keep doing what you are doing' spiel and while is does generally apply it is not what you want to hear sometimes. I am not sure why, I think sometimes we what to be told what to do that way if it doesn't work we have someone to fault :)

    But you are right there is no one way to do things. I get tired of hearing about how hard it is to lose weight when you are short - more than likely you have always been short and whatever it takes for 'you' to lose weight is what works for you. Trust me, tall people have issues as well.

    When to eat and what to eat will vary for each person like leaves on a tree, each of us has to find what works for us in our lives. The breakfast that works for me is eggs and fruit.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    lisaw19855 wrote: »
    Cut out carbs!

    Yeah great, I'll lose weight quickly but if I ever touch a carb again I'll balloon. I had one day where my carb intake was about 30g and I nearly passed out.

    Not necessary.

    And I'm pretty sure 30g of carbs in one day probably wasn't the reason you almost passed out. You're probably crash dieting. And no carbs won't make you balloon up, over eating will.

    I *think* she's saying she can't do low carb, and when she tried, she almost passed out. Maybe I'm not reading it right.

    For me the biggest myth that I was THRILLED to see dispelled (and I credit with much of my 69 pounds lost) is that you can still eat the things you love - you don't have to cut out certain foods, or eat a specific way to have success.
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
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    ianblackburn wrote: »
    "it's not rocket science, just eat less and exercise more" - maybe not from experts, but I see this often enough, and it makes my blood boil! My usual response is: "great idea, oh and by the way, if you want to be a billionaire here's a tip for you - it's not rocket science, just reduce your costs and increase revenue's - simple!"

    These are not analogous. Reducing costs and increasing revenues will both rely on things outside of your individual control.

    Eating less and exercises more are both things that you have 100% control over, all day, every day.


  • aplcr0331
    aplcr0331 Posts: 186 Member
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    ianblackburn wrote: »
    "it's not rocket science, just eat less and exercise more" - maybe not from experts, but I see this often enough, and it makes my blood boil! My usual response is: "great idea, oh and by the way, if you want to be a billionaire here's a tip for you - it's not rocket science, just reduce your costs and increase revenue's - simple!"

    No, it's not rocket science. It's Chemistry and Biology. If you eat at a deficit, you'll lose weight. Period. That some people fail in that does not make the science any less wrong. It just makes those people failures.

    I've never heard an expert say "reduce costs and increase revenues" to a person wanting to become rich. That's not even sound advice for someone who owns a business let alone some middle class schmuck trying to save for retirement. A billionaire?

    Specious made up "advice" that you've gathered in your head is not from an "expert".
  • jim180155
    jim180155 Posts: 769 Member
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    kcd1961 wrote: »

    The myth: Have a good breakfast, your brain needs carbs to function well, it will stop you getting hungry through the day and overeating - The reality I found that a good, healthy carb (low GI) loaded breakfast made my brain foggy and set me up for behavioural failure. I was hungry all day long. My brain works best on my fast days when all I have for breakfast is a home made cappuccino. Eating less in the day and having "left over" calories that I "have to eat" at the end of the day has prevented late night bingeing and has produced a much more workable system. (This breaks the "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper" myth - for me).

    I listen to the nutrition experts. It gets confusing at times, because they don't always agree. Sometimes that's because studies yield conflicting results. More often it's a matter of newspapers, magazines and internet news feeds recycling outdated notions, which is what the "good breakfast myth" is.

    When it comes to losing weight, it really doesn't matter when you eat. What does matter is how much you eat over the course of a day. Personally, I like a big breakfast. And a big lunch. I also snack throughout the day. I often skip dinner, opting for a light snack like popcorn. It works for me. The next guy will be miserable on a regimen like that and will crave a big dinner and maybe a late night snack. But as long as we both eat the same number of daily calories, all other things being equal, we'll both lose the same exact amount of weight.

  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    rcottonrph1 wrote: »
    If you aren't hungry in the morning, it is a sign that your metabolism is sluggish. After 8 hours of not eating, you should be hungry!

    Hunger =/= metabolism. I can exercise and work on an empty stomach. I lose weight at the appropriate rate--a little faster than MFP says I should, actually, so maybe my metabolism is the opposite of sluggish. Of course, this is anecdotal. I would be interested in seeing any evidence that backs up the metabolism/hunger link.
  • salad_bar
    salad_bar Posts: 66 Member
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    I will give the same piece of advice for this particular topic as I do for many other things:

    Do whatever the F you want.
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    Unhelpful advice for me is to practice elimination. Rather than confront the problem (of, say, binging) I should hide from it, stick my head in the sand and pretend my favorite foods don't exist and I can't eat them in any amount ever again.

    Like telling someone with money problems to go bury their unpaid bills in the backyard and change their phone number. Because the bills and the collectors knowing your phone number are the problems that needs solving...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    sure I will bite...

    carbs and sugar are bad and lead to weight gain, and must be eliminated..

    everyone is different when it comes to weight loss < no, we are not CICO works for everyone....
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    ianblackburn wrote: »
    "it's not rocket science, just eat less and exercise more" - maybe not from experts, but I see this often enough, and it makes my blood boil! My usual response is: "great idea, oh and by the way, if you want to be a billionaire here's a tip for you - it's not rocket science, just reduce your costs and increase revenue's - simple!"

    really??

    yes, it is that simple. Eat less and move more ..

  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
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    kcd1961 wrote: »
    Although my day job is as an "expert" (Occupational Therapist/Counsellor) - one of the things I've learned from my own weight loss/chronic disease management journey - is that a lot of stuff that seems accepted just doesn't work for me. I'll share my favourite bad advice and look forward to others experience. As I say to my clients, "If it works, keep doing it, if it doesn't, try something different".

    The myth: Have a good breakfast, your brain needs carbs to function well, it will stop you getting hungry through the day and overeating - The reality I found that a good, healthy carb (low GI) loaded breakfast made my brain foggy and set me up for behavioural failure. I was hungry all day long. My brain works best on my fast days when all I have for breakfast is a home made cappuccino. Eating less in the day and having "left over" calories that I "have to eat" at the end of the day has prevented late night bingeing and has produced a much more workable system. (This breaks the "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper" myth - for me).
    It varies from person to person. I usually function well on a high carb breakfast.

  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I've always hated the advice of eating "only when hungry, and stop when you're full" along with the advice of eating very slowly and chewing your food x number of times. I eat pretty fast. I need to monitor my intake by portion control and good choices. Not slow eating. And asking myself (especially during stressful moments) "am I hungry? am I full?" just doesn't work well for me.

    Another bit of advice that works for some, but not me, is eating 6-8 "mini meals" rather than 3 larger meals. I have done well with a very small breakfast, and larger lunch & dinner. I almost never snack. A few times I've tried the mini meals and I felt so dissatisfied! I would be truly miserable eating mini meals of 200 cal throughout each day.

    While yes "move more, eat less" is true...there are so many ways to achieve this!
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    seltzermint wrote: »
    I've always hated the advice of eating "only when hungry, and stop when you're full" along with the advice of eating very slowly and chewing your food x number of times. I eat pretty fast. I need to monitor my intake by portion control and good choices. Not slow eating. And asking myself (especially during stressful moments) "am I hungry? am I full?" just doesn't work well for me.

    Another bit of advice that works for some, but not me, is eating 6-8 "mini meals" rather than 3 larger meals. I have done well with a very small breakfast, and larger lunch & dinner. I almost never snack. A few times I've tried the mini meals and I felt so dissatisfied! I would be truly miserable eating mini meals of 200 cal throughout each day.

    While yes "move more, eat less" is true...there are so many ways to achieve this!

    It seems most problematic when people say you must do it my way. Usually it's someone who read a book or a documentary, and they say "everyone should do this because now I know x" or "this worked for me you need to do it too". Then people will say, no you don't have to do that, and then there's always a fight.

    I have no idea why it's so hard to fathom "CICO, and find the foods that keeps you feeling satiated and gets you to your goals" is so difficult. But everyone seems to rail against it.

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