Weight loss scams and how to spot them
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"here, you can lose weight... Just watch this 30 minute video that absolutely doesn't say crap !"2
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Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.
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Other behaviors did not change; use declined sharply after the first month; nothing was apparently monitored but self-reported "use of a personal calorie goal". That's not a very impressive study. I definitely agree with its conclusions: if you hand a random person an app and then just let them use it or not as they see fit, you're not likely to get a high success rate. But how is that in any way helpful data [/quote]
It's helpful data because they are likely looking at interventions that would make a difference in health care. I actually think it's quite useful to know that it makes no statistically significant difference if you suggest it to patients who aren't mentally ready to make a change.4 -
Can we add "PM me for info!" to the list?11
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trainers hate him...9
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MamaBirdBoss wrote: »
Bit generic though - "smartphones, PDAs, iPods, and Mp3 players"
My point was that simplistic criteria are a blunt instrument. MFP has specific peer reviewed evidence of it not working in a certain context but that doesn't mean it has no merit whatsoever.
Um. No, it's not. It's a review versus a single study. Those tend to be enormously more accurate. Variability and study design and how statistics works means that a review is worth a lot more.
The other study is badly flawed. People were simply told to lose weight and told to use MFP. The didn't WANT to lose weight, necessarily. Therefore, both groups--the non-MFP group and the MFP group--failed equally. If you don't want to actually lose weight, the form of intervention doesn't matter.10 -
Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.Except that MFP isn't a marketed weight loss product.
"Free online calorie counter and diet plan. Lose weight by tracking your caloric intake quickly and easily." from web site. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/welcome/learn_more etc.
Again: it's a tool used for tracking calories, offered for free. From your cited study:
"Compared with patients in the control group, those in the intervention group increased use of a personal calorie goal (mean between-group difference, 2.0 d/wk [CI, 1.1 to 2.9 d/wk]; P < 0.001), although other self-reported behaviors did not differ between groups. Most users reported high satisfaction with MyFitnessPal, but logins decreased sharply after the first month."
Other behaviors did not change; use declined sharply after the first month; nothing was apparently monitored but self-reported "use of a personal calorie goal". That's not a very impressive study. I definitely agree with its conclusions: if you hand a random person an app and then just let them use it or not as they see fit, you're not likely to get a high success rate. But how is that in any way helpful data?
Give me a study that considers what the people are actually eating with a diet plan, with a group using MFP regularly to log calories and a control who does not track (or tracks with a traditinal paper method), and I will give the study due consideration. But a study that simply says, "Give 'em an app and they don't do much with it" doesn't impress.
Gee, I guess if "not using it" counts as it not working, then school should be ignored because you won't learn anything if you don't go to it, so might as well not even start.9 -
Exactly. At best, this study is determining whether or not the app is, in itself, a *motivator* for weight loss in a randomized group of people who need to lose weight. And since all the data was self-reported, we don't even know if those people who were given the app ever even used it for any extended length of time -- like, even a week -- or if they used it properly -- did they log everything? did they weigh and measure?stevencloser wrote: »Gee, I guess if "not using it" counts as it not working, then school should be ignored because you won't learn anything if you don't go to it, so might as well not even start.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that this study is pretty awful. Must have been some doctoral candidate's final project or something.
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-"jumpstart"
-Detox/ cleanse
- Your friends are selling it via facebook6 -
Anything sold in a MLM scheme.11
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I wonder how much it cost to discover that people not ready to self-monitor calories won't see substantial weight change by self-monitoring calories.Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.
I bet a smartphone app for getting off, say, the couch and running a 5K wouldn't produce substantial results for someone not ready to get off the couch and run a 5K, either.
Or maybe Word and Scrivener don't produce substantial writing from people not ready to write.
It seems like an actual, legitimate, useful question would be whether such apps help people who are ready to undertake the actions for which the app is designed, not whether it can magically produce results for those who aren't.13 -
Anything that claims it blocks the absorption or digestion of fats, carbs or calories. While there is an FDA approved pill to block some dietary fat from being absorbed, testimonials from its use are nightmarish, and successful and comfortable use comes with decreasing dietary fat intake drastically, thereby reducing caloric intake. The pill shames you into reducing your calories.
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I think it would be better to make a list of what "DOES" work.
There would only be one item on the list...
1. Promotes "healthy" weight loss (no more than 2 lbs. per week) through "diet" and "exercise".
The end...:)7 -
- When there is as much pressure (or more) to sell the product yourself as there is to purchase it.11
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bcalvanese wrote: »I think it would be better to make a list of what "DOES" work.
There would only be one item on the list...
1. Promotes "healthy" weight loss (no more than 2 lbs. per week) through "diet" and "exercise".
The end...:)
So true. But sadly, some people don't want to hear that. I've seen more than one thread here that goes something like...
OP: "Hey! I just started using <insert weight loss scam here>! Anyone else using it? I need friends - let's support each other!"
25 different MFP posters: "That's a scam. Please don't waste your money."
Person with 2 previous posts: "Hey! I'm using <insert weight loss scam here> too! Sent you a friend request! Let's do this!"
OP: "Yay! I accepted!"
End of thread.
So, yeah....I love the 'weight loss scams and how to spot them' list. It's well worth it even if it helps only a few folks here who are willing to think it through a bit before falling for the scams.
So true.
It's just a shame that so many people cannot see through the BS, and the scammers are making billions of dollars a year off of that.3 -
Vague claim about how {insert exotic far off or ancient people here} have always known about or benefited from {insert selling point of product/plan here}. And now you can know what they knew, for only {insert price here}.5
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