Where Does All the Misinformation Come From?
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JerSchmare wrote: »It comes from people selling things. But, it also comes from people wanting magic to be true. It's a hard pill to swallow to say, "you eat too much. So, stop doing that." It's much easier to sell a system that makes it complicated, but if you follow it, it works. A good example is Weight Watchers.
I get a good laugh from weight watchers. I am glad that it works for some people but i just do NOT understand why you would put all that effort into learning a points system instead of just learning the calories.5 -
Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »JerSchmare wrote: »It comes from people selling things. But, it also comes from people wanting magic to be true. It's a hard pill to swallow to say, "you eat too much. So, stop doing that." It's much easier to sell a system that makes it complicated, but if you follow it, it works. A good example is Weight Watchers.
I get a good laugh from weight watchers. I am glad that it works for some people but i just do NOT understand why you would put all that effort into learning a points system instead of just learning the calories.
Because you don't know any better. I tried so many things because I also wanted the magic to be true haha1 -
When the simplicity of the truth became clear to me I felt personally victimized by my own ignorance lol7
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MontyMuttland wrote: »No, no, no no no, nonononononono, nooooooooooo !!
There is no such thing as weight by volume.
? Am I missing something? There is such thing as weight per unit volume: it's called density.32 -
It comes from people trying to sell things or push an agenda.
In general i've seen it go like this:
Researchers publish a paper about science
Media Blatantly mis-represents said science
Companies jump on the bandwagon to capitalize on "science"
Sometimes the first step is "we have a product we want to sell, let's fund some research".4 -
^ ThisJerSchmare wrote: »It's because people honestly don't know. And, they want losing weight to be difficult. The truth is harsh to many people.
Because it is "difficult" they can easily rationalize why they are not doing sufficient work to make it happen.
It is too hard, too complicated, too restrictive, or their genetics are special or their thyroid is unique or any number of other excuses, but NOT because they are simply eating more than they need to.
Explain CI:CO simply to most of the over-fat population and just listen to the excuses they immediately reply with.
I explained it to a person last week but the individual retorted that he only has a chicken breast and salad for dinner, and completely forgot I just watched him eat more for lunch than I had.
He then proceed to explain that he couldn't exercise at all because of "nerve damage" in his leg.
Therefore I reminded him that my ankle has been surgically reconstructed. Twice.
People often repeat and choose to believe what they want to be true instead of checking their facts.
It is part of confirmation bias.9 -
Also paying someone to teach CICO would take about 1 day plus the cost of a food scale and you can't make money on that repeatedly9
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All of the above, and I'll add: some bad "word of mouth" advice. For example, someone looks great, someone else asks *how* they lost the weight. They give an imprecise short hand answer like: "I'm doing atkins. I eat all the fat and protein I want and no carbs". Which, of course, isn't Atkins. And hopefully isn't what they're doing if they think they're doing Atkins.
Or "I lost weight by not eating anything white". WTH?
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MontyMuttland wrote: »No, no, no no no, nonononononono, nooooooooooo !!
There is no such thing as weight by volume.
? Am I missing something? There is such thing as weight per unit volume: it's called density.
Yes, they weren't clear. The objection is that weight-relative terms are used when it's density that's really being compared.
The counter-argument is that 'everybody knows' that when you say X is heavier than Y that you mean equal volumes of X and Y.
Now personally, I'd be ripped a new one if I use heavier and lighter in that way but I came up through a biochemistry and physics track and am still in a branch of science where assumptions and inaccurate terminology are frowned upon.6 -
rainbowbow wrote: »It comes from people trying to sell things or push an agenda.
In general i've seen it go like this:
Researchers publish a paper about science
Media Blatantly mis-represents said science
Companies jump on the bandwagon to capitalize on "science"
Sometimes the first step is "we have a product we want to sell, let's fund some research".
That bit sums it up perfectly.0 -
MontyMuttland wrote: »No, no, no no no, nonononononono, nooooooooooo !!
There is no such thing as weight by volume.
? Am I missing something? There is such thing as weight per unit volume: it's called density.
Thank you! I was about to lose my mind.2 -
If you understand how to "weigh" things, you weigh materials of SAME VOLUME to determine it's WEIGHT DENSITY. That's how science works.MontyMuttland wrote: »Tried30UserNames wrote: »Muscle does weigh more than fat so that one isn't misinformation.
A pound weighs a pound. But by volume, muscle weighs more than fat. Rarely does anyone specify volume in the "muscle weighs more than fat" truism because we figure your smart enough to figure out the obvious.
I'm quite certain the idea of starvation mode comes from people's experience. They cut calories drastically and exercise intensely and they get stuck at the same weight for months at a time. Or they diet and lose weight, then when they try to add back even a tiny bit more calories than their calories, they gain huge amounts of weight very quickly.
No, no, no no no, nonononononono, nooooooooooo !!
There is no such thing as weight by volume.
These are two totally different measurements.
Weight is a measure of how heavy something is.
Volume is a measure of how much space something takes up.
They are not the same thing.
They are not interchangeable.
A kilo of fat weighs the same as a kilo of muscle and a kilo of feathers, but each of them takes up a different amount of physical space.
However, it's stuff like this where people confidently put forward ideas that are factually incorrect which leads to widespread nonsense getting believed by so many others.
People cling to notions they like the sound of, regardless of truth.
But facts remain true whether you like them or not, that's just the way it is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »All of the above, and I'll add: some bad "word of mouth" advice. For example, someone looks great, someone else asks *how* they lost the weight. They give an imprecise short hand answer like: "I'm doing atkins. I eat all the fat and protein I want and no carbs". Which, of course, isn't Atkins. And hopefully isn't what they're doing if they think they're doing Atkins.
Or "I lost weight by not eating anything white". WTH?
I just cut my winter weight and I'm trying to get a little lower. A friend of mine asked me what I was doing because I already eat pretty good and exercise regularly. I told them that I just cut back on carbs at dinner on most nights. He said, "that's it...you just don't eat some carbs at night and that's how you lose weight?"
I had to explain to him that there wasn't anything magical about avoiding carbs in the evening but rather, it's just an easy rule for me to follow to put myself in a calorie deficit if everything else remains the same. That and I don't usually drink beer during the week when I'm cutting...but he didn't like that idea very much.7 -
probably the same place that "God helps those who help themselves" comes from0
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And the mic drops.people
A simple example will do. A book is written and advertised with a title and a blurb. "The Grapefruit Diet", or something like that.
The advertising casts a wide net and many people see the blurb, but not many people buy the book. It doesn't matter if they do or they don't, because the writer, the buyers, and the non-buyers just make up silliness about living on grapefruits or something like that and the meme takes on a life of it's own. My mother was taken in by this one. She'd solemnly slice a grapefruit and put half of it on a plate. Then she'd sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar on it, then she'd use a spoon to dig the sections out and eat them by the spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down. No weight loss meme every worked for her because she'd eat her 'stay fat' food, then add her 'lose weight' food on top of that. I remember eating Ayds like candy.
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Someone mentioned the 60's. Can i just say, atleast back then when companies were trying to sell you something they still provided you (somewhat) reasonable information.
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Excuses - you don't want to believe you're fat because you eat too many calories so you make up some ridiculous nonsense about not eating enough (because you're in total denial you're munching through calories like no one's business) or that you're just going crazy with the muscle building... Yeah right - it can't be you're own fault you're fat - it HAS to be something else. We hate being accountable for our own actions - it's so much easier to blame something else.
And I'm using you/you're generally - not referencing OP or anyone else specifically in this thread.4 -
If you understand how to "weigh" things, you weigh materials of SAME VOLUME to determine it's WEIGHT DENSITY. That's how science works.MontyMuttland wrote: »Tried30UserNames wrote: »Muscle does weigh more than fat so that one isn't misinformation.
A pound weighs a pound. But by volume, muscle weighs more than fat. Rarely does anyone specify volume in the "muscle weighs more than fat" truism because we figure your smart enough to figure out the obvious.
I'm quite certain the idea of starvation mode comes from people's experience. They cut calories drastically and exercise intensely and they get stuck at the same weight for months at a time. Or they diet and lose weight, then when they try to add back even a tiny bit more calories than their calories, they gain huge amounts of weight very quickly.
No, no, no no no, nonononononono, nooooooooooo !!
There is no such thing as weight by volume.
These are two totally different measurements.
Weight is a measure of how heavy something is.
Volume is a measure of how much space something takes up.
They are not the same thing.
They are not interchangeable.
A kilo of fat weighs the same as a kilo of muscle and a kilo of feathers, but each of them takes up a different amount of physical space.
However, it's stuff like this where people confidently put forward ideas that are factually incorrect which leads to widespread nonsense getting believed by so many others.
People cling to notions they like the sound of, regardless of truth.
But facts remain true whether you like them or not, that's just the way it is!
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
No, actually you typically don't - there's no need to make sure two materials are the same volume before weighing and it often adds an extra time-consuming step. Imagine trying to excise a precise cubic centimeter (or inch, or whatever) of material from a larger block, especially if the block is irregular in shape. It's not always a simple thing to do.
You weigh a piece of material, you measure it's volume (in any order you choose) and from those you calculate its density.1 -
A lot of it is the media blowing things out of proportion. A single study suggests something and they report it as fact. Several studies show most people should eat less of <whatever> and they report it as <whatever> is unhealthy with no mention of amount. And people are lazy. They read the headline, maybe even skim the article but make no effort to find out what the actual study said or if it's been confirmed by f/u studies.
Many people believe everything they read regardless of whether the source is credible.2
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