Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.

What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

1159160162164165358

Replies

  • curiouskate
    curiouskate Posts: 36 Member
    My unpopular opinion: most people who got fat as children/teens will never maintain a healthy weight, and the best we can hope for is yo yo dieting. The other option is accepting being fat for good. The existence of a few exceptions to this rule doesn't change my opinion. Statistically, it's an obvious fact.

    Yup, that's a pretty unpopular opinion. I know a lot of us here who plan on proving you wrong.

    I don't "hope" for yo-yo dieting. MFP has taught me how to control my weight properly. I know what to do to prevent the yo-yo cycle from happening.

    I didn't have that knowledge in the past. That's the big difference.

    And I wish you luck and won't give you my downer experience to try to change your mind, because I've been there too. It's worth it to try.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    Is it a jelly roll, a jelly doughnut, or a Bismark?
    Do you drink from a drinking fountain, a water fountain, or a bubbler?
    Do you eat subs, hoagies, or grinders?
    Of course, there is the ultimate: soda or pop? (or Coke, or tonic)


    ...and this is why humans will never be able to communicate whatsoever.

    Bismarks are those chocolate covered donuts with pudding inside. It's my favorite.

    dd21RS.jpg
    1. Water fountain
    2. Sub
    3. Coke

    I can't even cite regional differences. I've lived in PA, FL, CA, WA. Not sure when or where I came up with these beliefs. It's my feels.

    Lol! The chef in me is having a cringe moment. That is not pudding in a Bismark. It is Creme' Patisserie. It's my foodie OCD kicking in I know... :D

    That gets us into the UK's version of "salad", I suppose.

    Let's talk about the ambiguity of the word "pudding" across the pond...

    Pudding is interchangeable with dessert in the UK. It predates all those fancy French things becoming de rigueur. I'm cool with the fancy French things though.

    Huh. I realize Ireland != UK, but when my wife and I were in Ireland ~8 years ago, we got pudding at breakfast. They brought us sausage. I don't remember which was which, but there was a "black" and a "red" version. IIRC, one of them was called "blood pudding," while the other was not. Or maybe it was just the particular spices in each. I remember liking the "not blood" version, while didn't care much for the "blood" version - and this was, I think, before knowing it was made with blood. So not just a psychological thing.

    Just a difference between Ireland and UK, or is "blood pudding" simply like how we call your egg mayo egg "salad?"

    Ah yes, well you see, Brits are contrary and we use words with many contexts. One version is indeed sweet after dinner delicious things.

    But pudding also refers black pudding, white pudding (I'll admit I don't know what's in the white one but it's delicious battered, which you will find in fish and chip shops in Scotland), but I don't know what red pudding is, that's a new one on me.

    Then there's the suet pastry steamed pie version of pudding like steak and ale or steak and kidney. But all of the savoury versions are preceded by some indicator of their savouryness, like steak and kidney pudding, black pudding etc.

    Whereas the sweet variety is used on its own to cover the broad range of items that dessert. So in a restaurant, it would be, "are you going to have pudding?" when trying to work out if you want to give yourself away as a complete pig. *tingue in cheek emoji*

    As livingleanlivingclean mentioned, I think the "red" one was actually white pudding. It's been a while, and I just remember the color (because it was fried, I think) was reddish.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    I think exercise is critical for weight loss/maintenance.

    Not so much from a CI/CO standpoint as mental. From my experience as someone who has been relatively sedentary starts exercising more, they will realize they will feel/perform better with changes in their diet (quantity and type of food).
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    I think exercise is critical for weight loss/maintenance.

    Not so much from a CI/CO standpoint as mental. From my experience as someone who has been relatively sedentary starts exercising more, they will realize they will feel/perform better with changes in their diet (quantity and type of food).

    I actually think the mental component of exercise being essential is for well-being. :)

    I think it's essential for stress management, confidence-building, better sleep, and overall mental health. Nothing that is potentially free offers so many benefits.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited August 2017
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    I think exercise is critical for weight loss/maintenance.

    Not so much from a CI/CO standpoint as mental. From my experience as someone who has been relatively sedentary starts exercising more, they will realize they will feel/perform better with changes in their diet (quantity and type of food).
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    I think exercise is critical for weight loss/maintenance.

    Not so much from a CI/CO standpoint as mental. From my experience as someone who has been relatively sedentary starts exercising more, they will realize they will feel/perform better with changes in their diet (quantity and type of food).

    I actually think the mental component of exercise being essential is for well-being. :)

    I think it's essential for stress management, confidence-building, better sleep, and overall mental health. Nothing that is potentially free offers so many benefits.

    Maybe it's the chicken and the egg thing? Physical activity results in better overall mental health, so people end up improving their diet and reducing self medication with food.

  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member


    What do you think led you to yo-yo?

    Why do you feel it's inevitable and do you feel other people are incapable of preparing for it and preventing it?

    No no, it's not about me. That would be arrogant to think one person is the rule for all others. It's my observations of others as well as my own experience. Last time I lost my 100+ lb (putting me barely in the normal weight range) I did it the "healthy way." And it was a lifestyle as they say. It took me 2 years to lose and then I maintained for ~4 years. I used calorie counters just like MFP, though a different site. I got involved a lot in WL forums like this one and I "met" lots of others who lost a lot of weight, like me. We all did different things to lose it.
    Here's the thing though, almost 10 years later, every single person gained back every single pound, some more than they started with. And these were all very dedicated people (including me.)

    But here is a what happened to every single one: LIFE.

    A lifestyle is all well and good until your life circumstances change. Whether it was a death or an illness or an injury or a divorce or a new baby or whatever. Life doesn't stay the same.

    I figure, I'm almost 40. I've lost the same 100 lb twice (now aiming for #3) and last time I really thought "I got this." There is really nothing about weight loss I don't know by now. But I'm also not fooling myself anymore. You can't predict the future.

    I think maybe a few people can do it permanently (exceptions) but most people can't and won't. That's just the way the cards are dealt. Keeping weight off is just as much work as losing it for those of us who were fat to begin with and grew up that way. People who don't have this issue will never understand it. If you're motivated and determined you can lose weight and keep it off, for awhile. But life will happen. It's easy to look at other people and tell yourself it won't happen to you, but I look around and the evidence says otherwise. That is why I hold this unpopular opinion.



    I already got my curve ball.

    I had a very big medical scare.

    It cost me 5 pounds. I've nipped that in the bud and am already losing it.

    I'm aware life happens. How far you let it happens is the determining factor, I think.

    I'm still down 91 out of 95 pounds lost.

    I was prepared for life to happen. I let the 5 pound gain happen, and then said enough and stopped that ish. It was a conscious choice. I never conscientiously stopped the behaviors that I have in place to deal with my weight. I did conscientiously let go of my eating to deal with the stress and accept the weight gain. That was a poor choice, but it was a trying time and exercise wasn't cutting it since my ability to exercise was impacted at the time.

    I learned something from all that which I will apply moving forward. I don't like this extra weight, even if it's only 4 pounds at this point. I had 5 more pounds I had wanted to lose of vanity weight at the time I'd gained the weight and I still want to lose that too.

    I have more faith in people being smart, forming habits, and learning from mistakes than you do, I guess.

    I know that statistically, only 80% of people are successful at weight loss. So in a way you are right. I have a feeling a lot of the forum regulars here are a bit more savvy than the average bear, though.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    Fair enough, but I know myself.

    Where your post rubbed me the wrong way was your sure declaration that just about everyone was doomed.

    Statistics say that 20% will succeed. I've researched the habits of successful people and made them my own. I've already been through a serious trial and didn't falter.

    Time will tell which side of the statistic any of us fall on.
  • curiouskate
    curiouskate Posts: 36 Member
    As much as I'd like to argue against your view point, I have to admit you're describing me to a T. Having yo-yoed throughout my entire adult life over a huge span (100lbs either way), and having had great success in losing this time around, I've currently regained almost 30lbs and am struggling mightily to get things going back down, rather than continuing up. To be honest, life is kicking my *kitten* right now, and I'm doing a really crappy job of dealing with it.

    I think most people have a hard time with life at times. I mean, maybe some lucky people don't but most of us have periods of change/difficulty/adjustment that change things. One of the big ones for me was being forced to move a lot farther away from my job and having to commute. It has never gotten easier to make the time since I lost those hours. But it wasn't just that, it was a combination of things. This time. The exact circumstances don't matter, I just see that life is going to go on and things are going to keep happening. I'm no longer sure enough of the future to say "I will keep doing these things forever without fail no matter what" because that would be a lie.

    But that's what it takes.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    Fair enough, but I know myself.

    Where your post rubbed me the wrong way was your sure declaration that just about everyone was doomed.

    Statistics say that 20% will succeed. I've researched the habits of successful people and made them my own. I've already been through a serious trial and didn't falter.

    Time will tell which side of the statistic any of us fall on.

    ^
    To add to that, this is one statistic where you have full power over the outcome at all times. Outside factors can only make it harder or easier for you, never prevent you completely from getting the outcome you desire.

    Well, it's just the defeatism of this whole thing.

    I get having set backs, and my five pound blip was a bit of a set back, other people would just call it a maintenance fluctuation, but it was a set back because I did purposely let go on my eating to deal with stress and wasn't quite done with vanity weight loss.

    The thing is, I'm still firmly on top of everything and was, even during that horrible time. I never completely threw in the towel and never let things spiral out of control. I have stop gaps like not having larger clothes or undergarments (and in my case, the idea of not having a bra that would fit is a real problem). I got rid of all my fat clothes and even all my interim clothes. I don't have a choice except to stay the course because we can't afford anything else at this point!
This discussion has been closed.