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What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

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Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    I never listened when people told me the dire statistics until I became one. I used to get mad at the suggestion, in fact. And remember that "20% success rate" includes anyone who kept off 10% of their weight loss. Heck, by that standard I won! But I don't consider gaining back 90% of what I lost success at all. I doubt many people would.

    I know this is a futile effort because people generally never think bad things could happen to them, but I just wish I personally had been more humble and less arrogant in the past. It stings to eat those words, it really does. I remember getting real mad at this one woman who said she regained because her child died. I feel so bad about that now- wish I could apologize to her. But I did not understand how it happens. Now I do, from watching all my WL friends and myself.

    Also there's nothing special about MFP. People have been calorie counting for decades, it's just that now there's an app. Weight Watchers is basically calorie counting and it has the same dismal long term success rate of anything.

    You seem determined to quash any and all optimism or determination to try.

    That's my issue with you.

    If you think this is my first rodeo, you're mistaken.

    I've been dieting off and on since I was 13. I'm going to be 55 in a few weeks. I've lost and regained weight before.

    I've been that statistic you're so enamored with.

    I know other posters, a couple of them posting in this thread have also been that statistic. All of us are making it work this time around and really, who are you to come traipsing in trying to rain doom and gloom all over us? Why project so? Why not turn around and learn and just have at it and pull yourself together and learn from what went wrong last time?

    One of the things I've learned coming to MFP is learning from my past mistakes and moving forward with determinism.

    Great. I wish you awesome luck.

    I too don't really understand your vociferous need to point out how doomed people are who try to lose weight. How many people don't know that? And how many would be easily discouraged if that's all they ever heard?

    The thread is for "unpopular opinions" is it not? Clearly mine is one.

    I honestly do wish everyone good luck.

    I actually think you're pretty spot on. I know so many people in 'real life' who have lost weight and then regained it again, and again and again. There's so much that goes into maintaining weight loss long term, and then throw in all of life's twists and turns and it's so freakin' hard to stay focused and on plan.

    I'm a little over 4 years into maintaining a 50ish pound loss, (so according to a pp I qualify to give advice :p ), and maintaining for another year or 5 years or 10 years or 20, 30, 40 and possibly 50 more years terrifies me. So many days now I feel burned out and I struggle to stay focused. The mind games are brutal and the further along I go into this process the harder it is to keep at it. I keep mixing things up, to keep my head in the game and I make myself check in here every day, to be around other people who are similarly focused, but it's hard. And exhausting. I would love nothing more than to chuck my stupid food scale out the window and Eat.All.The.Chips.

    Gosh, don't I sound chirpy :p

    It is exhausting staying focused all the time. I don't think I could ever do it. I periodically just say 'to heck with it' and eat whatever (which is often a whole lot of chips and dip). Sometimes for days at a time. It's worth it to me to periodically be hedonistic with food and drink, even knowing that I'll have to diet again to get rid of it.
  • curiouskate
    curiouskate Posts: 36 Member
    I never listened when people told me the dire statistics until I became one. I used to get mad at the suggestion, in fact. And remember that "20% success rate" includes anyone who kept off 10% of their weight loss. Heck, by that standard I won! But I don't consider gaining back 90% of what I lost success at all. I doubt many people would.

    I know this is a futile effort because people generally never think bad things could happen to them, but I just wish I personally had been more humble and less arrogant in the past. It stings to eat those words, it really does. I remember getting real mad at this one woman who said she regained because her child died. I feel so bad about that now- wish I could apologize to her. But I did not understand how it happens. Now I do, from watching all my WL friends and myself.

    Also there's nothing special about MFP. People have been calorie counting for decades, it's just that now there's an app. Weight Watchers is basically calorie counting and it has the same dismal long term success rate of anything.

    You seem determined to quash any and all optimism or determination to try.

    That's my issue with you.

    If you think this is my first rodeo, you're mistaken.

    I've been dieting off and on since I was 13. I'm going to be 55 in a few weeks. I've lost and regained weight before.

    I've been that statistic you're so enamored with.

    I know other posters, a couple of them posting in this thread have also been that statistic. All of us are making it work this time around and really, who are you to come traipsing in trying to rain doom and gloom all over us? Why project so? Why not turn around and learn and just have at it and pull yourself together and learn from what went wrong last time?

    One of the things I've learned coming to MFP is learning from my past mistakes and moving forward with determinism.

    Great. I wish you awesome luck.

    I too don't really understand your vociferous need to point out how doomed people are who try to lose weight. How many people don't know that? And how many would be easily discouraged if that's all they ever heard?

    The thread is for "unpopular opinions" is it not? Clearly mine is one.

    I honestly do wish everyone good luck.

    I actually think you're pretty spot on. I know so many people in 'real life' who have lost weight and then regained it again, and again and again. There's so much that goes into maintaining weight loss long term, and then throw in all of life's twists and turns and it's so freakin' hard to stay focused and on plan.

    I'm a little over 4 years into maintaining a 50ish pound loss, (so according to a pp I qualify to give advice :p ), and maintaining for another year or 5 years or 10 years or 20, 30, 40 and possibly 50 more years terrifies me. So many days now I feel burned out and I struggle to stay focused. The mind games are brutal and the further along I go into this process the harder it is to keep at it. I keep mixing things up, to keep my head in the game and I make myself check in here every day, to be around other people who are similarly focused, but it's hard. And exhausting. I would love nothing more than to chuck my stupid food scale out the window and Eat.All.The.Chips.

    Gosh, don't I sound chirpy :p

    I totally relate and could have written that myself about 5 years ago (except for me it was 120 lb). When it gets that hard- all it takes is one (or two) life stresses and holding on gets even harder. I currently think this is normal human nature and evidence would suggest most humans experience this as extremely difficult if not impossible. I believe motivation is a finite resource. And sometimes you need it for something else and you lose it for maintaining weight, or you get depressed or any other emotional issue and it becomes very very hard.

    I don't think I really had a choice at that point. (Not a popular opinion either lol)

    So now I'm back at losing, and rethinking it with a more realistic eye. Am I going to put in 10 hours a week at the gym forever? Honestly? No. I'm not. I know this now. (Just as one example)

    And also I have come to the conclusion that even if you end up yo yo dieting, it's still worth it to try again.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
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  • sammi_spring
    sammi_spring Posts: 2 Member
    edited August 2017
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    There's no guarantee with WLS either. The stats are better, but I wonder if all else were equal (super serious decision made, some medical support, education, so on) if the stats would be more similar, if we compared like to like. (I also, as mentioned upthread, lost 50 lbs, regained over time, and lost again, and don't think of that as making the first lost worthless or a failure.)

    I don't think WLS is the easy way out, but I am bothered by it being promoted as the answer (I guess because I am really leery of serious surgery and making drastic changes to parts of the body when that can be avoided). And given that it STILL requires habit changes over time and not overeating and so on, I don't see why you could not use the tools that are used to be successful at that to be successful at a way that does not require surgery. Unless you think it will be easier in some way.

    I don't judge people who have it -- they are them, I am me, and I am not in their place -- but I honestly do not understand making the choice. Not when there are other options, at least (urgent health situations aside).

    That's not meant to be antagonistic and I wouldn't raise it with someone who didn't want to talk about it, but I am curious about this sometimes.

    It is very drastic and not for everyone. But I have been fat since I was a kid. It took me two years of eating well and excercising just to lose 80 pounds (eating 1400-1500 calories... I'm short). My body does not want to be anywhere close to a healthy BMI. I need a tool not to make it easier, but make it possible.

    The surgery will just take away cravings and hunger, making the process faster and regain more unlikely, while also forcing me into 100's which I would never otherwise reach. I've spent enough of my life being fat, which is why I need something drastic to get into the lower 100's. I don't see myself counting calories my whole life-- I've learned life happens and you won't always have the numbers. My daughter needs me now, not 4 years from now.

    I followed a blogger who lost over 200 pounds. She was super active like an athlete, got the skin removed and even she gained it back.

    I would have excess skin to fix regardless.

    I can't speak for everyone. I just don't find WLS easy and for me, I decided it is nessesary to take a more drastic measure so I don't waste my life away hoping to be skinny. It is discouraging to be fat even though you're calorie counting and feel like you're starving!

  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    There's no guarantee with WLS either. The stats are better, but I wonder if all else were equal (super serious decision made, some medical support, education, so on) if the stats would be more similar, if we compared like to like. (I also, as mentioned upthread, lost 50 lbs, regained over time, and lost again, and don't think of that as making the first lost worthless or a failure.)

    I don't think WLS is the easy way out, but I am bothered by it being promoted as the answer (I guess because I am really leery of serious surgery and making drastic changes to parts of the body when that can be avoided). And given that it STILL requires habit changes over time and not overeating and so on, I don't see why you could not use the tools that are used to be successful at that to be successful at a way that does not require surgery. Unless you think it will be easier in some way.

    I don't judge people who have it -- they are them, I am me, and I am not in their place -- but I honestly do not understand making the choice. Not when there are other options, at least (urgent health situations aside).

    That's not meant to be antagonistic and I wouldn't raise it with someone who didn't want to talk about it, but I am curious about this sometimes.

    It is very drastic and not for everyone. But I have been fat since I was a kid. It took me two years of eating well and excercising just to lose 80 pounds (eating 1400-1500 calories... I'm short). My body does not want to be anywhere close to a healthy BMI. I need a tool not to make it easier, but make it possible.

    The surgery will just take away cravings and hunger, making the process faster and regain more unlikely, while also forcing me into 100's which I would never otherwise reach. I've spent enough of my life being fat, which is why I need something drastic to get into the lower 100's. I don't see myself counting calories my whole life-- I've learned life happens and you won't always have the numbers. My daughter needs me now, not 4 years from now.

    I followed a blogger who lost over 200 pounds. She was super active like an athlete, got the skin removed and even she gained it back.

    I would have excess skin to fix regardless.

    I can't speak for everyone. I just don't find WLS easy and for me, I decided it is nessesary to take a more drastic measure so I don't waste my life away hoping to be skinny. It is discouraging to be fat even though you're calorie counting and feel like you're starving!

    Don't you still have to track calorie intake though, even with WLS? I know several people who've had various WLS procedures done, and they're all more overweight now than what they were before their surgeries. One gained so much weight after her surgery that she's no longer mobile/self- functioning and had to move back in with her parents.

  • piperdown44
    piperdown44 Posts: 958 Member
    WakkoW wrote: »
    I can't run now. Not that I did much, hiking was my church and therapists couch but I have to be careful with that now too.

    But I do think some sort of cardio that gets the heart rate up is important and is why I am just working around my limitations. Again, I could just go, oh well, lifelong degenerative problem, I'll just give up now I can't do the things I love best.

    And I can still pick up and put down my dumbbells so that's cool.

    Sorry that you can't do what you love anymore, but happy for you that you still work with what you've got. Eventually we all will have to make adjustments and come to terms with time and illness. I'm sure when that time comes for me, I'll find something else to keep my body moving. The older I get, the more aware I am that will become a reality some day.

    ^This. I know my joints are ticking tomb bombs.

    Your attitude is awesome VF.

    Amen!
    Couldn't run when younger due to asthma. New inhalers helped a lot and worked up to 2 miles a day (yeah not a lot, but a lot for someone that used to do a mile in 18 mins...lol). Now, after ACL repair decades ago, no cartilage on one side of my right knee. No way to run, as when I've tried it the knee will swell up like crazy. Switch back to my first love of weight lifting....well a SLAP tear and partial rotator cuff tear keeps me from some specific lifts but I keep plowing on with alternatives as best I can.
    If I have to continue to modify so be it, I'll figure out a way to keep going.
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
    I had to stop running a few years ago because every time I tried, I had flare ups of my ITB. I really hated it happening. Then, after my last pregnancy I started having increased low back/hip pain. After ruling out other issues with X-Ray, the doctor sent me to physical therapy and they determined I had hypermobility of the sacral-illial joints (where the low spine meets the pelvis). Therapy to strengthen the right muscles and help me know how to get things aligned and keep them there on my own, so I have much fewer flare-ups of the back/hip pain. A nice side effect has been that I'm able to run again without ITB issues! Of course, my running endurance is way down, my best miles are still about 11 or 12 minutes (from 9-10 before), but the fact that I can work on it again makes me super happy.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    There's no guarantee with WLS either. The stats are better, but I wonder if all else were equal (super serious decision made, some medical support, education, so on) if the stats would be more similar, if we compared like to like. (I also, as mentioned upthread, lost 50 lbs, regained over time, and lost again, and don't think of that as making the first lost worthless or a failure.)

    I don't think WLS is the easy way out, but I am bothered by it being promoted as the answer (I guess because I am really leery of serious surgery and making drastic changes to parts of the body when that can be avoided). And given that it STILL requires habit changes over time and not overeating and so on, I don't see why you could not use the tools that are used to be successful at that to be successful at a way that does not require surgery. Unless you think it will be easier in some way.

    I don't judge people who have it -- they are them, I am me, and I am not in their place -- but I honestly do not understand making the choice. Not when there are other options, at least (urgent health situations aside).

    That's not meant to be antagonistic and I wouldn't raise it with someone who didn't want to talk about it, but I am curious about this sometimes.

    It is very drastic and not for everyone. But I have been fat since I was a kid. It took me two years of eating well and excercising just to lose 80 pounds (eating 1400-1500 calories... I'm short). My body does not want to be anywhere close to a healthy BMI. I need a tool not to make it easier, but make it possible.

    The surgery will just take away cravings and hunger, making the process faster and regain more unlikely, while also forcing me into 100's which I would never otherwise reach. I've spent enough of my life being fat, which is why I need something drastic to get into the lower 100's. I don't see myself counting calories my whole life-- I've learned life happens and you won't always have the numbers. My daughter needs me now, not 4 years from now.

    I followed a blogger who lost over 200 pounds. She was super active like an athlete, got the skin removed and even she gained it back.

    I would have excess skin to fix regardless.

    I can't speak for everyone. I just don't find WLS easy and for me, I decided it is nessesary to take a more drastic measure so I don't waste my life away hoping to be skinny. It is discouraging to be fat even though you're calorie counting and feel like you're starving!

    Don't you still have to track calorie intake though, even with WLS? I know several people who've had various WLS procedures done, and they're all more overweight now than what they were before their surgeries. One gained so much weight after her surgery that she's no longer mobile/self- functioning and had to move back in with her parents.

    Yes you do an because of the WLS it becomes more important to ensure that you are eating enough not just over eating.

    WLS forces you to restrict calories to a degree for a time period but it doesn't help with why you over ate...

  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,937 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    mph323 wrote: »
    This is my observation after reading about how WLS works. There's multiple consultations with doctors, dieticians, and other members of a support team that take a patient through pre-surgery weight loss, the surgery itself, and a period of time after. Most patients will lose weight because of the financial, physical and emotional investment they've made to the process along with the on-going education on how to continue losing on their own and maintaining that loss. Re-gaining the weight usually doesn't happen until they're on their own, and might not happen as often if that support was always available no matter how long ago the surgery.

    My belief is that if a person who is candidate for WLS (whether they plan to go that route or not) had that same support system the success rate without surgery rate would be the same as with surgery. If that kind of intensive support system was available to anyone who needs to lose any amount of weight to get into a healthy range the success rate of weight loss maintenance would be significantly higher.

    I'm not presenting this as an unpopular opinion, just some thoughts :)

    observation/reading on how it is suppose to work vs reality are starkly different...I can guarantee it.

    No matter the "support" or "education" people receive either before WLS, during or after...or for those who are losing without that if they do not take responsibility for what they put in the mouth aka food and quantity of it and apply the knowledge they get then they will always gain the weight back....

    those are the facts and the bolded is unpopular I am sure...I will probably get a smack down for it.

    No, I think you are dead on! I've seen it with a friend of mine. 300+lbs, WLS, continued to eat as he had before. 300+ pounds today. It's like a reset button and you get a 2nd chance not to do that to yourself. If you're going to eat like a 300 pounder, why suffer through the surgery and recovery?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2017
    mph323 wrote: »
    My belief is that if a person who is candidate for WLS (whether they plan to go that route or not) had that same support system the success rate without surgery rate would be the same as with surgery. If that kind of intensive support system was available to anyone who needs to lose any amount of weight to get into a healthy range the success rate of weight loss maintenance would be significantly higher.

    I'm not presenting this as an unpopular opinion, just some thoughts :)

    This is how I tend to think about it too. It's what I meant before when I said that I wondered if the stats would be different, if all else were different.

    I also think there's much more pressure (has to be) if you've had WLS to not regain -- many people would no doubt think "this was my big chance and I will have blown all that money, time recovering and the risk of the surgery," etc. Also, I suspect there's some incentive not to overeat if you think it will hurt you/cause damage (different from not actually being able to overeat).

    I've seen stats that indicate that people also are more likely to successfully lose if they are told they need to for a medical reason (especially if they get help with the diet part because it is seen as a medical thing), and being at the point where you make the decision to go for WLS has to be a similar incentive. I wouldn't say it's precisely comparable to me, in my late 20s, thinking "man, I really don't want to get a larger size, I need to start paying attention to my diet, maybe tomorrow" over and over again as the years went by. But people like me back then get included in the overall weight loss stats.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    This is my observation after reading about how WLS works. There's multiple consultations with doctors, dieticians, and other members of a support team that take a patient through pre-surgery weight loss, the surgery itself, and a period of time after. Most patients will lose weight because of the financial, physical and emotional investment they've made to the process along with the on-going education on how to continue losing on their own and maintaining that loss. Re-gaining the weight usually doesn't happen until they're on their own, and might not happen as often if that support was always available no matter how long ago the surgery.

    My belief is that if a person who is candidate for WLS (whether they plan to go that route or not) had that same support system the success rate without surgery rate would be the same as with surgery. If that kind of intensive support system was available to anyone who needs to lose any amount of weight to get into a healthy range the success rate of weight loss maintenance would be significantly higher.

    I'm not presenting this as an unpopular opinion, just some thoughts :)

    This is what I think the model for weight loss needs to be. Having weight loss centers that are like bariatric surgery clinics that offer a full range of support and education services to the overweight and obese to oversee weight loss efforts.

    I think it should be a medical specialty that you can get referrals to and have full insurance coverage for.

    I can dream, can't I?

    It'd be a lot cheaper than the surgery model.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    This is my observation after reading about how WLS works. There's multiple consultations with doctors, dieticians, and other members of a support team that take a patient through pre-surgery weight loss, the surgery itself, and a period of time after. Most patients will lose weight because of the financial, physical and emotional investment they've made to the process along with the on-going education on how to continue losing on their own and maintaining that loss. Re-gaining the weight usually doesn't happen until they're on their own, and might not happen as often if that support was always available no matter how long ago the surgery.

    My belief is that if a person who is candidate for WLS (whether they plan to go that route or not) had that same support system the success rate without surgery rate would be the same as with surgery. If that kind of intensive support system was available to anyone who needs to lose any amount of weight to get into a healthy range the success rate of weight loss maintenance would be significantly higher.

    I'm not presenting this as an unpopular opinion, just some thoughts :)

    This is what I think the model for weight loss needs to be. Having weight loss centers that are like bariatric surgery clinics that offer a full range of support and education services to the overweight and obese to oversee weight loss efforts.

    I think it should be a medical specialty that you can get referrals to and have full insurance coverage for.

    I can dream, can't I?

    How many people go to existing places like this and have lasting success?
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    tomteboda wrote: »
    mph323 wrote: »
    This is my observation after reading about how WLS works. There's multiple consultations with doctors, dieticians, and other members of a support team that take a patient through pre-surgery weight loss, the surgery itself, and a period of time after. Most patients will lose weight because of the financial, physical and emotional investment they've made to the process along with the on-going education on how to continue losing on their own and maintaining that loss. Re-gaining the weight usually doesn't happen until they're on their own, and might not happen as often if that support was always available no matter how long ago the surgery.

    My belief is that if a person who is candidate for WLS (whether they plan to go that route or not) had that same support system the success rate without surgery rate would be the same as with surgery. If that kind of intensive support system was available to anyone who needs to lose any amount of weight to get into a healthy range the success rate of weight loss maintenance would be significantly higher.

    I'm not presenting this as an unpopular opinion, just some thoughts :)

    This is what I think the model for weight loss needs to be. Having weight loss centers that are like bariatric surgery clinics that offer a full range of support and education services to the overweight and obese to oversee weight loss efforts.

    I think it should be a medical specialty that you can get referrals to and have full insurance coverage for.

    I can dream, can't I?

    It'd be a lot cheaper than the surgery model.

    But people wouldn't be willing to pay for the simple advice, so there is no profit in it. It's sad that this is the case (from both sides), but people are willing to pay for surgery or extreme weight loss programs more often that paying for information on moderating their lifestyle.
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