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Do you say something?
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Most of my friends and family are pretty well versed in fitness and nutrition so it's not really an issue...co-workers and whatnot, I usually don't say anything...not really worth my time.4
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It depends on the person and the situation.
Example:
Mom: I can never be skinny I have too many fat cells.
Me: (silence) She's been overweight my entire life and has no desire to change her eating habits so I just leave it be.
Friend: Tell me exactly your workout at the gym. I want to look like you.
Me: Thanks, but you don't want to look like me. You want to look like the best version of you. I mainly lift weights and do occasional cardio but what matters most is the amount of calories I take in.
Otherwise, as others have said, I say nothing unless asked directly.6 -
KrittersGal wrote: »Keto works! I have lost 30lbs in the last 4 months.
Not trying to say it doesn't. I think keto fits for some people.3 -
not anymore.
I used to sometimes but eh. most people don't want advice they just want to talk.
If they want my advice they will ask.
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Yes I usually speak up.
There is so much nonsense that is spread around that unless people speak up "a lie told often enough becomes the truth".1 -
Not usually. I've had people tell me (while they watch me eat pizza/ice cream/cake) that the reason I lost weight is because I don't eat things like pizza/ice cream/cake.4
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I do, which is mostly stuff my mother says. She got everything she knows about diet and fitness in 1983 and there is no changing her mind! I don't know why I keep trying.2
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I say all the things especially if I know they are wrong and I can teach them and help them. I try to do it gently but you can't control how other's take things. If they get combative I back away slowly and let them torture themselves.
I also have a habit of laughing uncontrollably at some people's ridiculous advice which tends to get me in trouble.3 -
Depends. If they are talking about what has worked for them, or even what they are trying even though it is not working, then I keep quiet. If they tell me what I should be doing, they usually don't like the response. If I'm in a good mood, it's "Why? What I'm doing works just fine for me." If I'm not in a good mood then the gloves are off.
But I also don't really like to talk about it in real life. I had someone gush over my weight loss (she hasn't seen me in 100+ lbs) and it got a bit much. I'd rather move on to another topic. Same if someone wants advice. I find I don't say much more then "I ate less".1 -
I will if they seem receptive and like it will help them. But, if they are happy, I don't get into that (especially if I don't know them very closely).0
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Only if I know them well or they are peddling absolute nonsense, like the guy in my diabetic community who wanted to eat nothing but baked potatoes without butter for a freaking year to lose weight and lower his blood sugar.
But even then when someone doubled down on the assertion that excess carbs make you fat, I didn't say anything else. She's a devout low carber and it wasn't worth the argument.
But the potatoes thing absolutely was worth it.4 -
Family, yes.. Close friends, yes.. friends here or say, at work? No. Not my business. I may post an article on the subject though. In fact, had to do this with my mom who came from the generation of destroyed metabolisms. She kept trying to convince me that that was my issue when I first started and couldn't lose weight.. and it's her excuse for not even trying. She refused to hear what I had to say on the subject. It didn't make sense that she was eating too many calories cause she barely ate.. (She ate BAD foods! Like "all I had today was one slice of Lasagna and some cheesecake!" "How big were the slices?" Then she'd avoid answering the question.. When I wormed it out of her finally and I did a quick mental calculation.. it was over 3k..)
So I posted articles. She never responded to them but diet hasn't come up again since.3 -
I have found that sometimes I enter my exercises and even I don't believe the numbers that it gives me, but I want to keep track of minutes walked,etc so I still enter it into my log as a reference in the future. I just started last week so I am hoping there are ways to modify this to make it more accurate.1
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It has never come up.
If someone was doing something harmful or telling someone to do harmful things then I'd probably speak up and offer information. Otherwise unless they asked for my opinion or advice I probably would not say anything.
In a situation where a family member liked to say a lot of crazy things I didn't really say anything until they were spamming me with woo cures for cancer.
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Oh, another response that I have used on occasion is, "Hm. I've never considered that." And I just leave off the second half of the statement, which is "... and I'm not going to consider it this time, either."
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I have found that sometimes I enter my exercises and even I don't believe the numbers that it gives me, but I want to keep track of minutes walked,etc so I still enter it into my log as a reference in the future.
I do the same..... my exercise log show's me walking my dog 3 or 4 times a week. I don't have a dog
And it looks like I had one heck of a work out this past weekend ATV'ing. Now we did ride hard... my arms and legs were rubbery when I got off.... but it was more about having it in my history to look back on than the actual calories
since I basically ignore my exercise calories.
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If a friend on MFP enters what I may consider skewed work out calories and then asks why they aren't losing weight as fast as they think they should.... I might ask if they are eating their exercise calories, otherwise it's not my business.
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If someone mentions my weight loss and asks me how I've done it I tell them... CICO and that I'm still working on it cause it's amazing the people who think I'm a "Skinny Minnie" after loosing almost 60lbs.... I'm only half way there!
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If a friend mentions something I feel is incorrect I ask them more about it.... and we usually have a good conversation.
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It totally depends on who it is. If it's a friend or family member whom I care about and they're really off base, then I will try to educate them without seeming preachy. Mostly I'll say something like - "well that's interesting, but I do _______ and it works out well for me". If it's just a random acquaintance or MFP friend, then no. I've had people critique my food diary on here and it's annoying as h3ll! Although I've seen some crazy things I don't feel that it's my place. (Like my one MFP friend early on who logged one burger or sandwich a day and a 12 or 18 pack of Bud-light, every single day.)
He's not around anymore (on MFP that is). Hopefully he's still around somewhere!
I'm actually quite surprised that with the internet people are not better educated about nutrition. They can look up any other thing in the world, but how to eat healthy isn't one of them. I believe it's because they really don't want to know.4 -
Normally I would say...really I've lost weight and didn't have to do that...or that's a new one on me...unless it's someone I know really well...then I'll tell them I think it's total *kitten*.2
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RaeBeeBaby wrote: »It totally depends on who it is. If it's a friend or family member whom I care about and they're really off base, then I will try to educate them without seeming preachy. Mostly I'll say something like - "well that's interesting, but I do _______ and it works out well for me". If it's just a random acquaintance or MFP friend, then no. I've had people critique my food diary on here and it's annoying as h3ll! Although I've seen some crazy things I don't feel that it's my place. (Like my one MFP friend early on who logged one burger or sandwich a day and a 12 or 18 pack of Bud-light, every single day.) He's not around anymore (on MFP that is). Hopefully he's still around somewhere!
I'm actually quite surprised that with the internet people are not better educated about nutrition. They can look up any other thing in the world, but how to eat healthy isn't one of them. I believe it's because they really don't want to know.
Honestly, I'm not surprised at all. Think of the garbage that comes up when you google "nutrition" or "weight loss".
I rarely correct anyone (even family members) unless they're asking for advice, complaining about not losing weight, or doing something actively harmful. From experience, trying to persuade people that they're doing it wrong never ends well.1 -
RaeBeeBaby wrote: »It totally depends on who it is. If it's a friend or family member whom I care about and they're really off base, then I will try to educate them without seeming preachy. Mostly I'll say something like - "well that's interesting, but I do _______ and it works out well for me". If it's just a random acquaintance or MFP friend, then no. I've had people critique my food diary on here and it's annoying as h3ll! Although I've seen some crazy things I don't feel that it's my place. (Like my one MFP friend early on who logged one burger or sandwich a day and a 12 or 18 pack of Bud-light, every single day.) He's not around anymore (on MFP that is). Hopefully he's still around somewhere!
I'm actually quite surprised that with the internet people are not better educated about nutrition. They can look up any other thing in the world, but how to eat healthy isn't one of them. I believe it's because they really don't want to know.
Honestly, I'm not surprised at all. Think of the garbage that comes up when you google "nutrition" or "weight loss".
I rarely correct anyone (even family members) unless they're asking for advice, complaining about not losing weight, or doing something actively harmful. From experience, trying to persuade people that they're doing it wrong never ends well.
Even when they do ask for advice, they don't always take it. A year ago my sister-in-law (whom I adore) went to the doctor and was told that not only was she morbidly obese, but had high BP, high cholesterol, severe edema and was pre-diabetic. She called me asking for help and I gave her a basic overview of good nutrition and recommended she start with some light exercise. I offered to help her shop, meal prep and go for walks, etc. I repeated that offer several times but she never took me up on it. Now a year has passed and another doctor visit. Nothing has changed except that now she is full blown diabetic and taking medication. <sigh>0
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