Reddit Weight Loss Subreddits

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  • BecomingMoreAwesome
    BecomingMoreAwesome Posts: 150 Member
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    I think it’s a combination of many of the things listed here (reddit skews younger than mfp, it’s easier to downvote/upvote without engaging, and even if you’re subscribed you’re likely to see only the most extreme posts because they get the most upvotes), but also the system of subreddits. When people get irritated with a subreddit it’s easy to create a new one.

    Reddit makes it easy to create echo chambers. I know I’m part of the problem whenever I roll my eyes and downvote instead of responding like the grownup I pretend to be. :D
  • BecomingMoreAwesome
    BecomingMoreAwesome Posts: 150 Member
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    grinning_chick wrote: »
    I'm talking losing 70-80 lbs in 6 months for someone who is not even obese to begin with (one post today from a 5'3 women going from 198-131 in 6 months).

    A 5'3" woman who is 198 pounds is clinically obese. Right at the distinction between Class II and Class I obesity, to be exact. I am well aware of the Great BMI Debate that's been going on online for practically as long as online diet/health forums have existed. That does not change the fact any healthcare worker who sees her and has access to both her height and weight is going to annotate her medical record as such if she is seen. Same with insurance companies.

    You’re right about that your math. I’m 5’3” and was morbidly obese when I started at 202 pounds. But the poster’s main point was that a 33% weight loss in 6 months is not a healthy rate of loss.
  • gogetemrogue
    gogetemrogue Posts: 80 Member
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    I don't mind some posts on r/loseit but keep me far, far away from r/fatlogic. There's so much condescension in that subreddit.

    I've never been downvoted for suggesting a diet break on r/loseit, but I certainly have never been upvoted!
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,388 Member
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    RelCanonical wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Not necessarily r/loseit, but I've noticed a lot of other weight loss subreddits seem to be focused on really dramatic and fast results. That's no good for me. I'm in a pretty good place right now, but reading about fasting (like, real fasting, not just eating windows) and extended periods without food is just asking for trouble.

    I think the upvote/downvote system ends up creating microcosms of whatever meta the most active users have created for the group. In other words, if enough active members of the subreddit hold a certain opinion, that opinion becomes the "truth" and bleeds out to the rest of the community. Any naysayers or different experiences get downvoted into invisibleness. There's a little bit of that on MFP as well, but with the ordering of posts, you still see the varying opinions, and the emoticon responses show the general opinion of the community. In reddit, unless you sort by new, you won't even see those people, and it'll be like they don't exist.

    All too true of the internet in general. Though most topics here at MFP involve as least some opinion on best methods and ways to reach a goal, this takes place even on forums where an answer is set in stone and is either true or not. And given enough people drinking the Kool Aid, often the untrue becomes true. A

    There was a time in the earlier days of the internet when discussion, dialogue, and healthy debate were frequent, and in the end more truth was to be shared by all. At some point the internet changed the standard to the point that if someone yelled loud enough or frequently enough, others would follow their lead, truths be damned.

    And that's sad really. A huge resource for all of us is full of just as much misinformation as truth.

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