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Fitness and diet myths that just won't go away
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Ab energiser belt that promises to melt away belly fat. You just have to wrap it around your waist for 15-20 minutes and do nothing .
I was dumb enough to believe that *kitten* And purchase it when I was 15-16 and didn't have much fat on my body
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mariek1072 wrote: »Starvation mode
This is a really hard one to get rid of... there was a recent MFP blog (one of the blogs posted in the emails that get sent out) where an RD started the article with the tired old nonsense about how skipping breakfast tells your body to down-regulate it's metabolism because food is in short supply... just sigh.9 -
That 30 minutes of exercising 4 times a week is gonna be where the weight comes off. It’s in being active and staying in a caloric deficit. Step goals are more realistic.2
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cwolfman13 wrote: »"Go hard or go home"...the notion that exercise has to be some kind of sufferfest to be beneficial and if you're not ready to puke when you're done, you might as well have done nothing at all.
I do think that having some more vigorous efforts thrown into the mix is beneficial from a health and fitness standpoint...but IMO, unless you're specifically training for something, an overall active lifestyle is where it's at. And if you are training specifically for something, I would also think one would know how to train and would know that every training bout shouldn't be some crazy workout.
Most of the very fit and healthy people I know do "workout" some...but by and large, they are just active and enjoy being out on their bikes or hiking or rock climbing, kayaking, walking, going for a jog, etc.
This is so true. All of it.
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Also that losing weight and being healthy are the same thing. This drives me insane.5
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Protein is the only nutrient a person should pay attention to.
Protein quality (in terms of essential amino acid composition) is unimportant.
There's no need to pay attention to protein quantity when eating WFPB, because plants are just *that* healthful.7 -
Protein is the only nutrient a person should pay attention to.
Protein quality (in terms of essential amino acid composition) is unimportant.
There's no need to pay attention to protein quantity when eating WFPB, because plants are just *that* healthful.
Yes, the whole "Have you ever heard of someone being hospitalized for protein deficiency? If you eat enough, you'll automatically get enough protein" argument drives me up the wall.
There's a whole range of outcomes between "thriving" and "hospitalized for deficiency" that the argument ignores. You can absolutely be missing out on stuff and still never get to the level where you require hospital care.2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Protein is the only nutrient a person should pay attention to.
Protein quality (in terms of essential amino acid composition) is unimportant.
There's no need to pay attention to protein quantity when eating WFPB, because plants are just *that* healthful.
Yes, the whole "Have you ever heard of someone being hospitalized for protein deficiency? If you eat enough, you'll automatically get enough protein" argument drives me up the wall.
There's a whole range of outcomes between "thriving" and "hospitalized for deficiency" that the argument ignores. You can absolutely be missing out on stuff and still never get to the level where you require hospital care.
Absolutely. When I first joined MFP and began logging to track sodium, I was a bit alarmed to see I was only consuming an average of 20 g protein a day. Although technically pescetarian, I lean heavily vegetarian when I cook for myself, fish and seafood was mainly confined to meals eaten out. I'd eaten high carb and low protein for decades at that point, you can imagine how little muscle I was carrying!3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Protein is the only nutrient a person should pay attention to.
Protein quality (in terms of essential amino acid composition) is unimportant.
There's no need to pay attention to protein quantity when eating WFPB, because plants are just *that* healthful.
Yes, the whole "Have you ever heard of someone being hospitalized for protein deficiency? If you eat enough, you'll automatically get enough protein" argument drives me up the wall.
There's a whole range of outcomes between "thriving" and "hospitalized for deficiency" that the argument ignores. You can absolutely be missing out on stuff and still never get to the level where you require hospital care.
Absolutely. When I first joined MFP and began logging to track sodium, I was a bit alarmed to see I was only consuming an average of 20 g protein a day. Although technically pescetarian, I lean heavily vegetarian when I cook for myself, fish and seafood was mainly confined to meals eaten out. I'd eaten high carb and low protein for decades at that point, you can imagine how little muscle I was carrying!
Yeah, that was one of the first trends I noticed when I started logging. When I ate more overall (AKA, enough to be overweight), I didn't really have a problem getting enough protein . . . because I was eating a lot of everything. But once I cut calories, I absolutely had to learn how to eat in a way that made sure I was getting enough.4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Protein is the only nutrient a person should pay attention to.
Protein quality (in terms of essential amino acid composition) is unimportant.
There's no need to pay attention to protein quantity when eating WFPB, because plants are just *that* healthful.
Yes, the whole "Have you ever heard of someone being hospitalized for protein deficiency? If you eat enough, you'll automatically get enough protein" argument drives me up the wall.
There's a whole range of outcomes between "thriving" and "hospitalized for deficiency" that the argument ignores. You can absolutely be missing out on stuff and still never get to the level where you require hospital care.
Absolutely. When I first joined MFP and began logging to track sodium, I was a bit alarmed to see I was only consuming an average of 20 g protein a day. Although technically pescetarian, I lean heavily vegetarian when I cook for myself, fish and seafood was mainly confined to meals eaten out. I'd eaten high carb and low protein for decades at that point, you can imagine how little muscle I was carrying!
Yep, this is the big thing I started to track FOR, which led to weight loss eventually. But first it was 'holy crap I am eating 12-20 grams of protein on the regular'.
Got enough protein and, amazingly, I stopped being sick all the time, needing naps, and no longer had minor scrapes and cuts take months to heal.
...after that I cared about weight loss, but initially holy crap I needed some help.5 -
I always have to start my day with lemon water to detox my body and getting my metabolism going6
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I feel like I'm just restating something that's been said, but maybe in a slightly different way (yeah, I read the whole thread, just didn't re-read it all again today), but:
The idea that there's some specific food(s), to which the person holding the belief is not literally allergic/sensitive to or the like, that is either magic for weight loss/health ("superfoods", loosely) or doom for weight loss ("bad food" "junk food" whatever).
This myth is the root of the issue in posts we see on MFP semi-regularly: "I broke down and ate fast-food fries" or "I ate a cookie" or "I drank a beer" alongside ". . . but I stayed within my calorie goal. Will this stop my weight loss?" On the flip side, the FAQ is "What are the foods I need to eat in order to lose weight?".
A pet peeve of mine is cases where trying to follow whack-a-doodle rules (that are meaningless for weight loss or nutrition) is actually distracting people from the key goals of (1) eating reasonable calories for weight management (whether counting them or not), and (2) getting decent overall well-rounded nutrition for health.
The pop-culture diet/weight loss industry has a lot to answer for, when it comes to creating this kind of counter-productive confusion.9 -
Yes Ann -- for sure, but you won't make much money trying to sell sane ideas that conform to the laws of thermodynamics.
Pass the lemon water.
Hey wait! If I squeeze a lime into a Tecate, does the lime counteract the beer calories? Of course! If I squeeze a lemon into that big bowl of melted butter I was going to dip something in, that makes the butter calories disappear. Oh. Wait! Lemon ice cream!
One that I don't like is "No pain, no gain." Of course that depends what is meant by "pain." Surely some things that cause discomfort in the moment can provide a physical benefit. But if it hurts, you're doing it wrong or you're doing it too intensely. I say, "No pain, no PAIN."3 -
The "no proper level of stress, no gain" phrase just didn't catch on for some reason.9
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meal timing, number of meals a day, having protein with every meal.........etc.
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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You MUST exercise for a certain minimum amount of time before you start to "burn fat." After a certain amount of time, additional exercise is a waste because it no longer "burns fat."8
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Carbs are bad. Avoid fruit because it has sugar. False!
Protein and fats are more filling. Not true for everyone.
Drinking water affects weight loss. Not true.5 -
Does anyone remember the phrases "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" and "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels?" These were probably popularized around the time women smoked or even took prescription pills to stay thin.
I actually said these to myself at times, but it (unsurprisingly) never worked.9 -
Speakeasy76 wrote: »Does anyone remember the phrases "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" and "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels?" These were probably popularized around the time women smoked or even took prescription pills to stay thin.
I actually said these to myself at times, but it (unsurprisingly) never worked.
Oh God, my mom indoctrinated me with that line. Her ideas about weight loss (especially the idea that it's hopeless) is probably one of the reasons I was obese for so long, convinced that weight could only be gained, never lost.
My blood pressure spikes every time she says that line now, because I'm living proof it's nonsense.8
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