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Fitness and diet myths that just won't go away
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The insidious thing in regards to nearly all these myths is the sliver of truth to them. Then the sliver of truth is run with and an entire "system" is created. In the end, it winds up being statistically insignificant...4
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Drinking ice cold water will increase your metabolic rate.
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
Now, you see, I had an actual Registered Dietician suggest to me in a professional capacity to drink warm water to aid in weight loss. The theory was that cold water cooled the body and slowed metabolism, and warm water kept the body temp and metabolism up. This was the first of several bits of ridiculousness that led me to dismiss them as academically lazy and borderline incompetent.
Cold water, OTOH, actually has some science behind it. The technical definition of "calorie" is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. Drinking cold water (less than 37C) requires the body to expend a tiny and insignificant amount of calories to warm that water to maintain body temp through homeostasis. I will agree, though, that the effect is insignificant and unhelpful for weight loss.5 -
Not a specific myth per se, but I don't know how often I've stood in a checkout line at the grocery store waiting my turn, and my eyes browsed the covers of magazines to see subject lines of:
"Here's how to lose x pounds by y date!"
Typically, it's a huge amount of weight in a very short time, such as 10 pounds in a single week. Considering it takes 3500 calories to lose a single pound, in order to lose that much body fat I'd have to chop 35,000 calories per week, or 5,000 calories per day. Even on my most gluttonous days, I don't approach that much, let alone every single day, so how am I supposed to lose that much?
Even if you factor in exercise and water weight, these types of "instant" claims are patently impossible to achieve for the average reader, setting people up for failure and/or disappointment.8 -
Not a specific myth per se, but I don't know how often I've stood in a checkout line at the grocery store waiting my turn, and my eyes browsed the covers of magazines to see subject lines of:
"Here's how to lose x pounds by y date!"
Typically, it's a huge amount of weight in a very short time, such as 10 pounds in a single week. Considering it takes 3500 calories to lose a single pound, in order to lose that much body fat I'd have to chop 35,000 calories per week, or 5,000 calories per day. Even on my most gluttonous days, I don't approach that much, let alone every single day, so how am I supposed to lose that much?
Even if you factor in exercise and water weight, these types of "instant" claims are patently impossible to achieve for the average reader, setting people up for failure and/or disappointment.
Yeah, but notice how they are hedging their bets - they say 'Lose 10 lbs by next week', but they do not say you can lose 10 lbs of fat. It is actually very easy to lose that much weight in a week when most of the weight loss is WATER and not FAT. Of course, it is just as easy to put that water weight back on, but who's counting right?5 -
YellowD0gs wrote: »Drinking ice cold water will increase your metabolic rate.
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
Now, you see, I had an actual Registered Dietician suggest to me in a professional capacity to drink warm water to aid in weight loss. The theory was that cold water cooled the body and slowed metabolism, and warm water kept the body temp and metabolism up. This was the first of several bits of ridiculousness that led me to dismiss them as academically lazy and borderline incompetent.
Cold water, OTOH, actually has some science behind it. The technical definition of "calorie" is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. Drinking cold water (less than 37C) requires the body to expend a tiny and insignificant amount of calories to warm that water to maintain body temp through homeostasis. I will agree, though, that the effect is insignificant and unhelpful for weight loss.
I know this isn't the point of your post, but did you really dismiss an entire profession based on one (or maybe more than one) dietician's bad advice?2 -
Nope, just the one.Speakeasy76 wrote: »YellowD0gs wrote: »Drinking ice cold water will increase your metabolic rate.
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
Now, you see, I had an actual Registered Dietician suggest to me in a professional capacity to drink warm water to aid in weight loss. The theory was that cold water cooled the body and slowed metabolism, and warm water kept the body temp and metabolism up. This was the first of several bits of ridiculousness that led me to dismiss them as academically lazy and borderline incompetent.
Cold water, OTOH, actually has some science behind it. The technical definition of "calorie" is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. Drinking cold water (less than 37C) requires the body to expend a tiny and insignificant amount of calories to warm that water to maintain body temp through homeostasis. I will agree, though, that the effect is insignificant and unhelpful for weight loss.
I know this isn't the point of your post, but did you really dismiss an entire profession based on one (or maybe more than one) dietician's bad advice?
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Scientifically, if we're being specific on a measurable scale, yes it WILL take a few calories to bring that ice cold water (say 8 oz) to body temperature. Approximately 7 calories. So at the consensus 64 oz a day, that's 392 calories a week. However the fitness industry exaggerates that making it sound as if you'll burn off a pound extra a week doing it.YellowD0gs wrote: »Drinking ice cold water will increase your metabolic rate.
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
Now, you see, I had an actual Registered Dietician suggest to me in a professional capacity to drink warm water to aid in weight loss. The theory was that cold water cooled the body and slowed metabolism, and warm water kept the body temp and metabolism up. This was the first of several bits of ridiculousness that led me to dismiss them as academically lazy and borderline incompetent.
Cold water, OTOH, actually has some science behind it. The technical definition of "calorie" is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. Drinking cold water (less than 37C) requires the body to expend a tiny and insignificant amount of calories to warm that water to maintain body temp through homeostasis. I will agree, though, that the effect is insignificant and unhelpful for weight loss.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for ice cold water. Especially on a hot day.
Now onto to taking a cold shower to burn more calories...............................
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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Women in menopause or perimenopause can't lose weight.
I had lunch with a friend recently who stated she wasn't even going to try losing weight because she's in perimenopause and therefore it would be impossible.
Kept my mouth shut on that one.13 -
That you must eat breakfast when stopping eating breakfast for me was a major breakthrough in my quest to control my eating as it "starts me off" and I am then hungry all day.
That you need to "eat less and move more". Sure "move more" is helpful if only a tiny bit and it is certainly good for health but for losing weigh, especially if you have a lot to lose, then no. Ever looked at how far you have to walk to burn off a single biscuit (or cookie)???? Weight gain and weight lose starts and stops in the kitchen.
If weight gain happens in the kitchen, and boredom eating happens on the couch, exactly how is going out and doing an exercise you love which also takes you away from the kitchen not helpful? If I had a bank robbing problem I would go find something else I find fulfilling that keeps me away from banks. Exercise does that, keeps you from falling into the rabbit hole of binging, and most people who do it find they prefer healthier, more nutritious, less calorie dense foods as a result in some way of exercising. Part of that is they feel like they're doing something positive to improve their health and fitness, and it's fun and enjoyable so they want more of this goodness, and they want to support the exercise that's lifting them up. Maybe for some, the joy of exercise and the satisfaction the comes with self improvement and personal growth of working hard to earn a better life for yourself fills a hole that a person was trying to fill with calorie dense hyperpalatable food.7 -
I'm not quite following?
Is freda saying Eat less, Move more is a myth - if so, I disagree.
I think it is a catchy and accurate summary of what weight loss entails - eat less calories, burn more calories - and burning more calories is done by moving more.5 -
paperpudding wrote: »I'm not quite following?
Is freda saying Eat less, Move more is a myth - if so, I disagree.
I think it is a catchy and accurate summary of what weight loss entails - eat less calories, burn more calories - and burning more calories is done by moving more.
I'm all for "eat less, move more" and I don't think it's a myth at all. But, realistically speaking, I can easily undo a two hour brisk walk (in which I burned around 400 calories) in a couple of minutes by eating something over those calories. I know I can, I've done it many times.
It's all well as long as people are aware of that, and don't think that exercise on itself is going to do miracles. Weight loss occurs at a caloric deficit, and it's going to be very hard to achieve if the CO part of the CICO equation is the only one being addressed. 3 -
GummiMundi wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »I'm not quite following?
Is freda saying Eat less, Move more is a myth - if so, I disagree.
I think it is a catchy and accurate summary of what weight loss entails - eat less calories, burn more calories - and burning more calories is done by moving more.
I'm all for "eat less, move more" and I don't think it's a myth at all. But, realistically speaking, I can easily undo a two hour brisk walk (in which I burned around 400 calories) in a couple of minutes by eating something over those calories. I know I can, I've done it many times. It's all well as long as people are aware of that, and don't think that exercise on itself is going to do miracles. Weight loss occurs at a caloric deficit, and it's going to be very hard to achieve if the CO part of the CICO equation is the only one being addressed.
I can undo a week of eating at a deficit in half an hour by binging on tacos.12 -
Well yes, of course.
But the saying is Eat less, move more.
Not Eat more, move more.8 -
There's a guy on YOUTUBE right how who advertises like hell and has so much broscience on all his videos. And people are eating it up. Vince Sant is his name and he host V Shred. Avoid.
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
Ah V shred, so hot, so clueless.4 -
paperpudding wrote: »Well yes, of course.
But the saying is Eat less, move more.
Not Eat more, move more.
Exactly this. Moving more won't cause weight loss unless you are already maintaining and not likely to use exercise as an excuse to eat more or (big exception) also control cals in, but pretty much everyone I know who says eat less, move more will be controlling cals in in some way. Exercise doesn't make people who are otherwise trying to lose weight or control cals eat a bunch of high cal foods or otherwise eat over their cals.
In fact, for me, moving more tends to make it easier to eat less (at a reasonable deficit).3 -
13 pages of diet myths and "aspartame is poison" hasn't been mentioned yet??11
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Don't know about it being a "poison" but I just don't prefer the taste of it, so I avoid foods which include it.2
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NorthCascades wrote: »That you must eat breakfast when stopping eating breakfast for me was a major breakthrough in my quest to control my eating as it "starts me off" and I am then hungry all day.
That you need to "eat less and move more". Sure "move more" is helpful if only a tiny bit and it is certainly good for health but for losing weigh, especially if you have a lot to lose, then no. Ever looked at how far you have to walk to burn off a single biscuit (or cookie)???? Weight gain and weight lose starts and stops in the kitchen.
If weight gain happens in the kitchen, and boredom eating happens on the couch, exactly how is going out and doing an exercise you love which also takes you away from the kitchen not helpful? If I had a bank robbing problem I would go find something else I find fulfilling that keeps me away from banks. Exercise does that, keeps you from falling into the rabbit hole of binging, and most people who do it find they prefer healthier, more nutritious, less calorie dense foods as a result in some way of exercising. Part of that is they feel like they're doing something positive to improve their health and fitness, and it's fun and enjoyable so they want more of this goodness, and they want to support the exercise that's lifting them up. Maybe for some, the joy of exercise and the satisfaction the comes with self improvement and personal growth of working hard to earn a better life for yourself fills a hole that a person was trying to fill with calorie dense hyperpalatable food.
You misunderstand me.... I am referring to the amount of calories burned in exercise.
Sure, if you are out of the house having a walk you are probably not eating cake but of course if you go past that rather tempting bakery......
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That fast food and junk food is toxic and poison to the body.
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 10
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