Dieting Myths

We've all heard plenty of bogus dieting myths, and I want to know of some of the most outrageous ones you've heard!

"They say grazing all day is better than eating three meals."

Said to me by my obese aunt, giving me dieting 'tips', after I'd lost 15 pounds (I was around 135 at that point), where she outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds.

She then went on to tell me that she and my uncle 'grazed' all day...including on Friday's potato skins that she would fry up. Mmmm--so healthy!

Grazing all day is NOT the same as having five small meals a day instead of three small meals a day, and grazing all day will just lead to a whoooooole lotta calories! So there's MY biggest myth. ;-)

Sweating causes you to lose weight.  (Well, it does until you are forced to replace the fluids you lost, thus gaining back any weight.)

Sweating does cause your body to use calories.  There is a lot of biological processes for your body to sweat.  Those processes obviously cost energy, aka calories.

Grazing all day is better than eating 3 larger meals as long as you keep track of calories and eat the same amount.  Lotsa small meals w/ equal calories to 3 larger meals is a healthier.

"No carbs is the way to go!"

Pfffffffffffffffffft

No carbs

No Fat

No occasional treats

weight loss shakes/liquid diets

Original Post by mysticjbyrd01:

Sweating does cause your body to use calories.  There is a lot of biological processes for your body to sweat.  Those processes obviously cost energy, aka calories.

 

Grazing all day is better than eating 3 larger meals as long as you keep track of calories and eat the same amount.  Lotsa small meals w/ equal calories to 3 larger meals is a healthier.

 'Grazing' is not the same thing as 'eating lots of small meals with equal calories'. My whole point WAS that eating small meals is healthier, but 'grazing' is mindless, constant munching, and that confusing the two is the myth.

It's necessary to "cleanse" your body of "toxins"

Light weight/high reps will "tone" your muscles.

The Master Cleanse -- the biggest piece of dieting poo ever.

In fact, any "cleanse" involving an incredibly restricted diet is also poo.

open the window in winter because shivering burns calories...

Then you get pneumonia...

Original Post by sublimelmf:

open the window in winter because shivering burns calories...

 

Then you get pneumonia...

 That's how it works. You end up in the hospital where they serve inedible slop- thus you lose weight. :)

Someone posted the question about "does sweating burn calories" to "Ask Mary" and she said the calorie loss was not much.  Not worth sweating, at least.  I wouldn't use it as a measuring gauge of calories burned.

If I just starve myself on a juice diet for 3 months I'll lose 100 pounds and never gain it back, yayyy!

Myth: underweight people are healthier and eat less than overweight people. Actually, there is more than one myth in that statement.

My favorite myth is that you have to starve to lose weight. you know the old jane fonda style dieting..a few lettuce leaves and some tasteless chicken chunks and you'll be healthy and happy in no time!

this is my biggest peeve...  lifting weights just makes you look bulkier and puts the muscle under the fat.. making you look even heavier...  (never mind I just ran 4 miles)  This was said to me by a guy in the gym... Apparently he just didn't want me using his precious machine...  jerk

Original Post by dove2424:

this is my biggest peeve... lifting weights just makes you look bulkier and puts the muscle under the fat.. making you look even heavier... (never mind I just ran 4 miles) This was said to me by a guy in the gym... Apparently he just didn't want me using his precious machine... jerk

The ellipses followed by "Jerk" is too much, you're hilarious. And that guy was a jerk. People at gyms tend to get a little greedy and self serving, like it's all about them. I hate "in shape" people at gyms who are there maintaining rather than losing or toning. They're not down with the struggle.

Original Post by floggingsully:

It's necessary to "cleanse" your body of "toxins"

Light weight/high reps will "tone" your muscles.

The first statement is true for lots of ppl.  If you have been eating fast food & frozen convenience food for 30 years you probably have a lot of toxins in your body.  The colon is very sensitive and when undigested food sits in your gut for too long, which happens when you mix a lot of animal protein, fat, & sticky gluten & sugars, alcohol forms and this irritates the colon.  It's natural response is to form a mucosal layer to protect itself.  After years of this, the colon builds up huge layers of mucous which traps undigested food, yes fecal matter, in the diverticuli, causing further bloating, IBS, and a whole host of digestive problems.  The chemicals formed in such a slurry is quite toxic.  The colon leeches nutrients as well as these toxins into the bloodstream and from there it gets into tissues and can actually cause cell damage.  So this is no myth.  Some people, actually a lot of Americans, cannot digest properly and get all the nutrients from their food because of this mucosal layer and are eating more than they need to.  It's a self-perpetuating problem.  By the time someone gets to be obese, they are actually starving and malnourished to varying degrees.  So if you ever wondered why people tend to hold weight in thier lower abdomens as they get older, you now know the gross truth of what it is.  It's not all fat.  The average woman who is obese holds about 30 pounds of fecal matter in her colon for years!  Pretty gross.

As for low weight, high reps toning, well, it depends on what type of musculature you have.  There are two types of muscle tissues, fast-twitch, which develops quickly and responds to high weight and whose fibers bulk-up larger; and slow-twitch, which are more endurance-type fibers which don't get as big, but are generally stronger than the aforementioned.  Ppl with more fast-twitch will see results faster but will not see much if they don't increase weight incrementally.  That's more like me.  Those with more slow-twitch muscles will get stronger but it won't be as noticeable to the eye.  The trick is to find out which you are and then plan the right exercise program for your body-type.  Some ppl are just vastly more slow-twitch than fast-twitch and weight lifting takes large amounts of weight to see any definition.  So your claim that this is a myth is overgeneralized.  It's true for some, but not everyone. 

I don't mean to be condescending.  I just want to make sure that ppl don't get misinformed. 

Original Post by dove2424:

this is my biggest peeve... lifting weights just makes you look bulkier and puts the muscle under the fat.. making you look even heavier... (never mind I just ran 4 miles) This was said to me by a guy in the gym... Apparently he just didn't want me using his precious machine... jerk

Yea, I'd tell the guy, "If I wanna be misinformed I'll read the Atkins Diet book or read The National Inquirer!"  Some guys just think they know everything.  Granted it is hard to lose fat while putting on muscle, but it's not impossible and doing cardio and weight lifting is important.  Maybe he's just making excuses for himself for not doing cardio.