Stupid weight loss advice

[Jen35 283]

I've probably heard them all:)

The problem with the chess analogy is that it's comparing apples and oranges. The impulse to eat (and therefore the cravings) come from the brain stem or "primative" brain. Our cognitive abilities (logical/rational thought, knowledge, etc.) originate from our frontal lobe. This is information from my therapist, by the way. Which is why I could read every diet or self help book out there, know all the right things to do to be healthy and, yet, I didn't put it into action. Eating is necessary to sustain life and is associated with comfort, love, and survival. Chess - you can live without.

To me, this analogy is no more than saying "you don't have any discipline or self-control" which many people believe about overweight people. That is so far from the truth!

For people without food issues, eating disorders, etc., give that advice to "just stop eating", "just count calories" just... just.... Not everyone's brain is wired the same way. Not everyone can do this on their own. I know I "just" needed the surgery and a TON of therapy to lose this weight and those stupid advice-givers can "just" kiss my tush now!

Edited June 16, 2014 by Jen35

[BigGirlPanties 957]

@Bandista ...we are twins, separated at birth...lol...as I was reading, I was thinking the SAME stuff as you!

I have heard a LOT of ..."if only"... "you should"...but NEVER the cotton ball scenario

we've all "been there, done that"... that's why we are HERE!

I can't think of another one right now...but I'm sure something will come to me about 3am!

Edited June 17, 2014 by BigGirlPanties

[terrydumont46 1,954]

if I had more control over what I ate and exercise all would work out. shoot, I did eat right. and I exercise as much as my joints would allow me. my family watched me diet and do all the right things and at that point in my life as my diabetes climbed out of control and my weight was creeping up and nothing would stop it. when my heart stopped when I went into v-tach and my hubby watched me die he and my family was all for me to have wls. a nurse that was doing those free screenings heard me say that I had lost 75 lbs and my daughter proudly said that lapband helped me do it she said that she wanted surgery but her husband was against it. she was morbibly over weight. I told her that it is her happiness and health in play not his. it's nice with he support but this is a individual decision not somebody else's. I now regret I didn't talk with her more. lost chance. oh my cholestral was normal. yeah!

[Phoenix79 452]

Oh dear God... I have a very vivid imagination and now I need brain bleach... Someone once told me to soak cotton balls in orange juice and swallow them. That the cotton balls would taste yummy going down, sit in my stomach like fluffy food and keep me full forever and I would never be hungry and I would lose tons of weight, super fast! Yeah... Riiight!

Some fashion models actually do this- have heard of it before. I never did the extreme stuff and fad diets when I was obese. I was obese but knew better than to try that kind of stuff..could end you up in the ER or dead, even before being obese caught up with you health wise. Sleeve surgery is the 2nd best thing I ever did for myself- first was marrying my wonderful husband!

[katesuccess 990]

The one that got me the most angry came from a GP doctor I'd been set up with on a new insurance policy. I never ever went back to him, and now he's been fired from the practice. I asked him for help with my weight - fighting tears and saying I'd tried everything out there - and he said,

"Have you ever thought of going on a diet?"

Yup. With a straight face too. I asked if he was serious, and when he was, I said no woman over 50 gets to 290 pounds without trying every freaking lousy diet, pill, and plan on the blasted planet!!!

My subsequent doc listened to me deeply, and then gently suggested i might want to look into WLS. When I said 'not for me' she said if I ever wanted to talk about it we could, and happily referred me for a sleep study, wisely noting I was always tired! She was right, and once i was sleeping enough to make sense of the world - I made sense of her suggestion about WLS. I inquired and she referred me within hours of my email to her on it!

[NMJG 1,266]

"Real butter and heavy cream do not make you fat!" -- my mother, with contributions from all the diet specialists out there who have obviously not figured it out.....

Actually, new research plus old research that was buried for many years says your mom is right. It's the carbs, not the fat. Take a look at Gary Taub's books Good Carbs Bad Carbs or Why We Get Fat. Journalistic discovery of all the research and studies over the years that did not agree with the low fat bandwagon. Nations around the world (like Sweden) are revising their nutritional guidelines as we speak.

I was low fat for decades, did nothing to keep me from gaining weight. Now I eat all the heavy cream and butter I want but keep my carbs very low and I maintain my weight very easily. Not to sound preachy, but the world is a-changing and everything we took for granted about nutrition since the 60's is being turned on its head.

[Jack 855]

of course the biggest distraction is "what FOOD" rather than "how MUCH" and "how OFTEN" did I consume it in my Days of Endless Marathon Sport Eating....

I attribute <some> of my eating peculiarities to my Own Mother, who taught that I should "never eat on an empty stomach"....

[socalsweetheart87 8]

One my mom and me got from my grandma growing up: if your going to eat ranch ( or insert any dressing) you shouldn't even have the salad. This included having dressing with any veggie..... I won't argue with her.....but carrots and a serving of ranch is still a hell of a lot better for your body then French fries.... Even if they equal the same amount of calories.

[fat_free 463]

About 22yrs ago when I was only 160lbs I had a GP tell me to stop riding my bike and swimming because that would help me loose weight. I needed to do weight bearing exercises to have any real affected change on my body. He told me to begin running, which I did and promptly hurt my self stopped exercising entirely and proceeded to gain 90 lbs and by yoyo dieting over the next 20 yrs.

Now I'm never listening to a dr that has such asinine ideas again! Thank god for my sleeve!

[marfar7 1,533]

Just for fun

What's the stupidest bit of weight loss advice you've been given by somebody who 'just doesn't understand'?

A few years ago a guy I knew told me I should learn to play chess because it would teach me the mental discipline I needed to lose weight.

He was an odd guy. He used the word discipline a lot in conversation - I never wanted to know why!

Anyway, I told him chess is the most boring game in creation and I'd rather watch paint dry. (Apologies to any avid chess players out there.)

Oh dear God... I have a very vivid imagination and now I need brain bleach...

Someone once told me to soak cotton balls in orange juice and swallow them. That the cotton balls would taste yummy going down, sit in my stomach like fluffy food and keep me full forever and I would never be hungry and I would lose tons of weight, super fast! Yeah... Riiight!

There's really a new diet out there called The Cottonball Diet. Saw it on Good Morning America about 3 mths ago. Teen girls are really into this right now...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dangerous-diet-trend-cotton-ball-diet/story?id=20942888

Scary...

Edited June 17, 2014 by marfar7

[The Icy One 518]

Hey, congratulations on your surgery @Writerjennifer. -- I notice that weight loss advice often begins with just, if you would just....

Well, if they would just.....shut up!

Good luck with your recovery and this beginning if a whole new chapter in your life!

@@The Icy One. Not sure who is creepier, chess guy or cotton ball advisor -- good grief!

I know, right?

[Josh2xh 70]

Here is a roll reversal. I told someone here that I enjoyed watch the food network 2 weeks post surgery. I said it was like watching porn.

It was a great thing for me, but in retrospect it might not have been a universal solution for the masses.

[B-52 7,113]

You've got to "Eat More" to "Loose More"

If that were true, none of us would be fat.....and we would be all as skinny as rails....

Sorry, it just never held true with me....I'm old school. I was fat because I ate too much, now I'm slim and fit because I do not eat nearly as much.....

[pink dahlia 2,513]

A few years ago I picked up a 2nd hand book by " Jerod, the Subway Sandwich guy." He does the boring Subway commericals because he lost an enormous amount of weight eating nothing but Subway. That would be one piece of advive I would'nt take, the other was in his book he discussed crazy diet ideas he had heard of. Like the one that said " carry around a head of cabbage, and eat some when you're hungry ! " ummmm, yeah........... let me get back to you on that ! !!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

There's really a new diet out there called The Cottonball Diet. Saw it on Good Morning America about 3 mths ago. Teen girls are really into this right now...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dangerous-diet-trend-cotton-ball-diet/story?id=20942888

Scary...

No kidding. I am sure it could get stuck and cause life threatening issues. By the way, if you really want to feel artificially full (as if you had wls), a Bariatric doctor has created a "full bar" which is designed to cause restriction through expansion of the bar. They have been around a few years and are sold everywhere. That being said, good for folks who have not actually had wls. Probably not so good for people who have had wls.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Fiddleman