Stupid weight loss advice

[Jack 855]

re: "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....."

after over 40 years of weight issues, and a host of reading both on a graduate level and professional educational upgrades, and with a veritable Library of Alexandria collection of tidbits collected over the years, THIS quote is as close to the Truth as I have ever come....not that I am fit, etc.

Add in most of my existence of eating too much has been coupled with exercising too little.

Double whammy super size.

At one point in my grad school classes on nutrition, the assignment was to attempt to create a spreadsheet of what we individually had eaten over the past year. Through massive application of recent memory and typical meals/snacks/ingestion of any caloric substance, the answer surprised everyone.

Given I was x-overweight representing XXXX-calorie surplus, I found between the meals I could perhaps account for over the previous 15 years by themselves, would have left me at NORMO weight.....while factoring in the beer habit over the same time frame, by themselves, also would have left me at NORMO weight.

The conclusion was, I could have eaten what I did OR drank what I did and remained NORMO size.

Add the 2 and the correlation with the xx, (OK, XXXX-amount) of extra pounds of fat, is what made me "Morbidly Obese".

Decades later absent the liquid calories I still am confronted daily by the errors of an over consumption youth.

[back to our regularly scheduled thread, sorry for the hi-jack]

[Bandista 7,466]

I believe this is sound science but it's just the amount of butter and heavy cream I could out away pre-band.....thank goodness those days are over. So enjoying being a dairy eater now, and this includes indulging in a little wedge of yummy cheese here and there, real butter if I fry an egg, etc. But back then it was so much more.....even a salad I would eat is amazing to think about now, that volume,

"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.

[InfiniteButterfly 438]

I remember the "drink vinegar and melt fat" (I actually tried that, because I like the taste of vinegar. In small amounts). It just made me sick and nauseous enough that I couldn't eat (which I more than made up for when I did eat. The eat only cabbage (blech). Drink 8 oz of Water before eating and you'll fill up faster and lose weight. I've heard a lot of silly advice over the years, none of which worked (and some of which was likely dangerous)

I was lucky enough that my doctor didn't argue when I said I wanted WLS. He's seen me for the past six or so years struggling with my weight even though I exercise and try to eat right (no pop, no fried foods...but I'm a grazer and an emotional eater). I had mild success on the South Beach Diet, but couldn't sustain it past a few months because I was very weak with carbs. He actually offered sound advice beyond "eat less, exercise more", but without the therapy and WLS tool, I just couldn't do it.

[RayJunCayJun 41]

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

I was told this already and it did work for me- the lady who told me this didn't mean more calories but more often 6 smaller meals as opposed to 3 big ones.

Not advise per se but I did a 3 day diet when I was about 13 -each night the diet wanted you to eat 1 cup of ice cream, exaclty one cup of your choice flavor, generally it was something to do with chemical something or another and you'd lose 10 pounds in 3 days....haha I don't think I lost any

[Writerjennifer 107]

@@Bandista : thanks. I'm so happy to finally be on the losers bench.

"Just..." yeah... I've heard just this, just that so often. And I keep thinking "just back away from the table tubby" is what they really mean. Makes me want to say "How about just kiss my grits buttinsky." Lol

[beeteroo 166]

I had someone make a statement once while I was in the group that she couldn't understand why people would choose to be overweight. I chose to be fat.....really I did.

[Mommabird 367]

I was told by a Dr. I went to for help to "Just exercise some will power". He then put me on a high carb-low fat diet. I gained twenty pounds. Went back with my food diary ( I had stuck like super glue to his food plan) and was told that I was obviously lying. Last visit with him! I was later diagnosed with PCOS. Eating high carbs is the worst thing for me to do.

[BeagleLover 1,020]

I was told by a Dr. I went to for help to "Just exercise some will power". He then put me on a high carb-low fat diet. I gained twenty pounds. Went back with my food diary ( I had stuck like super glue to his food plan) and was told that I was obviously lying. Last visit with him! I was later diagnosed with PCOS. Eating high carbs is the worst thing for me to do.

Goes to show you-- lots of people are ignorant, doctors too. How insulting! Glad you ditched him.

[Writerjennifer 107]

That's sad that he would be so closed minded and uneducated.

I went to my PCP asking about weight management, and he referred me to the program at the University. When I went back to see him for check-ups, etc., he always commented positively on my weight loss (even when it wasn't much.) My favorite was when he said, "it's not something we are usually happy about, being in the 'obese' category, but you have lost enough to drop out of the 'morbidly obese' category and that's definitely something to Celebrate." He went on to explain all the health risks that are less of a risk because of my new status. So not only praise, but sound medical reasoning to back up the praise and reinforce the importance of the landmark.

Love my PCP. Can't wait to see him next, since I just had surgery the next time I will have lost a bunch more!

Jennifer

[getnhealthyintx 281]

Strangest one I heard was... Eat standing up it will move the food through faster.

[mysleeveid13 100]

This may not be stupid advice normally, but my coworker (who had lost over 100 lbs post op) and I were in an elevator at work the week I returned after my VSG surgery. I had already lost 42 lbs in the 7 weeks I was out and people assumed I had surgery, too. So this girl who knew my coworker had surgery looked at our cups and said, "Yall need to quit drinking your calories!" We both just laughed because we both had unsweetened tea! WTH?? Combined, we had lost over 150 lbs and you feel the need to try to tell us we are drinking our calories (when it was unsweet to begin with)? Unsolicited advice is the worst!!!

[catfish87 3,471]

One thing I hear and see often....EVEN on this site, is "weigh and measure" your portions. And "only eat 1/2 to 1 cup of food". Even directed to people who are longer term WLS patients. I hear it at "support" group meetings all the time...to people who have started regaining, fallen off the wagon, etc.

While I do think it's valuable to know and be mindful of what a normal sized portion is, IF I could have done this longterm....I wouldn't have needed surgery to prevent me from over eating. For me, I had/have no willpower to stop....thus the surgery to accomplish exactly that. Thank you adjustable lapband!

[jacileggs 402]

Naturally skinny people have all sorts of advice for us. It's simple they say. Eat less and exercise. Well yes it is easy to say but not to do. When you are obese and have no energy to exercise and have a food addiction. It's like telling smokers to just stop smoking.

[Musicmom65 12]

I am constantly told to just walk away from the table and don't eat anything! The less I eat the more I'll lose! I wish! Tried that too and it didn't work. All discipline and willpower that's all I need.

[gowalking 10,790]

I have a friend who is an alcoholic. She described her addiction by saying that the idea of not drinking as much as possible was never an option. One drink just made no sense to her. Well, if you substitute food for a drink, you have the same addiction. I know that I never looked at a bowl of Pasta and thought, 'oh I'll eat a little...no need to eat it all.'

So when someone says to you, just walk away from the table, it's like telling an alcoholic to just have one drink and walk away. They can't do it and neither can we. The difference is that a drinker can stop drinking. We can't stop eating. There is no addiction like food addiction...and I include drug addiction as well. As horrific as it is, you can stop taking drugs...you can't stop eating.

I just wish the world understood this and stopped with the fat hating. I'm not that far out where I've forgotten what it was to be the biggest person in the room. It's not pleasant and I have great sympathy for those battling this addiction.

Edited June 18, 2014 by gowalking