Not that its anyone else's fault, but Ive heard some really bad advice on fitness & nutrition over the years. Now that I'm better educated, I realize how bad it actually was!

1."If you want to lose weight, just cut out bread."
(Yes starchy white bread, but I eat a slice of whole wheat at lunch & dinner everyday!)

2."If you want to lose weight, eat as much as you want of healthy things."
(That's a bit of a misnomer; chicken breast is healthy but not if you eat 4lbs of it a day; and 5000 cals of 'healthy' food isnt healthy)

3."If you want to lose weight, eat whatever you want, but in the right portions."
(When you're 100lbs overweight, suck it up and say goodbye to candy bars and big macs for a while, you can do without it)

4."The less carbs you eat, the better."
(What is this, Atkins for psychos?)

5."Kill yourself in the gym, you'll lose weight faster."
(Congratulations, you just herniated a disc in your back. Kiss the gym goodbye for 6 months)

6."Rock hard abs in two weeks...just follow these situp guidelines."
(Spot reducing? Maybe that works on Mars)

Not that its anyone else's fault, but Ive heard some really bad advice on fitness & nutrition over the years. Now that I'm better educated, I realize how bad it actually was!

1."If you want to lose weight, just cut out bread."
(Yes starchy white bread, but I eat a slice of whole wheat at lunch & dinner everyday!)

2."If you want to lose weight, eat as much as you want of healthy things."
(That's a bit of a misnomer; chicken breast is healthy but not if you eat 4lbs of it a day; and 5000 cals of 'healthy' food isnt healthy)

3."If you want to lose weight, eat whatever you want, but in the right portions."
(When you're 100lbs overweight, suck it up and say goodbye to candy bars and big macs for a while, you can do without it)Actually, all of those strategies contributed quite well to my success, but maybe because I don't use them exactly as quoted.

I think 5000 calories of chicken breasts could be quite healthy, depending on your size and training schedule. 5000 calories of chicken breasts, broccoli, tomatoes, grapefruit, and brown rice is definitely healthy. I really don't see any way how a diet containing ONLY those foods could contribute to any particular diseases. And I'm somewhat confident that they would not lead to obesity either. I'd be full by about 1500 calories of them, and I'd have to make myself sick to stuff in more than 2500 on a regular basis, so it's pretty foolproof for me.

Bad advice?

1. Eat as many low fat cookies and rice cakes as you want. It's the fat that's creating your weight gain.

2. If you want to lose weight, you have to completely cut out fruit and dairy and chocolate and alcohol.

Not that its anyone else's fault, but Ive heard some really bad advice on fitness & nutrition over the years. Now that I'm better educated, I realize how bad it actually was!

1."If you want to lose weight, just cut out bread."
(Yes starchy white bread, but I eat a slice of whole wheat at lunch & dinner everyday!)

Simplistic, but I can understand it. If you left everything else in the diet exactly the same and just cut the bread, you'd create a deficit plus eliminate a insulin spiking food.

2."If you want to lose weight, eat as much as you want of healthy things."
(That's a bit of a misnomer; chicken breast is healthy but not if you eat 4lbs of it a day; and 5000 cals of 'healthy' food isnt healthy)

Some simplistic plans are built around eating things high in fiber, protein, or fat content. All of which give a satiated feeling much quicker than the above mentioned bread. So if you have a meal of red meat and a bunch of broccoli drizzled in olive oil and maybe some sweet potatoes you will fill fuller than you would if you ate a bunch of bread washed down with coke. Telling people that they can eat what they want while knowing that the foods they are allowed will make them feel too full to eat too much is just a way to get people to control their calories without them counting them.

3."If you want to lose weight, eat whatever you want, but in the right portions."
(When you're 100lbs overweight, suck it up and say goodbye to candy bars and big macs for a while, you can do without it)

You can lose weight this way, but not really improve body composition very much. It's a recipe for a rebound because you won't learn proper eating habits for one thing.

4."The less carbs you eat, the better."
(What is this, Atkins for psychos?)

See #1 & #2. It can work, but isn't for everyone.



How about "Cut fat out of your diet and you will be healthier?" Not for most, as fats are vital to a lot of healthy functions. Dietary fat is not the enemy and doesn't make you fatter just because it's a certain macro. It makes you fat because you overeat in general.

How about "Just do cardio and cut calories drastically if you want to "tone"?" Recipe for skinny fat, followed by rebound to fatter than you were to begin with.

6."Rock hard abs in two weeks...just follow these situp guidelines."


oh yes! we've all heard that one. I guess the only reason they run those commercials (ab machine ads) at 3:00am is because the only people they expect to buy into it are insomniacs or wasted/stoned people who can't get to sleep...

(my apologies to all insomnic alcoholics :whistle:)

oh yes! we've all heard that one. I guess the only reason they run those commercials (ab machine ads) at 3:00am is because the only people they expect to buy into it are insomniacs or wasted/stoned people who can't get to sleep...

(my apologies to all insomnic alcoholics :whistle:)



Accepted.

Bad advice?

"Dude, you gotta like, run and run and run. And don't eat anything but like, carrots. Drink a buttload of water, too. You'll get totally ripped in like, a week."

"This is the best and only way to train."
"I don't like that way."
"You better start liking it. Are you in the gym because you like it?"
"...yeah...I am"


The biggest obstacle of getting serious I ever had was "paralysis by analysis". I wanted it to be perfect. It's really hard when you hear people with lots of letter behind their name writing stuff. Those are the ones you can trust, right? One guy is talking about full body workouts and how they're great, another talking about how splits are the only way to go. Low carb or you'll never lose weight or a 40/40/20 split.

The shame is that there is so much information out there that just conflicts. Are those experts really sure that they have found the holy grail of fitness or is it something to sell? I guess being indecisive about its "powers" (whatever "it" might be) wouldn't be a good selling strategy.

I had a buddy in college who thought binging on snack foods was all right as long as he had a salad with it.

Almost anything from "that big guy in the gym" who just happens to have the genetics of Hercules and couldn't stop gaining muscle if he tried. :cool:

Don't eat protein after 1 PM....its hard for your body to digest it....so it turns into fat.

I had a buddy in college who thought binging on snack foods was all right as long as he had a salad with it.

I feel like there's so many people out there that have that mentality. The "well I ate some healthy stuff with the snickers too." thing, like the healthy food and the snickers are going to do battle in their stomach for caloric domination... and only the calories from the healthy food are going to matter in the end. Yikes.

"Don't eat carbs after X o'clock."

"Cardio should always be done at a low intensity in a fasted state, for maximum fat burning."

"You're brand new to working out, and you should do concentration curls for your bicepts peak."

"Squats on a smith machine will be better for your back than free weight squats."

"If you want big calves, do a lot of seated calf raises with a very slow cadance."

"Milk is bad - for everyone."

"Don't eat fruit because it has sugar in it."

"Never eat the egg yolks."

"Try this, I read it in Muscle & Fitness..."

"You've been training for 2 months...to maximize the upper chest development you should..."

"Never, ever, ever use any kind of swing or cheating method; always lift with textbook form."

"That workout is for powerlifters, so it has no relevance for someone who has goals relating to a better looking physique."

"If you are not sore after a workout, then the workout was a waste of time."

"Don't eat beef when you're trying to lose bodyfat."

"Women need a dramatically different training approach than men do."

"Since you're running 3 days a week, there's no need for you to do any weightlifting for your lower body."

"This supplement will give you steroid-like gains."

"Since you're running 3 days a week, there's no need for you to do any weightlifting for your lower body."

I hear that a lot. And I mean A LOT.

Someone at work was forwarding a diet plan to everyone that went something like: eat a single boiled egg for breakfast, one piece of fruit for lunch, and one plain yogurt for dinner. You can eat as much ice cream as you want, whenever you're hungry, as long as it's vanilla flavored. And also drink as much soda as you want, as long as it's not dark colored. :doh:

What sucked about all this was that I also happen to eat the same things for my meals (but obviously not in those quantities, and no ice cream and soda!) And now everyone was bugging me stuff like, "So that's how you lost 50 lbs! You should have shared your secret with us earlier!" :bang:

Oh, and the diet plan is very popular.

My favorite are low/no carbers that do no physical activity whatsoever, then drink like fish on the weekends and wonder why they are still fat.

Someone at work was forwarding a diet plan to everyone that went something like: eat a single boiled egg for breakfast, one piece of fruit for lunch, and one plain yogurt for dinner. You can eat as much ice cream as you want, whenever you're hungry, as long as it's vanilla flavored. And also drink as much soda as you want, as long as it's not dark colored. :doh:

What sucked about all this was that I also happen to eat the same things for my meals (but obviously not in those quantities, and no ice cream and soda!) And now everyone was bugging me stuff like, "So that's how you lost 50 lbs! You should have shared your secret with us earlier!" :bang:

Oh, and the diet plan is very popular.
:lol: That's a good one.

Oddly enough, some of those diets do work, because so many of our temptations to eat are based on boredom and stimulated by variety instead of by hunger.

If I served myself at a dessert buffet that offerred three different kinds of ice cream, brownies, chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake, Oreo cheesecake, cherry pie, butter tarts, and a trifle, I'd consume a lot more calories than a dessert buffet that served only my very favorite of all of those items. :confused:

These oddball food combo diets I think really bug me...a few of them are genuinely legit but most of them appeal to people who know absolutely ZERO about nutrition...Half the time they are done by people with high calorie intakes and who just drop their calories on the 'diet' and lose water weight, a bit of fat, and some muscle.

When are people going to learn there are no shortcuts to good health?

"Lose 80 pounds by eating nothing but bacon and coffee grounds!"

"Get rid of that flab on the lard and lamb testicle diet!"