[SouthernMaven]

I didn't know if this was exactly the right section to post this, but since I know we've all heard them, I thought it might be fun to share some. (mods: if I have this in the wrong place, I trust you'll move it to the right place)

Notice how, when people know you are trying to lose weight, they always have a story about how their friend (neighbor, cousin, uncle, co-worker, whatever) lost weight just by ...(fill in the blank).

I've heard a couple of whoppers, but I thought I'd share one particularly ridiculous one someone told me about a month ago. The person sharing this is 61 years old and has never had a weight problem, so has never actually been faced with losing weight, so I suppose I can see how she might have fallen for this.

She said she had a friend (actually, I think it might have been her ex-SIL, can't remember for sure) that she said lost 90 lbs just by....cutting out salt.

When she said this to me, I said...no way. Maybe she was living on salty processed foods, including lots of chips, etc, and changed her way of eating to healthy whole foods. Right?

No, she insisted...she said she just stopped putting salt in and on her food. Period.

THEN I said...well obviously she must have increased her exercise, because simply cutting out salt will certainly result in some weight loss, but not 90 lbs! Then I offered the possibility that by cutting out all salt she just naturally cut down on how much she was eating, as the food was no longer tasty to her.

She allowed that that was a possibility, but she insisted that this person assured her that cutting out salt was the only change she made in her diet and her life and that the weight just dropped off of her.

I don't know who was trying to buffalo whom....the person telling me this, or the person telling her. I suspect it was the latter, because the person telling me seemed convinced of the truth of this and she could tell I was very skeptical.

All I could say to this was...well, she must have been using a heck of a lot of salt!

Okay, I want to hear your stories now!

[mom2cole]

I giggle everytime a close family member of mine says she and her 50lb overweight dog are speed walking and loosing weight. Neither one of them looks like they have dropped a pound and the dog can hardly move so speed walking the 1/4 mile to the park is completely out of the question. Lets just say I would love to see it in person.

[crzymom6]

I know what you mean.

My dh's grandmother lost almost 100 pounds because she "stopped eating bread"

[katkitten]

well, as a salt freak, if i cut salt out of my diet i would DEFINITELY not eat as much. i think that is usually what is behind these stories. if bread is your weakness and you cant control your portions with it then of course cutting out bread is going to make you lose weight! i dont have any good stories to tell, though.

[luckymommy]

Mine is kind of different...my parents have this friend who thinks that sitting in a jacuzzi is the equivalent of running 5k. Hey, he's a happy guy though! Cracks me up to think that this is a work out to him! LOL!!!

[Mikayla]

Sometimes I think what I tell people when they ask how I lost weight sounds absurd. If someone asks I always tell them I cut back my portions and started walking. Which kinda sounds like I just use a smaller plate and took a stroll around the block.

When in reality I overhauled my eating, changing every last thing I ate, then I cut my portions AND I plan what I'm going to eat AND record the calories. And that stroll? Well it's actually a 3 or 4 mile walk in under an hour. Plus I've recently join a gym and started adding more vigorous exercise. LOL!
Of course I find most people don't care to know all of that info, so I simplfiy it. I probably leave them wondering why it's not that simple for everyone

[Trudiha]

I'm afraid that I'm one of those people who are adding to the myths. Folks ask how I lost weight, I start to tell 'em, they latch onto one thing, repeat it back to me and rather than going through the whole thing again, I just agree. People don't want to hear about diet and exercise to the point where they just can't hear it, who am I to rain on their parade?

[Coondocks]

My favourites are the infomercials at 4 in the morning telling stories of how so and so lost all the weight buy using whatever product . . . until you read the very very very tiny print that says 'these results not typical' and 'strict diet followed and exercise plan'
But ya know . . . it was just whatever product

[losermom]

Originally Posted by Trudiha

I'm afraid that I'm one of those people who are adding to the myths. Folks ask how I lost weight, I start to tell 'em, they latch onto one thing, repeat it back to me and rather than going through the whole thing again, I just agree. People don't want to hear about diet and exercise to the point where they just can't hear it, who am I to rain on their parade?

I've had this happen many times! People don't want to hear that it takes a combination of changes to lose weight. They're looking for the "magic pill" of weight loss. One of the recent ones was that I lost 65 lbs simply through weight training. Let's not worry about what I ate, drank or any of that silly cardio I do. I give up!

[mkendrick]

My ex boyfriend decided he was chubby. He started swimming in the apartment complex pool (not laps or anything, just playing around for about an hour). He did this maybe a week or two, and yes, he did tone up some. But he started telling everyone he had lost about 20lbs, and he truly believed this was a legitimate estimate. He never stepped on a scale before or after, lol.