Total BS in my opinion. Weight loss isn't a "one size fits all" shirt that everyone fits neatly into!
Exactly my thoughts! There are SOOOO many of these lists of things being thrown in people's faces (found this one on the front page of MSN this morning) that you "must" or "must not" do in order to lose weight. No wonder everyone is so confused.
I also think these sorts of articles just breed resentment in readers who don't already obey every "rule" on the list. It'd be a lot more productive and encouraging to simply rename it "15 Things That Help Your Diet Succeed" - this removes the element of "you might as well eat 5,000 calories of junk a day if you eat low-fat" or whatever other dumb hyperbole can be ascertained from the article.
Who does all fifteen (or the opposite of the fifteen, more accurately)? I also love the "You're too regimented" point. How would someone be able to incorporate all of those things in their lifestyle lackadaisically?
Last edited by memememe76; 08-13-2012 at 11:48 AM.
I think (1) baloney. Too generalized. And (2) um trying to sell diet plans and books anyone?
I think *sometimes* one or more or all 15 reasons can make a diet fail, but I think a little bit of everything (like say you skip one meal a week or only sleep 6 hours on a Sunday anticipating Monday) doesn't mean "you failed!"
This list is based on ONE PERSON'S opinions, not fact. That person being Keri Ganz, author ot The Small Changes Diet, according to the article/slide show.
Just on that basis alone, her motives have to be considered. Is she stating what she believes? Probably. Is it based on science or just her personal world view? There's no way to tell from a puff piece like this.
Though some of the quotes lead me to believe that she's not very objective on the subject. For example she is quoted as saying, "“Any diet that eliminates an entire food group should fail,” Gans says. “If you completely eliminate a food group--especially one you enjoy--there’s no way you can keep it up.” Plus, each food group gives us important nutrients our bodies need."
Sounds like reasonable advice, except that food groups are not a universal construct. Over the course of just the past few decades if you examine food groups in our culture and in others' you see the food grouping system is rather arbitrary. We can't agree on how many food groups there are, or which foods belong in which group. And is the author as worried about folks eliminating the "insect food group."
Humans did well for almost 2 million years without bread and pasta, so why do we suddenly need it now. (And by suddenly, I mean 15,000 years of agrarian history).
There's also quite a bit of science refuting some of her claims. Indicating at least that the opposite works for some people enough of the time to have been observed by researchers.
I think these kinds of lists perpetuate they myth that if you don't do weight loss by strictly defined rules, then you're somehow doomed to fail.
I failed for over 30 years, largely because I believed the myths. I didn't look for different ways, I kept trying to follow the same old "common sense advice."
I never once seriously considered giving up or severely limiting the foods I loved, especially "the food groups of simple starches and sugars." I never even questioned the mainstream view of what a balanced diet should look like (for most of that time, the FDA food pyramid). And I failed over and over again because I wasn't willing to "upset the balance."
Now the idea of balance has changed, including how much from each "food group" different folks should be eating (for the first time that I'm aware the FDA has different guidelines for overweight folk).
I know I'm starting to get up on my soapbox, but the "you must do this to succeed" arguments are driving me batty, especially since even the stuff based on research is usually based on too little research and is often contradictory.
One "expert" will say, "Thou must weigh daily or face thine doom" and another will say, "Thou must weigh weekly (or monthly) and no more frequently or face thine doom."
I think the science of weight loss will be stuck in its infancy if the "experts" don't start looking at why some stratgeies work for some folks and not others, instead of wasting their effort trying to find the single "best" diet that is somehow supposed to work for everyone regardless of situation.
Kaplods I will give up the insect group...except for mudbugs. I love crayfish (and yes I know they are not insects).
But ITA, you have to "consider the source" for these kinds of things. Years ago I loved Prevention magazine. Then I noticed something...it was all about the new diet...there'd be an article. And lo and behold guess who was publishing this new WINNING diet? PREVENTION! That was aside from the fact that the majority of the magazine is now ads for prescription meds. Prevention? It's more like "here's a Band-Aid" now and "the new best diet is whatever we decide to publish this quarter."
It's the same when a new celebrity biography comes out....they will either have a new reality show coming out or a new movie. None of this stuff is in a vacuum...it seems there is always a motive.
you have to "consider the source" for these kinds of things. Years ago I loved Prevention magazine. Then I noticed something...it was all about the new diet...
I completely agree with this!
I think whatever diet "works" for you is the diet that is perfect. Somebody else's diet is not "right" for me. I had to make my own to finally see real improvement, and to finally GET it. "It" being that I can't have "everything I want", but I don't have to "give up" everything I love, either.
Total BS in my opinion. Weight loss isn't a "one size fits all" shirt that everyone fits neatly into!
I immediately thought the same thing! You just have to find the eating and exercise approach that works for you. I would go bat crazy if I tried to follow the advice of every article or new study that comes out. I'm watching the news and now a doctor is saying iced tea is bad for you.
The sleep thing! So true! I don't know why, and I only have anecdotal proof, but I am convinced that people who don't sleep can't lose weight very effectively. But I think it is only true for long-term sleep deprivation.
And now that I have substantiated my opinion exactly as the ' expert' did, I will agree with the concensus here. Throwing out tips as gospel is not responsible.
Signs your diet will fail
Kaplods I will give up the insect group...except for mudbugs. I love crayfish (and yes I know they are not insects).
