Whats the biggest weight loss myth you have ever heard?

[marjon9 6]

I agree completely with the litres and litres of Water thing. Its crapola. You drink when you're thirsty till you're not thirsty same as with eating.

How on earth can shoving litres of Water that you dont want down your gullet help? It does not flush anything from your system and it doesnt help your skin either. All the Fluid in your cells is derived from the metabolism of fat, not from water you drink. You dont drink water and it plumps out your skin, just doesnt happen that way.

Water is good for you and not drinking enough is not good for you. But you dont have to force it down your throat every second of the day. Other fluids count too, even when they contain undesirables like caffeine.

And if I'm hungry I'm hungry, drinking water doesnt solve the problem. And I dont know about anyone else, but my body is evolved enough to tell me that its thirsty. It doesnt mix its signals and tell me its hungry when really its thirsty!

I disagree with this to some degree in the context of having the band. Before being banded I used to drink a lot of water because I felt thirsty and wanted to drink it. Now, I find that it is very hard work to drink any significant amount of water because I have a lot of restriction. Sometimes at the end of the day I think back on how much water I had that day and it is very little. Yet I don't remember feeling thirsty. When I felt thirsty during the day I had a few sips of water and then I didn't feel thirsty anymore. But at the end of the day, on days when I did not pay attention, my total was like 6 or 8 ounces. I think this can be a problem for a lot of reasons, including the risk of kidneys stones. I also disagree that water does not flush anything from your system. Urine is a bodily waste that contains items that are "flushed from your system." And the transportation system in your body for these kinds of wastes is water. If you don't drink enough, you can definitely have problems eliminating harmful wastes.

I don't think that drinking a lot of water is necessarily a miracle diet solution for losing weight. But I do think it can be a little dangerous to tell people who have the lap band that they should just drink when they are thirsty and not worry about it. I think when you are banded you need to really pay attention to your water intake and drink enough to avoid dehydration.

[Wheetsin 714]

I've told everyone, and I've never heard anything remotely like "that's the easy way." Thankfully, because we'd have some words if I did. But here's what I do hear:

• Oh, I've heard of that!
  
• Oh, I've seen that on TV!
  
• I saw a show about that, do you know that girl that was on the show?
  
• How much have you lost?
  
• Do you feel better?

...anda host of others.

And sorry, I diverged, I know. But the "Oh, I've heard of that" cracks me up.

[Wheetsin 714]

Here are some other fads I've heard of or been involved with:

• Chromium picolinate. Take two caps for Breakfast, two for lunch, and eat a regular dinner (and in fine print, you will note that a "regular dinner" is defined in the enclosed diet program). So let me get this right. Taking these pills is supposed to make me lose weight, but I'm only allowed to eat one meal a day, and it's under a strict diet? Couldn't I take... oh... air, which is free, and get the same results? Couldn't I swallow a bug and lose the same amount of weight? Or a piece of banana rind?
  
• Here's a whole list of foods, and eating only these foods you can have as much as you want because they take more calories to chew than they have. I'm sorry, they're were healthy foods, but eating 10 lbs of anything is going to make you fat.
  
• Sex burns a lot of calories, so have sex every day when you're dieting. Ok, so it's a good rule, but don't do it for the caloric burn because you just don't burn all that much.

[lianna 3]

The biggest myth is all the "miracle" diet pills. So many empty promises.

A lady at work asked me how I was losing the weight and when I told her I had the lapband she looked crestfallen. She said "oh, I thought you were doing it on your own". I really think she wanted me to reveal some easy, effortless, magical thing like "I am taking 3 XYZ pills a day".

[travelgirl 3]

LOL Jack!!!

[Jachut 487]

It was pretty trippy!

[Jennifur 0]

ROTFL....I love all of these! But I still side with Jack.

I am now telling people how I am loosing weight and I swear if one more persons says "oh the easy way" this chick will get getting her fills in jail for murder....I can not stand anymore of it!!

I would rather have 15 kids all natural, all at once!

BUT I do love my band and would do it all over again....lol..

I so agree, I am reading these and cracking up at most of them, because i think most apply to me or I have at least thought about them. LOL

But, from start to finish of getting the band, it will be 14 months, extensive test and dr appointments, and will have to continue to work for the rest of my life for this to really work - so can someone explain how this is easy? :biggrin1:

[Jachut 487]

What about if you exercise you turn your fat to muscle or if you stop exercising all your muscle will turn to fat. How stupid can people be? Fat is fat, muscle is muscle.

Although I have a male friend who was a keen cyclist, he had hugely muscular thighs. Then he grew up, had kids, bought a house in a suburb he could afford and had to catch the train to work - he also married a wonderful friend of mine who was/is obese. Over the years he's become morbidly obese - the size of his legs, WHOA. He's retained all the muscle and laid fat down over the top, and I'm not kidding, he actually has trouble walking, cant get one thigh around the other. He would have the hugest legs I have ever seen.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Anyone remember Starch Blockers? They were tablets that came out in the 70s.

Yeah, they don't work.

[anonemouse 1]

One my mom just said to me comes to mind: "Why have surgery? Just pretend you had surgery and loose the weight that way." Um, yeah. If that worked, I'd weigh a hundred pounds less than I do.

[synicalchick 0]

OMG that's funny Marjon & Bruce! By the by... I started noticing commercials on tv the day of my surgery. I've seen three different ones several different times. Very exciting!

T

Bruce, that drug is Xenical. Did you happen to notice that this very week they are starting to sell this drug, at half strength, over the counter? They call it Alli (pronounced ally). I'm sure that the next big marketing plan will be to sell it in a combo pack with Clorox.

It's sad now people will do anything to lose weight even if it doesn't work. Lord knows, I did the same. I think the lap band is going to become incredibly popular over the next 5 years.

[synicalchick 0]

Holy crap.. this made me laugh so hard I hurt my port site (7 days post op) but it was worth it. AT first I thought you were going to say you wrapped yourself in celophane to sweat it out.....

I kid you not, I once sat in my bedroom for hours as a 16 year old with red cellophane taped over my eyes because I read that it curbed your appetite.

[MarySue33 0]

Don't forget my personal favorite stupid diet...the hot dog diet...

Day 1 - 9 bananas

Day 2 - 9 eggs

Day 3 - 9 all-beef hot dogs

Day 4 -- 3 bananas, 3 eggs, 3 hot dogs -- in that order, of course!

I just googled 'hot dog diet' and I found a ton of crazy websites with people swearing by this thing. My favorite of all, though, is this site that spoofs the diet. It's a hoot!

http://www.watchmeeatahotdog.com/diet.php

Make sure to click the links like ' the reason we are fat is because of the SUN' and the 'why it works' part. Too funny!

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Don't forget my personal favorite stupid diet...the hot dog diet...

Day 1 - 9 bananas

Day 2 - 9 eggs

Day 3 - 9 all-beef hot dogs

Day 4 -- 3 bananas, 3 eggs, 3 hot dogs -- in that order, of course!

I just googled 'hot dog diet' and I found a ton of crazy websites with people swearing by this thing. My favorite of all, though, is this site that spoofs the diet. It's a hoot!

http://www.watchmeeatahotdog.com/diet.php

Make sure to click the links like ' the reason we are fat is because of the SUN' and the 'why it works' part. Too funny!

You know, I was trying to remember that exact diet and I couldn't remember the final item, bananas. I was going to post this earlier but couldn't remember all of it. I remember doing this to lose that last five pounds in high school.

Yeah, now I just outed my age, eh?

[Fauxnaif 1]

That the band can be adjusted and tightened ad infinitum.

Some may not realize this but there comes a point where you just can't go tighter. So in our zeal to spread the word that the band is superior to gastric bypass (and I agree-it is), let's not forget that adjustability does have its limits.