Let's start a mythbusters thread...

[Wheetsin 714]

And if it takes off we can sticky it as another quick reference. So I'll start, then you add.

1. Starvation mode.

If our bodies could really just "stop" breaking down & metabolizing fat and muscle when it is not getting adequate nourishment (aka starvation mode), then no one would ever starve to death. This one doesn't even make sense to me. Even if there was some way by which our bodies could do this, we'd have to be down to such a ridiculously low percentage of body fat that we wouldn't have the energy, state of mind, or - hell - enough eyesight or musclular control to post a question about it. So in other words, if you're here, you're not in starvation mode!

2. You have to remove carbs from your diet to lose weight.

You can remove any singular nutritional component from your diet and lose weight. It doesn't have to be carbs. Remove fat from your diet, you'll lose weight. Remove Protein from your diet, you'll lose weight. But come on, are you really going to eat 2gm fat a day for the rest of your life? You're much better off finding an all-around approach that you can really live with. Most of the time, this is a caloric reduction. Then if you want to reduce something else, do it to supplement, but not as its own means of weightloss. No one here is interested in temporarily losing weight, and then gaining it back as soon as old habits are resumed.

3. Eating late at night causes weight gain.

If you're eating more than your body requires to function during the day, you will gain weight. It doesn't matter if you're eating in the morning or at night. If you eat a 10,000 calorie Breakfast, and have a sedintary lifestyle, you will gain weight. If you eat nothing throughout an extremely active day, and then have a 4000 calorie dinner, you will not automatically gain weight just because you ate the calories at night.

4. The scale shows how much fat you have, or fat and weight are the same thing

The scale shows nothing more than how much you weigh at any given point in time. Think about your weight for a second. There's a lot more to it than fat. There's your hair, your clothes, your body, and everything in or on your body. Weighing 200 lbs Monday night and 205 lbs Tuesday morning DOES NOT mean you gained fat overnight, just that you weigh 5 lbs more. I see people freaking out -- "omg I ate chocolate lastnight and now I weight 10 pounds more I'm never eating chocolate again!" Yeah, maybe you weigh 10 pounds more, but it's physically impossible for a chocolate bar (one you can carry, anyway!) to convert to 10 pounds of fat. For that matter, assuming you're (a normal) human, it's pretty much impossible. You'd have to eat about 35,000 calories on top of your BMR. That's like eating 50 sticks of butter on top of whatever number of calories you needed to function that day. Not gonna happen!

If you see a quick change to the scale, it's most likely a function of Fluid retention. This is why the scale should not be looked at daily. Some people can see upwards of 20 lbs daily fluctuation. And this is why the scale should not be used, at all, if you want an accurate way to see how your body is changing.

[kagoscuba 0]

My thin brother-in-law put it perfectly. "You can eat nothing but chocolate cake every day, as long as the amount you eat contains fewer calories than your body requires, and you WILL lose weight. However, you'll probably die shortly of malnutrition." He has made fun of my weight in the past, but suprisingly, other than my wife, he is the one person most happy about me getting the lap-band. He's even better about it than my own mother...but that's a story for another day.

[enterprise01 0]

Exercise builds muscle, and I've been working out a lot, so that's why the scale isn't moving.

Aerobic exercise primarily burns calories; it does not build muscle. Weight lifting builds muscle, but it takes a lot of serious weight lifting to gain any substantial amount. Obese people do not lack muscle. Let's face it, you have to have adequate musculature to carry around that extra 100 pounds of fat. Exercising is actually a cycle of breaking down muscle and rebuilding it. Inflammation is a part of that process and inflammation causes Fluid retention. So, yes, your clothes are fitting better and yet the scale is not moving. That's because of the Fluid retention, not because you suddenly increased your muscle mass.

[anonemouse 1]

You can't keep drinking Protein Shakes and still lose weight.

This goes back to the whole "more calories burned than taken in" thing. It doesn't matter where you are getting your calories. If you burn more than you eat, you lose weight.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

:eyebrows:Laurend, how dare you defy Sandy???:eyebrows::eyebrows::mad::D

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Ohhhhhh, I love this thread. I love you Wheetsin! You are my new hero!

My biggest pet peeve myth is the starvation mode. Little children in Africa are in starvation mode, we are fat and certainly not in starvation mode.

What about exercise will prevent sagging skin?

Or consume as much Protein as you want because what you don't use you'll just pee out like Vitamin C tablets. Not true, what you don't absorb and use turns to fat and you have to burn it.

hair loss is a lack of Protein, Biotin, <name whatever you heard last>. If you are not deficient in those items anyway, taking more won't make your hair grow.

I have a bunch, I'll likely think of them as I see others post them.

Bottom line, it's calories in vs. calories out.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

You can't keep drinking Protein shakes and still lose weight.

This goes back to the whole "more calories burned than taken in" thing. It doesn't matter where you are getting your calories. If you burn more than you eat, you lose weight.

Heh... too funny. :mad:

[Jachut 487]

To lose weight, you need long slow exercise with your heart rate in the fat burning zone.

OK, now I know a lot of people believe this, I think its a load of crapola. Even though every personal trainer you ever go to will spew it out at you.

Its true to an extent, I mean your body burns the most PROPORTION of fat at this rate. But you burn much more fat overall if you work harder.

OK, we've all got to start somewhere. So if that's what you can handle at first, fine. But the real truth is if you work harder, you'll be able to do way more in the fat burning zone eventually.

I can stay in this heart rate zone running now. Which means I will burn TWICE as many calories (becuase I cover twice the distance in the same time) as the person who stubbornly insisted they must not let their heart rate get higher or they'd "stop burning fat" - no you wont stop burning fat, the mix just changes. If you can run for an hour a day without it exhausting you, without it injuring you, with it being a pleasant experience, just like a nice long walk is, you will have turned your body into a fat burning machine. YOu wont put on weight again without really trying to.

Oh, and aerobic exercise doesnt perhaps build a LOT Of muscle, but I can tell you it does build some and it tones the hell out of what you have. I dont do much in the way of strength training but I have legs like steel and my upper body is nicely toned from the arm motion and my abdominals are super duper strong and flat.

[kagoscuba 0]

I hear you there...on the elliptical machine, it tells me to stay around 117 beats per minute for fat-burning and 144 for cardio. Well, I put the elliptical at a relatively low Level 5 setting and push past 117 like it's no problem, go for 30 minutes, and I usually end up around 155 beats per minute, having burned 410 calories and a little over three miles in distance. The calorie number is the one I care about. I also "listen" to my body, and even at 155 beats per minute I am not "killing myself" in exertion.

[babs0101 1]

I am loving this thread. Especially about the exercise. This is a weak area for me.

Jachut~ you are my IDOL!

[anonemouse 1]

:eyebrows:Laurend, how dare you defy Sandy???:eyebrows::eyebrows::D

Ha! :bounce::heh:

Another myth I LOVE is that "what worked for me, will work for you" or "there is only ONE way to do things."

Bull crap. People are individuals. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. Some people do well on solid Protein. Other people do well using Protein drinks. Some people can't eat white carbs. Other people can eat carbs very easily and still lose weight very easily. All that matters is that you are happy and healthy, and that your surgeon and nutritionist are happy with your progress. Other than that, who the heck CARES? Band rules? Bah humbug. Other than chewing well and drinking enough Water, there are no "band rules," simply because every single person has individual needs and abilities.

[Chelle B 0]

And if it takes off we can sticky it as another quick reference. So I'll start, then you add.

1. Starvation mode.

If our bodies could really just "stop" breaking down & metabolizing fat and muscle when it is not getting adequate nourishment (aka starvation mode), then no one would ever starve to death. This one doesn't even make sense to me. Even if there was some way by which our bodies could do this, we'd have to be down to such a ridiculously low percentage of body fat that we wouldn't have the energy, state of mind, or - hell - enough eyesight or musclular control to post a question about it. So in other words, if you're here, you're not in starvation mode!

2. You have to remove carbs from your diet to lose weight.

You can remove any singular nutritional component from your diet and lose weight. It doesn't have to be carbs. Remove fat from your diet, you'll lose weight. Remove Protein from your diet, you'll lose weight. But come on, are you really going to eat 2gm fat a day for the rest of your life? You're much better off finding an all-around approach that you can really live with. Most of the time, this is a caloric reduction. Then if you want to reduce something else, do it to supplement, but not as its own means of weightloss. No one here is interested in temporarily losing weight, and then gaining it back as soon as old habits are resumed.

3. Eating late at night causes weight gain.

If you're eating more than your body requires to function during the day, you will gain weight. It doesn't matter if you're eating in the morning or at night. If you eat a 10,000 calorie Breakfast, and have a sedintary lifestyle, you will gain weight. If you eat nothing throughout an extremely active day, and then have a 4000 calorie dinner, you will not automatically gain weight just because you ate the calories at night.

4. The scale shows how much fat you have, or fat and weight are the same thing

The scale shows nothing more than how much you weigh at any given point in time. Think about your weight for a second. There's a lot more to it than fat. There's your hair, your clothes, your body, and everything in or on your body. Weighing 200 lbs Monday night and 205 lbs Tuesday morning DOES NOT mean you gained fat overnight, just that you weigh 5 lbs more. I see people freaking out -- "omg I ate chocolate lastnight and now I weight 10 pounds more I'm never eating chocolate again!" Yeah, maybe you weigh 10 pounds more, but it's physically impossible for a chocolate bar (one you can carry, anyway!) to convert to 10 pounds of fat. For that matter, assuming you're (a normal) human, it's pretty much impossible. You'd have to eat about 35,000 calories on top of your BMR. That's like eating 50 sticks of butter on top of whatever number of calories you needed to function that day. Not gonna happen!

If you see a quick change to the scale, it's most likely a function of Fluid retention. This is why the scale should not be looked at daily. Some people can see upwards of 20 lbs daily fluctuation. And this is why the scale should not be used, at all, if you want an accurate way to see how your body is changing.

Obesity is caused by a lack of will-power. HAH!

Being overweight is not a simple problem of willpower or self-control. Amazing how many people believe that we just overeat because we are WEAK. Obesity is a mixture of genetic, metabolic, biochemical, cultural and psychosocial factors. Most people are overweight because societal changes over the last 20 to 30 years. We commute farther than ever for work, putting us in the car during natural Breakfast and dinner hours. We have easy access to delicious fast foods. Our jobs are less physical, with many of us sitting on our tushes 8-12 hours a day. We take more meds than ever before, along with all the chemicals in our foods.

Willpower might be helpful for short term weight loss, but it is not the cause of all obesity!

[DonHoll1 0]

YOU CAN`T EAT CARBS AND LOSE WEIGHT.

I eat a lot of vegie Soup and homemade chicken Soup. I put potatoes in both and i am losing quite well. Calories in- calories out. Works for me. Donna

[Ms. NYC 0]

I am trying to figure out if I am burning enough calories to promote weight loss. How many calories to we burn when we do nothing at all?

I average 80 grams of Protein and about 1100 calories per day. But when I work out I only burn about 200 calories on the treadmill (still recouperating from surgery).

I work in front of a computer all day.

So I am wondering if I use the theory calories in vs. calories out, if I am getting enough calories out.

[Wheetsin 714]

I am trying to figure out if I am burning enough calories to promote weight loss. How many calories to we burn when we do nothing at all?

COMPLETELY depends on the person. The amount of calories you burn while at rest -- doing nothing other than living -- is called your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. You can use online calculators like this one to determine your BMR.