Abolish the Myths - Reading for Newbies

[squiddie]

*bump* (sorry i just want people to read this!)

 

[nic-hola]

WOW what a great post......i love hearing ur encouragment,i think this forum the people on it re my new insperation i cant wait to get stuck in(100%) and let u guys know how im doing.... so well done xxxx

 

[squiddie]

thank you. i'm the same, i check the forum everyday and i'm as motivated as day one (it only day 10 but still!) Knowing there is so many people going through exactly the same, sharing ideas, good news, bad news, life and times we'll all stick to gether and one by one we will get to target and all be the people we want to be

All the best

Natt xx

 

[Tanari]

Your post was really helpful. Will save it.

 

[frugal fifer]

great post, have been lagging lately, but back on track to today with a fresh aproach.

 

[cocktailprincess]

Hi Squiddie

Really interesting to hear your views. Just to 'defend' the other diets (low cal, atkins, etc)- I think in fairness they DO work- just maybe not for us here. I have a friend who lost 3 stone on Atkins 6 years ago and has kept it all off, I have another friend who lost 55lb over a year ago by calorie counting and has succesfully maintained- conversely, I know many people who have done SW and failed or gained after stopping.

I don't think it is as simple as 'which diet works'- I think it is down to the state of mind of the individual. There are tons of methods of losing weight- all which 'work' at shifting the actual fat. The real issue is what happens to your head in this process and after it?

I choose SW because I have many food issues which I need to overcome via changing my relationship with food on a slower more long term basis. I think SW is the best choice for me- but I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from their particular choice of weight loss plan if that is the one they believe will work for them- we are all different and have different difficulties so must make a choice based on this.

xxxxxxxxx

 

[Starlight]

Excellent post CocktailPrincess. I do agree with you. I think its wrong to say low fat diets dont work. WW is a low fat diet and it most certainly does work. Many people on Minimins have had great success on Atkins too, again, it does work, very well.

Youre right, its definitely a case of finding the right diet for you but in finding that you cant dismiss other diets purely because they didnt work for you as well as the one youre following

 

[KD]

Great post CocktailPrincess :clap:

Also a good post squiddie and obviously helpful and motivational for SWers:clap:

My only gripe is that though there's a lot of good facts there and suitably referenced to how SW would work within with those facts, a fair bit of it is based on your opinion.

I think its wrong to say low fat diets dont work. WW is a low fat diet and it most certainly does work.

Absolutely, and though I'm not a great supporter of low fat diets (not high fat either!), they can work.

After all, SW is a low fat diet anyway and I'm pretty sure you would agree that it can work if done correctly.

 

[crimson_noir]

Hey I think that is a great post and really helpful to people just starting out (or needing a boost!)
I have one little issue though - the free foods do not burn more calories than they contain. If they did we would all be loosing stones a week - don't forget you need around 2000 cals a day for your body to function each organ on its own burns calories. There is no such thing a negative calorie foods. All free foods on SW are none energy dense foods, the theory behind this is that they fill you up so you are unable to eat more than you need. which is why energy dense foods are synned as you could easily eat a whole bag of haribo then be hungry and move on to the biscuits- well ok that may just be me!!

Thermic Effect of Food

Digesting food is no easy task and the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) is a term used for the calories the body uses to digest food and process nutrients. To calculate your TEF multiply the amount of calories you took in over the course of the day by 10 percent. For example, 2,000 calories x .10 = 200.

Metabolism: Understand it and Increase It | DoItYourself.com

 

[squiddie]

CocktailPrincess - I totally respect your post, so please don't take what I'm going to say as having a go, it's hard to detect tone in text!

I am not saying those diets DON'T work at loosing weight, what I am saying is that either they are hard to keep up in the long wrong, they are unhealthy in that they ask you to stay away from certain food groups, or whilst you may loose weight on them - is it fat?

SW suits me - it won’t work for everyone, because not everyone can adjust to the plan, but if you follow the SW plan 100% you will loose weight.

A friend of mine also lost on Atkins and when he needs to loose weight he does it for a while - but I ask myself if it works so well then why does he need to keep going back to it, why isn't the weight off permanently?

I have lots of these diets (and others) and I am not against these diets per se (if you don't have a lot of weight to loose, thus not exposing your body to unhealthy conditions for too long) - as long as you eat a healthy diet afterwards to maintain.


The only way to loose weight is to have a calorie deficit - take in fewer calories than you use. You need to drop 3500 a calories per pound of fat. How you go about that it is totally up to you - if it was easy none of us would be on this forum

KD: Which bits in particular did you think were opinion - I tried to keep it as factual as possible so I feel the need to edit

Most of all though thank you for reading, my main goal is to inspire and motivate, not boss or lecture - just share my knowledge and hope it helps.

Natt xx

 

[squiddie]

crimson_noir; thanks for that - I remembered my consultant talking about food containing less calories than it takes to burn them and as it in near inmpossible to find the science behind SW I had to take her word for it. I must say I knew it was due to calorie density and I don't know why I didn't write that in all honesty - guess I know a SW consultant would know best.

Thank You x

 

[cocktailprincess]

Thanks for replying Squiddie

I could debate all day on the effectiveness of each individual diet, but my main issue here is that minimims is a support forum for all weight loss plans. To dismiss others as unhealthy or ineffective would be unfair on the hundreds of people who use this site as a support network.

I understand that these are your views and you feel strongly that they are correct, but there are many real-life stories on here that give another opinion.

I know that your initial intention was as support for SWers, and you should be commended for that, however I believe that we must show respect and encouragement to everyone, not just those that have made the same diet choice as us.

x

 

[KD]

Hey I think that is a great post and really helpful to people just starting out (or needing a boost!)

Indeed :clap:

I have one little issue though - the free foods do not burn more calories than they contain

Absolutely. I think TEF runs at about 5 to 10% (would need to check that though!)

they are unhealthy in that they ask you to stay away from certain food groups, or whilst you may loose weight on them - is it fat?

Actually it is. In fact, it's a tiny bit more than the more traditional diets. Not enough to make much difference though, but certainly is fat.

but I ask myself if it works so well then why does he need to keep going back to it, why isn't the weight off permanently?

Because dieting isn't maintaining. It doesn't matter what diet you do, maintaining is a totally different ball game. As for having to keep going back. Well...I did SW many, many times. Very successfully some of those times, but not only did I keep going back, but I kept bumping into the same people when I was there. Same with WW..same with CC...same on the Atkins diet forums.

Not SWs fault really, any more than it's Atkins fault that people don't do maintenance correctly.

KD: Which bits in particular did you think were opinion - I tried to keep it as factual as possible so I feel the need to edit

I'll need to check back.

 

[squiddie]

I totally respect everyone's opinion to choose their weight loss plan and applaud their efforts to loose weight to start with - like I said whatever works for you that that's great, all I'm asking is that you make sure you are healthy, whats the point in being a size 10 if you end up ill?

I totally accept that there are success stories and as I've said before, if a diet appeals to you and it works - go for it. I was writing it aimed towards SWers as its in the SW bit of the forum

I apologise if anyone has taken offense.

 

[KD]

Same with WW..same with CC...same on the Atkins diet forums.

Oh and the same with CD, LL and LT and every other 'diet' you could name. People don't maintain correctly whatever diet they used to lose the weight. Well, some people do, but they are few.

 

[squiddie]

Actually it is. In fact, it's a tiny bit more than the more traditional diets. Not enough to make much difference though, but certainly is fat.

I cannot speak about each individual diet - the only point I was making is that if there is too much of a calorie deficit (in extremely low calorie diets) then the body will attack muscle to make energy to survive not fat.

I aggree about maintaining that is a different game all together. A lot of people do go back to class or a particular diet, because they haven't changed their eating habbits, just used the plan in question to shift the exess pounds - then go back to how they were eating before - more should be done in general to help people overcome their bad habbits with food and help them to maintain there is too much of a "loose weight now" culture, but hardly any support for those who are trying to maintain a healthy weight

 

[KD]

all I'm asking is that you make sure you are healthy, whats the point in being a size 10 if you end up ill?

Well said.

I totally accept that there are success stories and as I've said before, if a diet appeals to you and it works - go for it. I was writing it aimed towards SWers as its in the SW bit of the forum

I apologise if anyone has taken offense.

I would have passed your original message by with just a big clap, even if I didn't agree with it all. It was only the fact that it was asked to be made a sticky that I had to be sure that it was factually correct rather than based on opinion IYKWIM.

KD: Which bits in particular did you think were opinion - I tried to keep it as factual as possible so I feel the need to edit

I can understand that, but need to be sure that you really want me to do this??

 

[KD]

I cannot speak about each individual diet - the only point I was making is that if there is too much of a calorie deficit (in extremely low calorie diets) then the body will attack muscle to make energy to survive not fat.

Not if the balance with the other nutrients and protein is okay. In fact, more chance of losing lean on a higher calorie high carb, low protein diet.

 

[squiddie]

sorry i don't know what IYKWIM means!! I don't want to put you out! I did as much research as I could, and while there may be a positivity towards SW as an overtone that was the goal - as I said I posted it in the SW section to help those following the plan.

 

[squiddie]

If the body does not take in enough calories to function (your body weight in pounds * 12 for men or 11 for women) then it will use muscle protein for energy before it uses the fat stores.