Poor Weight Loss Advice : 10 Red Flags

There’s a huge amount of weight loss advice and information out
there. Much of it is of questionable value and some of it is
quite misleading. This can even be the case for reports from
seemingly legitimate scientific studies. So how do you sort out
the wheat from the chaff when it comes to deciding who and what
to believe?

1. Beware of the quick fix

Putting on weight is easy compared to losing it. As you did not
put weight on overnight, do you really think you can lose it
that quickly?

Many products and programs will lead you to believe that you can
lose a huge amount of weight in a short time.

It’s true that you can lose quite a few pounds in the early
weeks on a weight loss program. If you are very overweight, you
will probably lose a lot of weight at the start. But it’s mainly
water rather than fat. And that rate is not sustainable over the
long term. So if you’re told you can lose more than a pound or
two a week on a particular weight loss program don’t believe
anything else they say either.

2. Too good to be true

If anything promises you can lose weight without changing what
you eat or how much you move, then it’s either dangerous or
pulling the wool over your eyes. HEALTHY weight loss is always
the result of eating fewer calories (and usually better quality
food) or taking more exercise or both.

3. A biased study

If a study supported by chocolate manufacturers emphasises the
value of chocolate and downplays the downsides then don’t be
surprised! Many “studies” are designed to show a product in a
good light rather than to increase our knowledge of what works
and what doesn’t.

4. Drawing simple conclusions

Weight loss is a complex issue and huge amounts of data will
come out of any study using a sizable group of people. It’s
difficult to isolate individual factors in a study because we
all have different lifestyles, eating styles and exercise
styles. If it were easy for us to keep to whatever regime was
being studied, we wouldn’t have problems losing weight in the
first place. People are difficult to regulate! If any study
tries to draw simple “black and white” conclusions, it is likely
to be trying to sway you (unscientifically) in a particular
direction.

5. A tiny sample

If only a few people have been studied then it’s unlikely that
the results can be sensibly extrapolated into the population as
a whole. Thousands of people are needed in a study before a true
pattern emerges.

6. Missing Evidence

Some ads quote doctors, whose medical school records or
qualifications you can’t find any trace of or studies you can’t
read about in any reputable scientific journals. Take these with
a large pinch of salt especially if claims are made about
miracle solutions you have to pay for. Do a little research
before you buy.

7. Statements are refuted

With a little research online you can also often find leading
scientists and scientific journals refuting some of the more
dramatic claims from studies published in the media. Seek out
the truth before you blindly follow advice in the popular press.

8. Animal testing

Just because something happens in mice, it does not follow it
will happen in the same way for you. Also if a product has been
tested with animals it’s unlikely to hit the general public for
some years (if it ever does) due to the stringent testing new
(legal) products need to receive. So do not hold your breath
waiting for a solution in that way.

9. No control group

Any study carried out should have a parallel study with a
similar group who are not practising the behaviour or using the
product being studied. This is so that they can measure the
differences in the two groups. The gap has to be statistically
significant to point to any meaningful result. Otherwise a group
being studied may show a result just because the members of the
group are being monitored and assessed.

10. Dramatic statements

Studies sometimes show that particular foods are good for you or
cause this or that disease and these are often reported with
dramatic headlines in the newspapers. In truth all foods in
moderation are probably OK so read between the lines and see how
much of a particular food you would have to eat to have a
problem, or to gain the benefit they are describing. These
statements are often made to grab your attention in the
headlines rather than to give you useful information.

So where should you go to get weight loss advice?

If you want good sound advice about losing weight, you can do a
lot worse than follow the latest government guidelines about
healthy eating and exercise. While they may not be perfect,
there would not be a huge obesity problem in the Western world,
if we all followed them.

The fact is we don’t even follow the simplest most straight
forward advice, although most of us are already familiar with
it. Advice about eating less fat, sugar and salt, increasing our
intake of fruit and vegetables and taking 30 minutes exercise
three times a week is ignored by most people.

So why oh why do we try and follow every mad study that comes
along in the hope that it will have an answer? Follow the
simplest advice first to see the most dramatic changes and then
you won’t ever have to wonder if you are being told a weight
loss fairy story.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

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