What do you think of this advice?

[purple_magada]

I have a friend that goes to a weight loss center. It is privately owned but I believe it is on the same line as L.A. Weight Loss. She has to follow their plan and MUST use their costly supplements (drinks, hot chocolates, jellos). I know that she has paid something like $300 to join and that does not include the supplements. Anyway, I know that she cheats b/c she will tell me that oh I had a donut toda or I ate a McDonalds last night, etc. She and another lady have started walking. They were walking 5x/week, doing 3 miles in 60 minutes. To me that is a very leisurely pace. Last week when she went and weighed in she gained 5 lbs. The lady at the center told her that the reason she gained was b/c she was overdoing it with the exercise. When she told me this I couldn't help but laugh at her. I have never, ever heard that. I told her that in my opinion there is no way. She got all defensive and said well that is what the lady told me. So she cut back to 2 days a week, 2 miles. The lady also showed her how to do some weight exercises using 3lb weights - and advised her not to go any heavier. You should've seen the exercises - they were foreign to me. She told her when she did shoulder presses to make sure that she bumped the weights together at the top. I told her in no way should she do that. She showed her the totally wrong way to work her triceps too. AND the incorrect way to do crunches but this lady told her that they were called curls. Of course when I showed her the CORRECT form I was the one who was wrong b/c the lady from the center is right.

What upsets me is just because she has degree in nutrition does not give her the right to give her clients (who believe every word she says) exercise advice. If she wants to include that in her program then she should hire a personal trainer or someone certified in fitness. Someone is going to end up hurting theirselves due to her incorrect advice.

 

[kathryn]

What do I think of the advice your friend got? Hmmm. would "poppycock" be a polite way of phrasing it? LOL!

Something you said really points out the wrongheadedness of programs that are just looking at weight loss: if you have more muscle, you'll be more compact than someone who weighs the same and has less muscle. And buiding up muscle can increase weight. All the same, the walking your friend was doing could not possibly account for the weight loss.

Seems to me that your friend is not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (about her "cheat" foods) to her "counselor"?

It's interesting that your friend is very willing to accept the counselor's advice about decreasing workouts (ha!), but not accept the diet plan.

Crunches/curls, I've heard both used, so that's not a big "sin."

Sounds like this weight loss center is just out to make money. Isn't it nice to know on your own what to do without having to pay hundreds of dollars for it?

 

[MSJ]

Well, I am totally sceptical of diet centers in the first place and I find that a lot of exercise advice for women in general borders on silly, if not down right foolish.

I can't fathom how the walking would qualify as overdoing it if a person is healthy and I'm a believer in lifting as heavy as possible--I've lost almost 45 lbs doing just that, although I suppose it depends on the individual.

Lend her Cathe's beginner DVD or get her to buy it....although I myself have had no success in Cathe evangelism. Either people assume she's too easy because she's a home workout, or they take a look at her video clips and say she's insane...

take care
Maggie

 

[kathryn]

>Lend her Cathe's beginner DVD or get her to buy it....although
>I myself have had no success in Cathe evangelism. Either
>people assume she's too easy because she's a home workout, or
>they take a look at her video clips and say she's insane...

I have a feeling that this would go over like a lead balloon with this woman. She would probably look at Cathe, not want to look like her (many women don't like the low body fat/muscle definition look on themselves), AND would decide that doing the workout WOULD make her look that way! It might just reinforce the "don't go too heavy with the weights" advice that she's getting now.

 

[purple_magada]

Kathryn I agree with you 100%. The only videos that she does are the 1 and 2 mile Walk Away the Pounds. And she thinks that they are difficult. Besides she won't listen to me anyway. It's like this lady has her brainwashed.

 

[MSJ]

Kathryn and Dana--you're probably right, of course.... it was just a hopeful thought

Maggie

 

[NekkoCat]

All I can say about programs like the one your friend is on is that they do not work for the long run. About 8 years ago, I lost about 100 pounds on Jenny Craig. Sure, I could do it while I ate their expensive, overprocessed food, but I regained all of the weight (plus some) after I stopped eating their food.

Diets like that never seem to work in the long run. I had to give up all junk food, overly processed food, and empty carbs to have any sustainable success, which you cannot get on a program like that. I hope that this story may help your friend to eat better. The exercise is going to be difficult if she just listens to that "counsellor".