In the first part of this piece, I covered three of the common weight loss myths that still persist to this day. However, it’s not quite enough to simply debunk things. It’s just as important to explore why these sorts of ideas won’t go away, and how to see past the noise. I want to teach you how to fish, not just what you should and shouldn’t catch. 

I will also address the role of a nutrition coach in this context, and how we are obligated to help others learn to think independently. It’s not our job to just debunk myths. Instead, we need to pass the tools on to others so they can see things as we do on a fundamental level.

Weight Loss Myths That Won’t Die: Part 2

Why Do Myths Persist?

Unfortunately, there is no one single reason why weight loss myths persist. However, there are at least three general areas where I see things perpetuated frequently. Not all of these may pertain to any one person, nor is each source necessarily all bad. Overall, though, I would look at these three areas as the largest sources of potential misinformation. They consist of the media, personal anecdote, and influencers.

Understanding why weight loss myths spread is the first step toward avoiding them.

Media

Popular media is still the most disseminated source of information, correct or otherwise. When you walk into a store, some magazines will tout things such as “this food melts belly fat” or “how to lose fourteen pounds in fourteen days.” This carries over to the digital realm, where there are hundreds of articles that talk about miracle foods, hidden methods, and other tips and tricks. Some of these articles even cover new studies, claiming they show dramatic upheavals of what we understand about nutrition or fitness.

Scientific Studies

First, let’s address the articles that claim a scientific study revolutionizes what we know about dieting. The problem here tends not to be with the study, but how it’s being presented. There are often a few different limitations with extrapolating conclusions from results (Table 1). The study itself usually lists these in their discussion section. Common articles, though, tend to skip over this and focus solely on the abstract or results sections. This leads to improper interpretation and application of the findings to practical applications.

Experimental Design	Description	Advantage	Why It’s a Limiting Factor
In vitro (cell cultures)	Cultures of cells in petri dishes are tested with a substance to look for effects	Large number of specimens (sample size), easy to manipulate	What happens to groups of cells often differs in a living human being
Animal studies	A surrogate animal is used as a test model, e.g. mice, rats	Large sample sizes, easily manipulated, fully developed subjects	Animals can have significantly different biological functions and reactions than humans
Epidemiology studies in humans	Large groups of humans are monitored or surveyed over time	Large sample sizes, human model	Assumes compliance with study guidelines, correlation does not equal causation, outside factors confound results
Humans in randomized controlled trials (RCTs)	Small groups of humans are tested in controlled environments	Human model, minimizes outside influence, allows for strictest control of variables	Very expensive, small sample sizes, inherent variation between test subjects, volunteers can cause selection bias

“The Magic Bullet”

Ultimately, though, the main thing keeping these articles alive is frustration. Most folks have tried their hand at dieting at one point or another, to varying levels of success. The most common aspect shared among dieters, though, is simple: Dieting is hard. If it were easy to lose weight, we wouldn’t have the obesity crisis that we do today. It takes a lot of dedication, effort, and persistence.

When someone has put their all into dieting yet comes away with minor to no results, the first question they have is what they could possibly be doing wrong. The effort is there, so there must be something in their approach that’s lacking. Therefore, when an article talks about one simple trick for losing fat, it immediately becomes enticing. Maybe it’s all that their diet is lacking to break their plateau. Better still, maybe it’s a key to avoiding all the difficulty of dieting in the first place. The appeal is understandably immense. This desire for an easy answer is exactly what keeps many weight loss myths alive.

However, more often than not, these articles miss the forest for the trees. They usually have at least some kernels of truth to them. Maybe the diet tips in there can complement your approach to dieting. Perhaps the food touted for fat loss might have additional health benefits to make it a worthwhile addition to your intake. What they don’t do, however, is replace the fundamentals. 

No matter what you add or take away from your diet, the underlying principle is still the same: Calories and energy balance are the ultimate determinant of fat loss. Results require hard work and sacrifice. There is no magic bullet for fat loss, at least not yet.

Anecdote

“It worked for me.” “It must work, look how ripped he/she is.” “This many people can’t be wrong.” These are all general statements, but they carry a large amount of weight in fitness circles. After all, if the evidence is visually in front of you, that’s about as good as it gets for evidence, right?

Well, no. The main problem with this sort of logic is inductive reasoning.

Inductive reasoning generally comes in the form of “it worked for me, so it must work for you too.” This generally applies to friends, social media groups, acquaintances at the gym, etc. Some folks repeat something they’ve heard from word of mouth and applied to themselves to varying success. Others feel they’ve found the one true way to losing weight and are eager to share it with others.

Here, the reasoning they have is that if a certain dietary approach was a success for them, it must absolutely work for you too. As I covered in the previous article, there is no one true way toward losing weight that is optimal across the board. For example, a friend may have done fantastic on keto, while you crash and burn hard on it. 

It is also much easier to take someone’s word if they look as though they’ve achieved what you’re trying to do. Being lean and muscular carries a lot of influence. This is more of an appeal to authority, and I’ll talk about that later.

Remember, there are only two universal rules for a successful dietary approach: It creates a calorie deficit, and you can adhere to it for the long term. Aside from that, individual results vary. It very well may be that their dietary approach is a good fit for you as well. Just don’t get discouraged if you need a different system from them.  

Influencers

The appeal to authority has been around since the beginning of bodybuilding. With the advent of social media and fitness influencers, it’s become nothing but worse. You can boil this argument down to “they’re ripped, therefore they must know what they’re talking about.” While it’s natural to see things that way, it’s not always the case. 

You usually don’t get to see the whole picture. Influencers can use their bodies as a way of establishing authority over their statements. This is a somewhat unique phenomenon to the fitness industry. It would be analogous to taking advice from someone with white teeth vs. an actual dentist. 

One large factor behind the scenes are drugs. Compounds such as anabolic steroids and illegal fat burners make it significantly easier to gain and maintain muscle mass while dieting down. In other words, enhanced influencers may use techniques that work in spite of their methods, not because of them. Even claims of someone being “natural” are something that shouldn’t necessarily be taken at face value.

Additionally, influencers are usually aiming to sell you something, whether it’s a meal plan, a specific workout, or a supplement. Just because they tout and sell it does not mean they actually use it themselves. Sponsorship deals or publicity tend to be confounding factors here. There’s a lot of incentive when a brand will pay you to endorse a specific product, or if a specific routine will trend well.

This potential trouble also extends to coaches. There certainly are predatory ones who are looking to simply make money off unsuspecting clients. There are also well-intentioned ones that may be operating solely based on their own experiences and results. Their dietary programs and recommendations can be somewhat arbitrary and may even cause some success in the short term. However, they come at a high cost and do little to ensure continued success after the coaching ceases. 

Ultimately, the person and results you see on social media are simply an image. The truth is that you have no idea if they’re truly practicing what they preach or are simply out to get rich. Influencers are using their roles on social media as a form of income. For some, if that involves perpetuating myths for profit, they’ll do it. When profit and popularity are involved, weight loss myths can spread faster than evidence.

Please don’t take this as me saying all fitness folks out there are charlatans and drug users. It’s simply unfortunate that there is a substantial part of the community that falls under these categories. Remember, it’s often a folly to try to compare your progress with theirs, or even to necessarily apply their alleged methods to yours. 

What’s the Harm?

From a long-term perspective, one can ask what the big deal is. If people are still making progress despite being factually wrong, is it really worth it to nitpick or debunk things? It’s the results that ultimately matter, not the nitty gritty stuff, right?

In a sense, this sentiment is correct. The average layperson doesn’t care for getting too much into the weeds about biological mechanisms, hormonal changes, or scientific nuance. They simply want to know what works and how to do it. It’s results they’re after, not necessarily a science lecture.

The problem with this mentality is that not everything is made equal. Is it going to matter if someone takes an herb they think helps melt belly fat? Probably not. What about a person who jumps on extremely restrictive diet because their favorite online influencer says it works? Or someone who follows a fad diet like eating nothing but watermelon? These have a very real risk of harm, both physically and psychologically. 

Not everybody is going to have a fitness coach, nor will any coach be able to know about every diet myth or fad off the top of their head. This is why it’s vital for people to learn the fundamentals of dieting and fat loss. They don’t have to get their PhD in a related field, but learning enough to parse the reasonable from the crazy is a valuable skill to have. Weight loss myths have had plenty of staying power over the years, so if you know the basics, it becomes much, much easier to navigate your way.  

A Delicate Balance

This section is particularly targeted at coaches, and the delicate balance we must walk regarding debunking misinformation. Remember, to someone new, everyone who can use jargon and speak confidently can come off as a figure of knowledge. It’s our goal to guide people properly along their fitness journey. So how do we demonstrate that we’re the ones to listen to, not some random buff guy on Instagram? And how do we correct a client’s myths without alienating them?

A lot of this comes down to missing the forest for the trees. Some coaches focus too much on describing all of the details behind fat loss that it can confuse clients. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t expand on our ideas if asked. It’s just generally not a good idea to throw somebody into the deep end when they’re starting out. They already have enough to learn as is. If you can explain concepts in simple, easy to digest ways, that tends to build rapport much better than trying to give out as much info as possible.

Additionally, there can be a penchant for coaches to come off as know it alls or even condescending when dispelling fitness myths for clients. If we act as though their statement is ridiculous, it usually doesn’t end well. Remember, most folks aren’t going to know much if anything about nutrition or fitness when starting out. Word of mouth and what they see on social media tend to be the majority of what they can base themselves off.

Ultimately, the best way we can contribute to fighting misinformation is to ensure we provide the basics in a simple, understandable way. Teaching things such as calorie balance, what macronutrients do, why we emphasize protein, etc. gives a client a solid base to work from. Once they have that baseline, they’ll be able to analyze any claims they encounter with a more informed outlook. Essentially, it falls on us to help clients see past the tangled web of fitness claims and instead focus on the roots that connect them all.

Conclusion

Weight loss myths aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Their pervasiveness isn’t something that’s going to change overnight. However, it falls on coaches to make what impact they can by setting the basics correctly, and countering misinformation with the simple facts. The simpler and more digestible we make these concepts, the more likely they are to resonate with a larger audience.

For the general population (including you reading this article), I strongly encourage you to learn what you can about the fundamentals of nutrition. This will always be your strongest defense against the gamut of misinformation out there. It may sound like a tall order, but the following points will always serve as a solid reference standard:

• Any successful diet approach requires a calorie deficit.
• Activity is always a useful complement to dieting, especially resistance training.
• Of the three macronutrients, focusing on protein yields the best results.
• A successful diet is sustainable and can be followed long term.
• There are no shortcuts, magic foods, or tricks to losing fat.

If you keep these five points in mind, it becomes much easier to examine any claim through a more objective lens. At the very least, remember one of the adages of common sense: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Knowledge is power!