Sometimes, I take for granted my (and the rest of the HLB community’s) ability to spot healthy living-related BS. When you spend a lot of time reading and learning about health and fitness, the gimmicky nature of a lot of the mainstream stuff becomes glaringly obvious. Ironically, a lot of this stuff is what got me interested in fitness in the first place, and for most people, it’s their starting point for information. But sadly, most of it is designed to do one thing: sell you something (a dvd, a magazine, a book). Nowadays, when I roll my eyes at outrageous claims, I forget how many people are eating it up, just like I used to.

With so many resolutioners looking for answers on how to lose weight, get in shape, etc., this time of year is rampant with garbage claims and bad information. I thought it might be a fun post for Fit Tip Tuesday to highlight some of the offenders, and point out how you can tell it’s an offending claim. While I’m sure most of you, my lovely readers, are pros at spotting and ignoring this stuff, hopefully it will at least give you a few laughs.

Beware of “quick fixes”

Anything that promises to transform you in days or weeks is nonsense. First of all, it probably won’t work, unless it is requiring you to take extreme measures, and extreme measures aren’t good for you long-term health. Second of all, even if it did work, it won’t be sustainable. If you don’t make lasting changes, you’ll just go right back to where you were (which is what the mainstream weight-loss industry wants, otherwise they’d go out of business). More importantly, no one can keep up this craziness for long. Third, it probably isn’t healthy to change your body that quickly, even if you could. Some examples:

Four pounds and six inches overnight?! Wowza it’s a miracle! I just have to eat “bloat-busters” and it will “melt trapped bely fat!”


Yes, I own these magazines (free subscription through Zumba). They do have some good things to offer (new moves, etc), but you have to be able to distinguish the good from the bad. If there was an “all natural” tummy tuck that worked in just days, people wouldn’t pay thousands of dollars for an unnatural one.

You can’t spot reduce your belly, no matter how you try it

Trust me, I wish you could, my middle has always been my “trouble spot,” if you will. But sadly for me and for the rest of the world, there is no magic fix. Some examples:

Just two weeks (time promises again)!

*This was originally published on Kim’s blog, Busy-Bod. For more from Kim visit www.busy-bod.com!