Ragen never shuts up about how ‘diets don’t work.’ She cites a bunch of shady studies that, more times than not, actually disproves her point. But nobody reads those studies. So she is pretty safe in doing that.
With all of her talk about ‘diet’s don’t work,’ let’s take a look at Ragen’s diet. Ragen has been adamant in not publishing any sort of food log. And rudely responding to people that ask about her diet.
But then there is this (click on the image to get a bigger image…)
She ordered $48 worth of food for two people and is complaining about two $3 hot dogs. From a place she touts as having ‘cheap food.’ Think about it. $48 worth of food. Two $3 hot dogs. So what did she spend the other $42 on? Two people. At a place where the most expensive entree is the large “BBQ Rib Dinner” for $13.95.
While not definitive, I am pretty sure that we can agree that Ragen diet is pretty fucked up.
Dances with Facts 
“Ragen never shuts up about how ‘diets don’t work.’ She cites a bunch of shady studies that, more times than not, actually disproves her point. But nobody reads those studies. So she is pretty safe in doing that.”
I am one of the ones who’ll question her. I’ve put a lot of words into this area on Reddit, but I’d like to cross post this:
“This is a question I’d love to put to Ragen;
You state that “95% of diets fail” based on the 1959 Stunkard and McLaren-Hume paper of 100 obese individuals. Wing and Phelan stated in 2005 that “research has shown that ≈20% of overweight individuals are successful at long-term weight loss when defined as losing at least 10% of initial body weight and maintaining the loss for at least 1 y” and state that “weight loss maintenance may get easier over time; after individuals have successfully maintained their weight loss for 2–5 y, the chance of longer-term success greatly increases.” They even state “thirteen percent have maintained this minimum weight loss for more than 10 y. The participants have reduced from a BMI of 36.7 kg/m2 at their maximum to 25.1 kg/m2 currently. Thus, by any criterion, these individuals are clearly extremely successful.” This is on a study 784 from a 4,000 person database to account for population variations and taking into account a 5% error margin shows a significantly different result to what you claim. How can you defend the 95% claim when data from the last 10 years shows this is clearly wrong?”
Wow. When your best defence is a study dated 1959 you know you are scraping the barrel. Ragen’s in the same league as creationists who use Nebraska Man etc to “disprove” evolution etc.
In 1959, science was still telling us that smoking was good for us, and leaded gas and paint were harmless.
Not only that, but Dr. Stunkard actually said the study results were completely irrelevant to the current understanding and treatment of obesity over 15 year ago!
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/health/95-regain-lost-weight-or-do-they.html
95% of diets fail because 95% of people have diets like Ragen’s, heh.
Ragen spent more money on one meal for two people than I spent on groceries for myself in the past week. At last we know where ragen’s money goes.
I read her review three times, and still can’t find where it says the order was only for two people.
At seven occasions in that review she uses the plurals of “us” or “our” infering more than just her. She’s writing this showing she is sharing.
Yes, sure, but how does that mean it’s only TWO people? Why not 5 or 13? Only because of the 2 hot dogs? That’s a little vague, I’m sorry.
(Though I appreciate your other research and demasking Ragen.)
Because the frequency of my blog posts coupled with the time actually spent responding to replies proves you statement. I do nothing more than sit on the computer, blinded by hate, while I neglect my family.
Ragen takes bits of research that support her arguments but fails to put them in the proper context and ignores the inconvenient parts. I have an interest in these issues too, but I prefer to get my information from real obesity experts (like Dr. Arya Sharma, who was a guest on the “fat people can’t tie their shoes” show Ragen made such a fuss about)
It’s true that fad diets don’t work – mostly because they are too restrictive for the long term and people end up back at their original weight when they resume their normal eating habits. Permanent weight loss is possible, but you have to be vigilant about your eating habits for the rest of your life. This is why real experts will recommend taking the time to make permanent lifestyle changes that you can live with, because the weight will come back if you “fall off the wagon.” Weight cycling is a documented phenomenon and there is legit research to back it up, but it’s a lot more complicated than “diets don’t work.”
And I don’t buy into HAES because I think their adamant opposition to any suggestion that weight loss may improve someone’s health is ideological rather than supported by scientific evidence.
Sorry If I went a bit off topic…
Yes, the food was obviously shared. It’s never stated, though, that it was shared among only two people. That’s just speculation on the part of the blog author and their equally hateful fan club.
I haven’t read anything by Ragen for ages but I confess I’ve developed an unhealthy addiction to this hatefest of a blog. I don’t care much about people’s attempts at sporting feats or being self employed. But it’s a special kind of pathetic that spends its life trawling the net looking for deleted 15-year-old blogs and takeaway reviews, paying real money for police records of petty theft, creeping on someone’s house using Google Earth, obsessing over the dates on blog posts and God only knows what else, in order to project its own worthlessness and self loathing on a random person it has never met.
This blog is a greater car crash than anything Ragen’s ever done. I can’t look away. I’m so morbidly fascinated. I cannot wait to see what stalker level creeping you’re going to come up with next.
Apparently, your interest in this website mirrors this website’s interest in Ragen so it’s strange that you assign hate to its motives. The thing you miss is that most people here don’t seem to hate Ragen. Pity seems to be a be a better description. And, if she actually is training (despite all evidence to the contrary), I’m sure most of the readers of this site would be supportive and pleasantly surprised (shocked might be a better word). But there is no evidence of any real training of which to be supportive. And nothing but sycophantic comments are approved on her site. If there was a real discussion of her training taking place there (like that which takes place on every other “training blog”), this site probably would not exist.
Admittedly, this was a weak post. But with almost no content appearing on her training blog, this site doesn’t have all that much to write about.
I think we’d all pretty much ignore Ragen if she was nothing more than a blogger. But when she’s going into schools, telling kids that everything they’re taught about health and nutrition is wrong, and to just intuitively eat their feelings, that needs to stop. When she’s endangering people who are in the process of intense physical activity and at high possibility of injury, she needs to be stopped. When she cuts off her partner from her own family because they were concerned about her health for legitimate, obvious reasons, she needs to be stopped. If Ragen goes back to only hurting herself, I’ll be perfectly happy to ignore her.
[mod note: edited to remove personal insult]
You’re correct, though, this blog is excellent car crash viewing… of Ragen Chastain. Her ridiculous IM journey, her outlandish claims, the lengths she goes to twist any tiny modicum of truth into a massive embellished mess (ie. 12.5 hour marathon = marathoner). Of course it’s compelling reading!
Most of all, however, this blog is about translating Ragen’s stories from her crazy world to the world of reality. It’s here to let people weigh the facts for themselves, otherwise, Ragen has free reign to make up/embellish any ludicrous claim she wants, unchallenged.
But keep up the mock disdain; it’s touching knowing we strike a nerve in her army of apathetic slobs.
Except that nobody here is selling anything. Nobody contributing here is making any money.
Ragen is an opportunist, a liar and a shill. This blog simply serves to document her lies.
Sadly, I think that above poster has a point this time. That particular little review doesn’t specify how many people it’s for. I’ve ordered food for myself and friends before although it’s rarely fast food. That review says nothing about Reagan’s diet (which may be atrocious, I don’t know) except that once she ordered food from a place and the hotdogs were made incorrectly. Nothing else can be logically assumed.
Actually, Reagan does post some of the comments she gets that are bad. She has a whole section where she pointedly posts mostly just the dumb, hateful ones so she can be all “clever” in her responses.
[…] In August 2004, Ragen was still attempting to lose weight, but had found a new excuse to blame for all her past failures: a mysterious wheat allergy. She celebrated this discovery by having a Mountain Dew and some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. The wheat allergy was never mentioned again, and Ragen clearly has no issues with gluten. […]
Whatever her diet is, it’s a lot.