Diet companies will be hitting hard this year. Be prepared to hear repeated sentiments of “It’s time to get rid of that Quarantine 15” and “In these hard times, commit to taking care of yourself with healthy living and weight loss.”
This rhetoric is going to be everywhere. And due to the nature of modern advertising, the vast majority of it will be coming from people online who just look like they’re trying to share some good advice with the followers that they love so much. You’ll barely be able to see the money getting thrown at them from the weight loss industry.
Don’t reward them for using these manipulation techniques - Buying their products and losing weight isn’t going to make your year any better, or erase the stress of the pandemic, or be the first step in self-care.
Please please please see these ads for what they are - A way of preying on your insecurity and trauma in order to make money.
Like I said about stress eating, the problem is the stress you’re under, not that you’re eating more to make up for it. I’m already seeing YouTube ads. Please ignore them. Your body needs fuel nutrients and comfort right now and there’s nothing unhealthy about giving it those.
Sure, but there IS something unhealthy about not moderating how much comforting fuel nutrients you give your body. It’s harmful to act like it’s ok to become and remain significantly overweight, because it makes your life harder and shorter in almost all cases.
If you guys really wanna adopt and spread a mindset of “This year was hard, so it’s ok that you didn’t take care of yourself” then that’s entirely your choice, but it’s yucky that you’ll be influencing the young people on here with it.
I refuse to stop spreading accurate information just because it makes some people feel “yucky.”
Weight loss ain’t the answer:
- BMI is Inaccurate, Mislabels 54 Million “Obese” or “Overweight” People as Unhealthy
- Dieters were not able to maintain their weight losses in the long term, and there was not consistent evidence that the diets resulted in significant improvements in their health. It appears that dieters who manage to sustain a weight loss are the rare exception, rather than the rule.
- Dieting and Weight Talk Are Bad for All Adolescents, Says American Academy of Pediatrics
- A meta-analysis of 34 randomized and controlled weight-loss experiments revealed no benefit of weight loss for depressive symptoms or general well-being.
- High body mass index does not predict mortality in older people
- Modern Science Versus the Stigma of Obesity
-
Weight loss is associated with excess mortality among normal, overweight, and mildly obese middle- and older-aged adults. The excess risk increases for larger losses and lower initial BMI. These results suggest that the potential benefits of a lower BMI may be offset by the negative effects associated with weight loss.
- Confronting the failure of behavioral and dietary treatments for obesity
- Current nonsurgical obesity treatment strategies are failing to
achieve sustained weight loss for the majority
of obese patients.
And the diet industry doesn’t have your best interest in mind:
- The total U.S. weight loss market grew at an estimated 4.1% in 2018, from $69.8 billion to $72.7 billion. The total market is forecast to grow 2.6% annually through 2023.
- Evidence shows that consumers [of weight loss products & services) face problems in judging the quality of the industry’s products and services, and they lack adequate protection against possible harm.
- Weight loss programs are associated with high costs, high attrition rates, and a high probability of regaining 50% or more of lost weight in 1 to 2 years
- No EMS devices have been cleared at this time for weight loss, girth reduction, or for obtaining “rock hard” abs
- In the past 10 years, the Federal Trade Commission has brought more than 80 law enforcement actions against companies for making false or deceptive weight-loss claims.
- 1% of people who undergo bariatric operations die within the first year and 6% of patients die within 5 years, a death rate that is roughly 3 times the expected norm. People who have the surgery commit suicide or die from a drug overdose at rates that are 5-10 times the expected norm, and the prevalence of alcohol use disorder increases by 25%.
- “Profit motives for our sixty-billion-dollar diet industries and fat stigma have becomes so entangled that it has become difficult, perhaps impossible, to even entertain the possibility that we are fighting the ‘wrong war.’ In a profit-driven, consumer society, diet product manufacturers, pharmaceutical corporations, the advertising industry, and medical practitioners all benefit financially from fat stigma.”
Always remember - No one inherently needs to lose weight. Within a post where no one’s daily habits, eating routines, physical care or current health were even mentioned, it is hugely telling for someone to immediately assume that weight loss is the solution to the reader’s problems. Drop that line of thinking like the bag of flaming poo that it is.
