Weight Loss Information

Results Not Typical


I had 14 weight/health-oriented newsletters in my inbox this morning. (Subscribe to one or two lists and they will multiply -- the rabbits of the Internet!)

Several contained testimonials from rabid fans of their particular diet program. Five contained before-and-after pictures or verbal descriptions.

What fabulous results! I've got to try this!

Wait, what are all those asterisks?

Ah, the phrase that turns the blood of the most motivated desperate dieter to ice: "Results not typical."

Now what exactly does that mean? Did they specifically select the greatest outlier to mislead us about results? Is it only the freaks who are willing to rave about the program? Does the plan only work for certain people? Should I assume that I, too, will reach the dizzying heights of the featured role model?

Lose the hype, please. Talk to me as if I'm intelligent as well as overweight. Being fat does not equate with being stupid!

Show me "typical" results and I'll assess your program with honesty and respect. If most folks lose 5 pounds, publicize that. If not, all those unhappy overwieghters who sign up for your diet will expect to lose the poundage of your featured dieter.

The last thing the desperate, guilt-ridden, and self-critical dieters of the world need is to be misled into unreal expectations. That direction will only result in a magnified loss of self-esteem and self-respect. Your marketing misinformation is psychologically destructive and emotionally devasting.

E-Diets, Atkins, Zone, South Beach -- Shame on you!

Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, "Diet with an Attitude" which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control. She can be reached at http://www.DietWithAnAttitude.com. She provides support and guidance in use of the workbook through her regular blog, http://dietwithanattitude.blogspot.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Weight-loss couple urge others to take up challenge
This is Plymouth
A COUPLE from Devonport embracing the loveLIFE campaign have lost five of their 15 stone weight loss target. Chris Searle, aged 30, and Charlotte Telling, aged 25, who are both unemployed, signed up to The Herald's loveLIFE campaign to help improve the ...

and more »


Weight Loss: Rick Warren's New Purpose
Huffington Post
By Lilly Fowler LAKE FOREST, Calif. (RNS) Megachurch pastor Rick Warren has become an outsized evangelical superstar: best-selling author of "The Purpose Driven Life" series, pastoral mentor and even political referee. Now Warren is finding a new ...

and more »


The 'fit but fat' debate: Weight loss should still be the goal, experts say
Chicago Tribune
WEIGHT LOSS STILL THE GOAL Though these findings appear to support the idea that you can be fit but fat, scientists note that the rate of MNBO is very rare within the obese population, and the risk for mortality is still high among the obese, ...



NTRR Begins Clinical Trials of Breakthrough Weight-Loss Formula
Business Wire (press release)
(OTCBB: NTRR), an emerging nutraceuticals provider, is excited to announce that clinical trials are now underway on its debut weight-loss supplement, Pure Plus. Volunteers will test the supplement by taking a single dose once a day.

and more »


The Virginian-Pilot

Does "home-cooking" = weight loss?
The Virginian-Pilot
The weight loss industry knows one important (better yet, vital) thing about us: We don't know what we're doing wrong. As long as someone else has the upper hand in what you're doing, you'll only be able to do what you're being told.



"Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition Season 3" Now Casting
Sierra Vista Herald
In a unique, non-competitive show about weight loss “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition” documents the amazing makeover of courageous, “super obese” people who, in an unprecedented 365 days, set out to safely lose half of their body weight, ...

and more »


Los Angeles Bariatric Surgeon Discusses Revision Weight Loss Surgery
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Dr. Michael Feiz, a weight loss surgeon in Los Angeles, says even with such a small margin of error, revision bariatric surgery is one of his most successful procedures in correcting complications that may have occurred and further satisfying any of ...

and more »


Zee News

Calories, not carbs, key to weight loss
Times of India
The study, led by Otago University endocrinologist Jeremy Krebs, looked at whether 419 participants (aged 35-75 years) had different rates of weight loss over two years when they were given two low fat diets; one involving high protein intake and the ...
Fasting Weight Loss Starts Reviewing Weight Loss ProgramsSBWire (press release)
Variety of options available to achieve weight lossThe Guardian Charlottetown
How can I lose weight? We show you how to lose weight fast using this super ...CubsNet.com
Scottish Daily Record -ConsumerSearch Productopia (blog) -Olive Oil Times
all 23 news articles »


Today in Research: Online Dating; Church as Weight-Loss Technique
The Atlantic
By The Atlantic Wire Discovered: Online dating is a crock, sugar is toxic, mapping the Milky Way, and church as a weight loss management technique. Online dating is a crock. Of course it is. A mutual love of The Wire doesn't mean much of anything in ...

and more »


First of it's kind weight loss treatment offered in Jax
WJXT Jacksonville
There's a new spa in town offering two weight loss treatments that have never been available in Jacksonville before. The "Steamy Wonder" steam canopy is part of the brand new "Salt Spa" in Jacksonville Beach. The steam canopy is said to burn as many as ...

and more »

Google News

home | site map
© 2006