new year, new resolution, new and old "miracle" products

[Larra]

Happy New Year to all!

It's that time of year again. The holidays are over and once again people trot out their resolutions, often the same ones from previous years. And in our consumer society, there are lots of people and companies eager to sell you something to help you fulfill those resolutions.

For those of us who struggle with overweight, obesity, and morbid obesity, often for most of our adult lives or even from childhood, we have heard it all before, and yet those products beckon. So I'm sure in the coming days we will be inundated with products that promise to

burn/melt away wash away fat
shrink fat cells
boost/rev up/enhance metabolism
work just like gastric bypass and/or lap band without any surgery!
firm/flatten/tighten belly/butt/thighs/ other body parts

And all without hunger, discipline, or deprivation! It's a miracle!

Well no, it isn't. If any ONE of these products worked, we would have ended our obesity epidemic long, long ago.

If you don't want to have bariatric surgery, or just aren't ready, that's fine with me. The overwhelming majority of morbidly obese people never have bariatric surgery, for a variety of reasons. If you feel you just have to try diet and exercise one more time before you are emotionally ready for surgery, go for it! Just don't' waste your hard earned money on this year's miracle weight loss products. I promise you if things don't work out, there will be more new miracle products a year from now.

Larra

 

[Munchkin]

Please teach me how to wash away fat. I will stay in the shower as long as necessary!!!!!

I seriously despise these companies. They prey on those desperate to lose weight and all they have to give in return for those hard earned dollars is another failed weightloss attempt. Don't fall for it!

 

[Larra]

Oh, if only I knew the secret! I would be a rich lady today.

But wait, someone else is getting rich with the washing away of fat secret, and they don't know any more than I do. That sucks! Perhaps I will develop my own miracle elixir. Diana can help with the patent. It won't work, but neither does anyone else's miracle elixir, so that's ok, right?

Larra

 

[Munchkin]

Oh, if only I knew the secret! I would be a rich lady today.

But wait, someone else is getting rich with the washing away of fat secret, and they don't know any more than I do. That sucks! Perhaps I will develop my own miracle elixir. Diana can help with the patent. It won't work, but neither does anyone else's miracle elixir, so that's ok, right?

Larra

Whatever magical potion you come up with will be as good as everything else out there!!!! I guarantee it!

 

[Lilyofthevalley]

This brings back a memory from my childhood. In the 60's my mother and her cousin, who were in their forties at the time, discovered the "miracle weight loss solution" of their day. The "vibration exercise machine" or "fat burning vibrating belt!" So easy to use ladies, just put it on and shake those excess pounds away. They looped this giant belt around their butt or belly, turned on the machine it was connected to, and shook themselves silly. My sibs, cousins, and I would giggle ourselves silly watching them. Just remembering makes me crack up.

 

[catecholamine]

Haha. Here's a little secret about all those "miracle" diet pills: you know those skinny, athletic looking people in their commercial that lost weight? Many of these major companies pay professional athletes who are are laid up with an injury and not exercising profusely - they pay them to EAT UP. So they put on weight. Their injury heals and they go back to their regular diet and tons and tons of exercise. They naturally lose the weight.
That's the secret of those people in diet pill commercials.

 

[newanatomy]

I think my surgeon bought into the hype. I have to be on SlimFast for the next 11 days, I started one day early so that when I screw it up, I won't panic too much. I wonder why he isn't afraid that I will become so fit and trim that I will just cancel the surgery and live on SlimFast.

 

[Happy DSr]

hilarious that we thought these would work in years past

 

[Larra]

Less hilarious when you recall that people still spend a billion $$/year on diet products of various sorts in the USA alone. Yet the percentage of the population that is overweight/obese/morbidly obese just keeps increasing. So we'll keep buying and hoping for that miracle product, I guess.

 

[Munchkin]

I remember/did Metrecal. Anyone else old enough to remember this stuff? Of course, I started dieting when I was 6 weeks old.

 

[Larra]

• My mom did Metrical! I tasted it once. It tasted like liquid straw. Maybe it was the sick to the stomach feeling it created that was supposed to help with weight loss.

 

[Happy DSr]

Less hilarious when you recall that people still spend a billion $$/year on diet products of various sorts in the USA alone. Yet the percentage of the population that is overweight/obese/morbidly obese just keeps increasing. So we'll keep buying and hoping for that miracle product, I guess.

Apologies for any offence at my flippant remark.

My funny bone was tickled by the vibrator belt image, which looks silly in hindsight. But at the time, it was sad that we were so desperate to conform to a weight ideal that we were taken advantage of in such (now obviously) absurd ways.

 

[Larra]

No offense taken. I knew what you meant, and yes, it's sad and funny at the same time. And at least those contraptions never killed anyone, unlike some of the otc pills that used to be available, and the prescription drugs given to "speed up the metabolism" back in the 1950's, and even phen/fen in more recent times.

 

[southernlady]

And in line with this: FTC Orders Fraudulent Weight-Loss Companies To Pay Up … Because Sprinkling Powder On Food Won’t Make You Skinny

You’ve seen the ads: “Eat yourself skinny!” “Get a gym body without going to the gym.” “Trim 1.3 inches in just 4 weeks.” And according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), they’re all a fraud. The FTC announced Tuesday that it has launched a law enforcement initiative to stop fad weight-loss companies from using deceptive advertising to sell their food additives, skin creams, and dietary supplements, many of which are not proven to actually improve weight-loss results.

 

[Larra]

I'm glad to see this, but it's like wack-a mole. They'll either clean up their ads or, more likely, stop producing those products, but come up with new products or new names, new packaging, new marketing, etc etc and just keep going until they are forced to move on to different products again. The market for these products is huge and will always be there, and the people who are sufficiently amoral to take advantage of others are not going to give up this lucrative market. Paying a fine or giving refuns every now and then is just the cost of doing business.