It seems to me that the weight loss industry sprung up from the saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted." Sometimes, I flip around the channels at 6 AM and find all sorts of moronic diet and exercise schemes being hawked. They really tick me off because I know they are making tons of money off of desperate people. I believe that they prey upon an irrational belief that there will be some magic pill, effortless exercise, fun way to lose weight, get six-pack abs, or reduce fat in certain areas of your body. Then there are slime balls like Kevin Trudeau who found a conspiracy theory niche in which to sell his snake oil. Even the ones that seem reasonable like Michael Thurmond's Six week body makeover are misleading. The name is the deception. He doesn't promise that someone 300 lbs. will lose all that weight in six weeks, but the name gives that impression. And the blue printing makes it seems like you can spot reduce.
My point is that we must be awfully gullible for such a huge, multi-billion dollar industry to arise at the same time obesity is rising. Now, I am no expert. In fact, I am no example at 312.8 lbs. But I do have a brain. I try to use reason. I know that there will never be a pill that will melt the pounds away while I sit around eating pizza and drinking beer. (BTW, that is a picture of P.T. Barnum)It's just common sense that (Calories In) - (Calories Out) = Loss/Gain. Right off the bat, this eliminates those that claim no exercise is necessary, those that claim no diet change is needed, or those that claim both. This also eliminates all those gadgets which claim the exercise is fun and easy (implying minimal exertion).
This does not mean that I don't trust anyone, but I do try to use my head. The one person I trust most of all is Covert Bailey. I have never seen an infomercial for him. In fact, I have no clue how I stumbled upon his materials. He makes a lot of sense. He knows the science behind losing fat, building muscle, and increasing metabolism.
I am not saying that he is the only one to listen to, but I am saying that we need to use our heads, stop forking over our money to this ineffectual industry, and learn to live fit. Perhaps, this would be a better message when I hit 190 lbs., but I hate this stinking industry, and it drives me crazy when people give me advice based upon this mis-information.Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
11 comments:
I'm glad somebody is calling out trueudo on his scams. Don't forget Donald Barret
Good rant. I am glad to see you have the fire too. F*ck those d*mned parasitic scumbags. Where is the FBI regarding this kind of massive fraud? What about those bogus ads for that crud that sells for $152 a bottle?? How many millions did they rob from people? There should be a law requiring scientific proof before these bogus ads can be put on TV, etc.
It wasn't until I did the math and realized that calories in/calories out was the only way to make things work for me. When I started doing the math - then I saw the changes. Some days I was eating 3 to 4 days of calories! Geez! Take care.
Kevin - When I saw your screen name, you had me fooled. Thanks for commenting. Yes, Donald Barret is another one and that new skinny guy with the cheesy mustache too.
Spidey - I agree. Whatever happened to truth in advertising.
Christine - I wish the math didn't work that way, but it does unless you have something screwed up in your body.
Halfman,
I liked your rant a lot. However, I don't have the like right now, but there was a danish study that suggested that spot reduction might work. It was featured in Muscular Development magazine and they had the study in the footnotes. I promise to find it and post the link.
Jeff
I know what you mean about infomercials! So misleading and yet I hear everyone around me mimic their lies! So annoying.
Thanks for telling me about Covert Bailey. I’ll look into him.
Captain - I am interested in that study. What I am referring to is the ads that say if you buy this ab gadget, you will get a flat stomach. From what I have read, you cannot control where your body burns fat. You can build muscle in an area which can give the illusion of reducing fat in that area.
lily t - you might also be interested in this site: http://www.healthcentral.com/fitorfat/408/index.html. I recommend his book, "The Ultimate Fit or Fat Book"
Seems like every industry has its charlatans. Get rich quick, lose weight, get magically out of debt, find the girl/boy/job of your dreams. What I don't get is why people, once they get scammed, don't start learning some critical thinking? Instead they go out and do it all over again, ready to hand their money over to the next scammer who promises them easy answers.
Sometimes it's almost hard to feel sorry for people who keep gettting fooled.
Crabby - Yes, it can be hard to feel sorry for them, except I find myself wanting to believe that garbage too. So, I can see how people buy into it. You just have to give forget about thinking things through and give into that impulse buying urge.
I am more angry at the con artists.
All these scams also have a strange side effect: they create a nation of "experts" who all know how to lose weight and eat right, but have no real world experience. They intake all the information, and store it for future use. Unfortunately, most of the info is bunk.
The women at my wife's work are a perfect example: they each have a vast amount of fitness and nutrition advice to share, all in contradiction with the next person's facts, and none of it based on personal experience.
"You must eat all meat..."
"You must eat fruit ONLY for breakfast..."
"You MUST exercise before breakfast, it increases metabolism..."
"You MUST exercise after dinner, it will increase your metabolism..."
I have seen it and read it all in the last twenty years. Even on the professional trainer and professional fitness guru level, it's hard to find two people that agree on many points.
Here is what we know:
1) Eat nutritious.
2) Exercise!
3) Lower your caloric intake.
4) Rest
Everything else is up the the individual. Find what works for you, because you are unique. And don't watch the infomercials. Their equipment is crap and over-priced.
I agree. But there are a lot of simple minded people out there and THEY are the prey. I know a woman who still gets sucked in by pyramid schemes lol
I wrote a similar post once about a particular ab slimming ad, but i lost it during saving. I will do it again some day though, coz they really do annoy me!
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