Perspective Plus discussion

Yesterday, I saw a commercial from the latest celbu-trainer who says that he is tired of the public being taken in by scam diet pills and such, but wait! HIS diet pills are BETTER!

Sheesh!

No wonder we have so many body image issues in this country. Every where you turn you see signs that say "You are not good enough, so here's how to fix that". This is directed at all shapes,sizes,ages,and incomes. Advertising is designed to make you crave something, by using colors, slick photography,jingles or even awful acting to get you to TALK about the product.

Some of it is not too bad, like getting you to buy car insurance in a state that requires it by law, or to find a dentist if you don't have one. But what about the ones for wrinkle cream or weight loss? Those are the most harmful because we are being told that we are not good enough. Why? To sell a product.
Madison Avenue has taken over our brains and our society. What do people remember more, the Super Bowl game or the commercials?

Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers hire celebrities to hawk their programs, neglecting to mention how often these people work out with a trainer each day. We have been so geared to quick fixes and instant results that no one wants to work for anything anymore. We see that 1% success rate and think "That's for me" when it's not.

Many years ago, I thought I would try a new diet shake to see if it would help me, and this is one few times I have ever tried a diet aid. It was supposed to not taste like a diet shake. They didn't. So I read the label and one 8 oz. can had more sugar in it that 3 candy bars! Of course it didn't taste like a diet shake. So diabetic coma was fine as long as I was thin?

Public unease with larger people stems from fear. Fear cultivated by the media at large (no pun intended),the pharmaceutical industry (who benefits from us buying these products in VERY big bucks), and just plain fear of the unknown. So many stereo types exist that many are taken as fact. It is shocking to see how many educated doctors believe in so many socially held myths about everything from infant care to weight.

All of this has caused a nationwide epidemic of un-needed panic and stupidity. It's like "The fat people are coming! Run for your lives!" Call out the National Guard, a fat person left their house!

Please.

We need to stop using words like "obese", "fluffy", "curvy" and the like, and just be people. We need to be healthy people and that is for all of us. Have a treat every once in a while, try to eat sensibly, and get a little extra movement in every day. That's not so hard.

What is hard is not listening to the voices that hound us to be perfect. I used to babysit for woman who had 2 children, one about 2 and one about 4. She was thin, trim, and tall. She felt she was fat because she had a small pooch (the size of a 1 year old childs' fist) at her belly button. She was always taking some pill or on some diet. Her daughter heard her mother criticizing her own body so much, I shudder to think what is going through her 14 year old mind now.

Who needs this kind of insecurity?

Nobody.

We need to turn off the voices and just be. It won't be easy and it will take a while, but needs to happen.

We just need to be.

Well, it is that time of year when we are bombarded by "this diet works!", "no THIS diet works!", "THIS one REALLY works!", "take this pill", "sprinkle this on your food" and the plethora of "you are not good enough" messages it makes ones head hurt. Each place comes up with shiny new packaging for the same old crud that they peddle from year to year.

Do diets work? Yes, they do. While you're on them that is. Diet plans work because you are restricting calories and that will help you lose weight, but as soon as you go back to your way of eating, you will gain back the weight you lost and more on top of that, so you are worse off than you were when you started.

The push to look thin is not the same as being healthy. There is a new study that says carrying a few extra pounds may not be that bad for you, but obesity is still bad for you no matter what. I object to that last part. I still say you can be obese and be healthy. Obese is only what an actuarial table says it is, and those numbers are made up anyway.

One diet plans tag line is "become yourself".

To which I say, "If I'm not myself, then who in the bloody world am I?"

Here's the deal kids. You are who you are. If you are not happy with extra weight, then do the right thing, which is the hard thing, and cut back on bad foods, eat healthier choices, watch your portions and get some exercise into your day. Take the stairs, park further from the door, walk around your office while on the phone, the list goes on.

There is no quick fix here folks. It is what it is and that is hard work. Yes, there are bad days and good days. No body is perfect and the sooner you realize that, the happier you'll be. There are no massed produced humans, only mass produced diet plans.

Be well. Be healthy. Be you.

In the vein of "you have GOT to be kidding me!" check this out. I saw it on Stephen Colbert last night while flipping stations. I didn't hear it all, so I checked it out on Yahoo! All I can say is, "Oy Vey!"

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/remind-...

"What will you gain when you lose?"

We all know the commercials for Special K and it's diet plan. All in all, it's not a bad campaign, it stresses what you will feel when you feel better about yourself, but the keystone is when you lose weight.

What about just feeling good about yourself now? I have gained a lot of new respect for myself, confidence and self esteem in my journey to be healthy, and yes I have lost weight in the process and am proud of that as well. It does not and will not change the fact that I am and will always be a larger sized person who will always have to be careful of what I eat and how much movement I get to keep myself healthy.

I have gained many of the new good things about myself not because I lost weight, but because I stopped trying to conform to ideals that are not mine, don't fit me, and do not need to be conformed to. I am happy being me, and I have gained pride,not because I have lost weight, but because I have succeeded in starting this group, found a form on exercise that I love, that I can do a 1/2 mile and find it easy, that I am a worthwhile person, and that others are worthwhile too, and I am not afraid to tell them that.

If you want to gain, then lose the bad attitude, the negative thoughts, the negative actions of others, the self loathing, the bad haircuts, the poorly fitting clothes, the terrible things you say to yourself,and the terrible things you do to yourself.

Gain insight, gain wisdom, gain self esteem, gain pride, gain self confidence, gain a life by being who you are. That is the best gain of all.

"Body fat is unattractive!" one ad screamed at me yesterday. They go on to say that body fat forms on the stomach, thighs, buttocks, and hips.

So the fat on my arms is imaginary?

Completely imaginary. Does not exist.

New diet ad has a woman saying that she wants to be in the picture, not taking the picture. So, be in the picture. I understand the whole "hide from the camera" thing, as I have done that (a lot came from my mom who HATES having her picture taken) over the years. Why? I don't really know. Probably because I had some underlying meta message telling me to be ashamed.

The tag line is "I'm possible". So, if I'm fat I'm IMPOSSIBLE? I exist, so therefore I am possible.

YOU are YOU! BE YOU!

So.here we are again with "How do you want to feel this Spring?" as the new diet ad for a cereal company. How do I want to feel all the time? Free from judgement from insurance companies and doctors who INSIST I MUST have all sorts of health problems that are related to my weight (I don't suffer any of them by the way),free from judgement by others who INSIST I cannot be happy with my life at my weight (I am overall happy with my life. Are there things I'd like to change, sure. Are there things I'm not happy with,yes, but my weight has nothing to do with any of it), free from self doubt that is spoon fed to me by a multi-billion dollar industry designed to make me feel bad about myself, and free from the self doubt and judgements I lay on myself on a daily basis.

How do I want to feel? Like me. A department store is using "find your yes" as a new campaign. I would like to find my "yes" in ways that cannot be purchased. I would like to see more of us find a yes with ourselves. Find a way to be happy with ourselves regardless of our size. I would like to see everyone find a yes with who they are and stand up to insurance companies and employers who tell us that we are not suitable and MUST change to fit some imaginary number they feel is proper. I would like to see all of us find a yes to what makes us happy, find our yes in peaceful compromises, find our yes in our own self worth.

I would like all of us to finally find a yes in just being who we are with no apologies needed, no explanations, no judgements from anyone, not even ourselves.

So how do I want to feel this Spring or anytime?

Like me.

I found my yes. Now go find yours.

Yesterday, I almost snapped the shopping cart handle while I waited in line at the store. No,not fellow shoppers, but a so called women's magazine set me off. On the cover is the darling of the celebudocs, Dr.Oz with his obnoxious grin with his RX for "Both kinds of ugly fat" for a "gorgeous you by summer!". "Follow his plan and you can drop 15lbs. in 14 days". It promises a fix for "bulging belly " or for "jiggly thighs and hips".

*record scratching* WHAT? I mean come on! 15 lbs in 14 days is NOT healthy and I am just shocked (very sarcastic here) that Dr.Oz of all people would promote this! What a crock. I'm already gorgeous now. I have bulging belly, and jiggly thighs,hips, butt, arms, you name it, if I have it, it jiggles, wiggles, bounces, or bulges. So what?

My body does not dictate WHO I am, nor does it limit me from being who I AM. Are looks important? Yes, to a point they are, but WHAT you make important about your looks is what matters. I prefer to be clean and well groomed. I prefer to wear clothes that fit me and look nice on me. I like to smell nice, but I do not wear make-up often, using it for special occasions, yet I am no less beautiful than a woman who does wear make-up. I am not fashionable, but I am in neat, clean clothes that fit me and my personality, but what I wear is not WHO I am either.


I am so sick and tired of celebudocs with their quick fix plans to make you be "better". If you want to change how you are because you really don't like what you see, or you want to be healthier, then do it the right way with hard work,health changes to your daily food choices, exercise and do it slowly. It will not be easy, but it is safer. It may not happen on a timetable that others may want you on, but it will happen.

Enough is enough with being made to feel insecure about ourselves. Take a stand and quit buying into this nonsense, quit buying these magazines and stop giving this celebudoc/celebutrainer our attention, money or airtime. Quit watching their shows and don't buy products they endorse. Embrace your body for what it is, for every bulge, every jiggly, wiggly bit you have, for every stretch mark and be who YOU ARE and that is a wonderful, creative, loving attractive being.

Embrace the body you have,wisely change what you need to change, but do NOT let some magazine tell you that you are less. You are so much more than the sum of your parts.

Be happy, be healthy, be YOU!

More than a pound of body fat a day is typically VERY unhealthy. It comes down to basic science. In order to lose one pound of fat, the body HAS to burn 3,500 calories MORE than it takes in. Regardless of the length of time... one day, one week, one month... that is the ONLY way for a person to lose a pound of fat outside of a surgical procedure.

HOW can it be healthy to drop a pound a day from a "simple" diet?

And it's coming from a so called doctor for crying out loud! That to me is one of the worst parts.

Yeah, that cover infuriated me to no end. It made me want to roll up the magazine (preferably around a tire iron) and smite him about the head and shoulders while yelling "bad doctor, no biscuit!"

And he never seems to address the one truly ugly issue: the mess between his ears, all seething with prejudice.

Love that response Narzain!

Me too!