Interesting read.

-Drew

The truth is, the ‘weight loss industry’ doesn’t want you to lose weight any more than the pharmaceutical companies want to resolve your health problems. It is a simple business decision, if they actually help you achieve a long-lasting result, than their revenue will diminish and their shareholders will be sad pandas. Do you really think that the gratification from “helping people” is worth more than the billions of dollars in revenue from selling products that either don’t work or are only temporarily effective? (really?)

Although I believe the above statement to be true, I am not yet jaded enough to believe that all people or companies are just money hungry buzzards circling easy consumer prey waiting for it to die. At the same time, if the shoe fits, wear it. At the end of the day the people selling these products and services forget all about you, go home, and do whatever they do. They have no vested interest in your success. They don’t get paid for each pound you lose or for each tiny amount of self-esteem you get from feeling better or looking better. To them, you are just a large (No pun intended) demographic that they know they can sell products to, because they know you are desperate to lose weight, you are tired down to your soul of being overweight, and you will do almost anything to break the cycle.

What about the random people on the street? They don’t care about your struggle, they have their own problems. They just know that your weight makes them uncomfortable. They couldn’t possibly know how hard you are working to change your life and it honestly wouldn’t matter to them if you told them. They don’t know that you just spent 45 minutes on a treadmill (40 of them with every muscle in your body screaming in pain for you to stop) and again even if they did, they wouldn’t care.

The energy it takes to make a major change in your life is massive. It affects every aspect of your life. It is a physically and psychologically draining process and you can never take a break from it. Going from either not making choices for yourself or making negative choices, to making positive choices about your diet and exercise consumes a huge amount of time and energy.

Even more importantly, after expending all of that energy to work towards a goal, do you have the strength to withstand the crushing assault of a setback when all of your best efforts don’t lead you to the desired result? (Which, lets be honest with ourselves will happen) The blow of a setback can be even worse when using a product or service to help you lose weight because the ‘provider’ is not going to accept any responsibility for your failure, and your own internal logic will lead you to believe that it is all your fault. (even if they don’t specifically express that to you and would be happy to take the credit for any success you may come by).

These elements all lead to feeling alone which in any struggle is probably the hardest thing to overcome. Do your friends and family (not to mention your personal trainer or the people who manufacture the amazing weight loss drug you’re taking) *really* understand what you’re going through? Even if they are overweight their journey is most likely completely different than your own and they experience their lives in a totally different way. They may not have the same urgency or feel the same pressure to lose weight as you and might not understand how physically, mentally, and emotionally uncomfortable your weight makes your life.

In the end, no matter how many products you buy, books you read, personal trainers and dieticians you consult with and assholes you encounter. No one but you can make a change in your life. People won’t understand how hard it is. Your friends won’t understand why you are so moody or why you don’t want to go to your favorite eatery anymore. They won’t understand why you avoid situations where it may be difficult to control yourself. You will feel tremendously alone and they may feel alienated.

Add to that the difficulty of admitting to someone else (can you admit it to yourself?) that you have a problem with control or making healthy choices for yourself and you have all of the elements of a perfect failure. You feel alone because nobody will understand, but you can’t explain it to the people close to you because you’re embarrassed or ashamed. Toss in the dirty looks from random people and sprinkle on some of the personal trainer or nutritionist telling you that you are just not doing what you are supposed to do, and you are one bad weigh in or a pair of jeans not fitting away from a total and complete 180 degree reversal in your attitude towards your journey. It really can be that fragile.

Once your attitude shifts towards something from positive to negative, no matter how good the good was, the negative is always going to outweigh the positive in your mind. Yes, you worked out and ate better and it was making you healthier but you didn’t lose weight. (that is the only thing that matters to you). You did everything you thought you were supposed to do and still hit a brick wall (at high speed).

All of the things I’ve mentioned above are mostly thoughts and feelings motivated by my own understanding  of the world that I live in. Everyone has their own “world” that they live in, nobody will see something in exactly the same way. The only way to break these cycles is by changing the way you think about your struggle, I’ll be sure to let you know when I figure out how to do that.

Drew

Zack himself seems like an opportunist rather than someone who is looking for love. In one scene (which was most likely edited this way) he was discussing how hard it would be for him to choose the women who would be going home, and in the very next breath implied that if the girl sitting with him would make out with him it would really help her chances of staying.

Throughout the show the focus shifted rapidly between what was going on in the house and private interviews with the women. One thing is for sure, they intentionally edited the potentially hundreds of hours of interviews to maximize the pathetic and socially inept factor of the plus sized women. At least two of them admitted that they had never been on a single date before and several of the women were in tears while describing their past experience while trying to find love.

FOX doesn’t seem to be doing the image of plus sized women any favors here, and if anything More to Love will most likely work to reinforce the stereotypes of plus sized women as being desperate, emotionally damaged, inept, and destined to be perpetually lonely. 

From a purely entertainment standpoint, so far the show is just passable. FOX most likely put this show in the off-season because they knew that it wasn’t interesting enough to debut during the primetime fall season.  I hope the first episode is not a indication of what is to come, because if it gets any more negatively skewed I would expect to start hearing cartoon like sound effects.

Drew

Welbutrin has been used for years as an anti-depressant and Naltrexone is used to treat various addictions. With an almost combined 20 years of every day use by patients, I began to wonder if Contrave was anything to get excited about, at all. It occurred to me that if someone was so inclined that they could go to their doctor and get a prescription for both Welbutrin and Naltrexone bypassing that whole messy FDA phase three study thing we’ve all been hearing about.

So then why bother re-branding two drugs that have been available for a combined two decades? First, the FDA approves drugs for a specific purpose, and anything else is considered off label. Even if Topamax does help a lot of people lose weight, it is still a migraine/anti-seizure medication according to the FDA. If doctors prescribe you a drug for an off-label use, and it kills you your doctor could be in serious trouble. Second, a new weight-loss drug (especially one that won’t make your heart beat so fast that it kills you, or cause ‘leakage’) is sure to be a “blockbuster drug” just like Viagra or Cialis is which means an incredible amount of money for the Orexigen (and their investors).

It seems odd to me that research money was spent trying different combinations of drugs rather than trying to come up with a new and more effective way to treat obesity. Weight loss is a potential side effect of many drugs, but there are very few drugs (according to the FDA) which actually help people lose weight, and keep it off. If Contrave is approved for the treatment of obesity, then shouldn’t the treatment of obesity then be applied as label usages of both Welbutrin and Naltrexone? Make no doubt about it, Orexigen will be going to great lengths to make sure this doesn’t happen, and that is the problem with this entire situation.

I am all for anything that will make people lead healthier lives, at the same time Contrave seems like taking half of a Ford Mustang, and Half of a Dodge Challenger, combining them and calling it a Chalstang. You’re still taking two things that have exited for a really long time and blending them together. Could Contrave help a great number of people, lose weight? YES! Will it do a better job than just taking the sum of its parts (and at much much cheaper prices)?

I don’t see how it could.

Andrew

First, “plus sized” women are not a new trend, a fad, or a fashion accessory for the summer of 2009. They are people, just like all the other contestants on all of the other reality shows. They have been around for quite a long time. I have a problem with the “mission” of this show, according to Fox More To Love is all about loving yourself and self-worth, I disagree entirely.

If Fox wanted to uplift “plus sized” women, they would’ve made a clone of ABC’s The Bachelor and made half of the women “regular” and half of the women “plus sized” and let the best woman win based on all of their attributes. Instead, by choosing (In Fox’s own words) “a single average guy with a big waist and an even bigger heart” as the prospective bachelor and choosing all “plus sized women” as the contestants, the show (and Fox) imply that all ‘big people’ should break off from the rest of society, pair up, have ‘big people babies’, and move to the mountains where they won’t bother anybody.

I argue that if the women that Fox has selected to participate in More To Love are so well adjusted, confident, and self-loving that they would have no problem ‘competing’ against any woman for any man. All of the press I have seen for More To Love tries to paint it as this big ‘coming out party’ for “plus sized” women, that Fox just discovered this long lost tribe out in a cave somewhere like King Kong and are bringing them to the world for the first time.

Maybe that is the point here? After all, who’s fault is it that people are so hung up on their weight in this country? Why are there so many women (in general, not even “plus sized”) who have a poor self image? Who sets the standard for beauty in the United States? You guessed it, the media. The fact is that this show wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the constant and unwavering amount of self-hatred that people feel when they turn on their TV, read magazines, or watch movies. So “plus sized women” are okay as long as you’re exploiting them in some ridiculous fashion but when it comes time to cast a show at primetime guess what?

Sorry, no plus sized women to be found.

This is part of  a larger trend in our society. All companies (not just media companies) need to stop pretending like they are doing people a favor by exploiting them, For a completely unrelated example the mortgage bubble was “a great opportunity for low-income families to become home-owners”  just like More To Love is “[…] a dating show that sends the right message about embracing and loving yourself no matter your shape or size," as long as the person you’re interested in has “a big waist and an even bigger heart” otherwise, you’re completely out of luck.

-Drew

Experts say that the $40 bottle of vitamins offer no greater benefits over the $10 bottle of vitamins and the highest rated vitamins I could find were (surprise) One-a-day multi-vitamins.

A 250 count bottle of One-A-Day Men’s Multivitamin is around $20 so that is around eight cents a day. The One-a-day women’s multivitamin is the same price.

So for eight cents a day you can have the peace of mind that comes with knowing your body is getting all it needs.

-Drew

Recently, I began following the “big breakfast diet” because it just makes sense to me. The diet consists of eating a big breakfast rich in protein and then (hopefully) that breakfast will keep you full until Lunch to prevent snacking. It is a ‘eat three times a day diet’ and it seems to be working pretty well for me so far. Although the breakfast I eat I don’t exactly consider “healthy” it is full of protein and everything my body needs to provide me with Energy.

The Breakfast Sandwich consists of:

• Two eggs
• 1 strip of pre-cooked bacon
• A slice of colby jack cheese
• and two pieces of toast

Then I usually add a glass of juice or whatever to it. Even with that amount of fat (from the eggs, bacon, and cheese), Alli still doesn’t make me have ‘leakage’ related side effects, and believe me I know what that’s all about. When I was in a less healthy mental state I used to eat candy and then take a Xenical, pure horror would ensue.

The point I am trying to make here is that you have to work pretty hard (or at least I do) to get the ‘revenge of Alli’ and that the benefits surely outweigh the negatives.

Don’t forget, Alli is currently on sale at Amazon.com all through the month of January.

-Drew

I think most people would like to believe that when people leave The Biggest Loser ranch they are ‘fixed’. What ever be it emotions, learned behavior, or addiction that caused them to become obese is simply gone forever but that is just not true. Contestants (like everyone else)  go back to their lives without the constant nurturing and support and are bombarded with all of the old temptations, emotions and environments which prompted them to gain weight in the first place.

But wait! People go home from the ranch and continue to lose weight right? Yes, but as Bob and Jillian pointed out, they are still in constant contact with them even after they leave the ranch. This poses the question then, can obesity ever really be “cured”? If the most popular trainers in the world still have to prod people after they leave the ranch, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Perhaps instead of treating the physical state of obesity which is caused by eating too much and exercising too little, Perhaps we should treat the reason people are eating too much and exercising too little in the first place. I would venture to say that at the core of 90% of most obese individuals there lies emotional problems which can be traced directly to their eating behaviors.

Telling someone who could already have emotional problems that they eat too much and are lazy doesn’t sound like a good plan to me. Maybe more research needs to be done in the psychology of obesity rather than the pharmacology. I am glad that Larry King decided to have the Biggest Loser winner who gained his weight back on. It shows both obese people and non-obese people alike that there is no quick route to becoming healthy and like with any virus one must be mindful that they still have the disease even if they aren’t showing symptoms at that moment.

Personally, I think The Biggest Loser does a lot to show people what is possible, but it gives people an unrealistic idea of what it is like once the cameras are off and Jillian and Bob aren’t there to scream at you anymore.

-Drew

The show opens with reactions to Chelsea being sent to the “hall of beauty”, everyone seems hopeful that she will not return, and when she does people are as snarky as ever to her. “Drama” ensues when Julia (who will probably win) claims that Chelsea has stolen a pair of her Citizen jeans. The confrontation was pretty uneventful with Chelsea eventually giving up the jeans at the end.

The ‘challenge’ this week was to make the contestants buy an outfit, but the amazing twist was that they only had $100 for three peoples’ outfits, then the two people with the weakest outfit would be sent to the “hall of beauty” for possible elimination. Most of the people simply sweet-talked shop owners for the clothes they needed. C.J. and Ashley (and Chelsea but she didn’t participate) scammed hapless folks out of their clothes claiming it was for charity.

There was a ‘set-up’ challenge with an actor collecting money for children’s cancer research. Most of the contestants did end up donating. In the end, C.J. and Ashley were both sent to the “hall of beauty” and Ashley ended up going home. Controversy in sued when Ashley was sent home because she helped Chelsea put her outfit together. Everyone forgets that Ashley scammed people out of clothes by claiming it was for charity, and didn’t help the “bike messenger” up after his nasty spill during the “last straw” challenge.

Rife with petty confrontations, shallow people, and amusingly awful judges this episode didn’t really prove to be any more interesting than the last, but with the current “break” that most shows have taken I suppose it is better (slightly) than watching paint dry.

-Drew

A skinny drink, which comes in Skinny Latte, Skinny Caramel Latte, Skinny Hazelnut Latte, Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte, and Skinny Vanilla Latte are the same as the original flavors except for two major differences. First, the skinny lattes incorporate non-fat milk into the beverage, and second the skinny lattes use sugar-free flavored syrup instead of the regular sugared kind. So basically a skinny vanilla latte is the same as ordering a non-fat, sugar-free, vanilla latte (But with fewer words).

At 130 calories and 0g of fat for a 16oz skinny latte, this seems like a no-brainer compared to 250 calories and 6g of fat for the ‘non-skinny version’. Still, keep in mind that 130 calories is quite a bit for a beverage so moderation (like with anything) is king here. All in all I honestly can’t tell the difference in taste between the skinny vanilla latte, and the regular vanilla latte and to me that is the sweetest part of all.

-Drew