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Old 05-19-2010, 01:28 PM   #1  
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Default I have my suspicions...

There are so many different diet plans out there with hundreds of different names. And even more diet pills, drinks, meals, bars, powders etc etc etc..

Now, Im not knocking any of these, as I know many people have had success on many of these diets, but I still have my suspicions. All these companies that produce all these products, they are businesses after all, and a business does not stay in business if its customers go away. For these companies to stay in business, we all need to stay fat. If we get thin, we no longer need them.

I cant help but think that all the store bought diets, all the fancy packaging, all the chocolate (sorta) drizzled granola bars have a fail mechanism built into them.

I think that fail mechanism is pretty simple. Its the company's diet, not the diet of the individual who is currently using it. For a start, they work great..I think they all (even the weird all "kumquat for a week" ones) make one think about what they are putting into their mouth, and that is ALWAYS a good thing. But more and more I have come to see them as only a start, and that after that point, once you have taught yourself to pay attention and think about what you are eating, that it is then time to take over your own diet, and make it all yours. Eventually, you are going to get tired of living by someone else's rules and want to get the heck out of the house. Use these store bought diets, pills, shakes and the like to learn how to make your own rules if you need to, but in the end your diet has to be YOURS.

I say its time we put these guys out of business once and for all. Who is with me?
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Old 05-19-2010, 01:33 PM   #2  
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A close friend just started taking a pill she had to cross state borders to get!! And you know what the doc said who gave it to her? "You can lose 15 pounds in a month easy! All you have to do is take this pill...eat 1200 calories and exercise.

Oy!
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Old 05-19-2010, 01:34 PM   #3  
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They never work for long. My mom has tried pretty much all of them out there that are available in our town. For the first two or three weeks shes losing a lot of weight, sometimes close to 30 pounds in three weeks, and then after that her body adjusts to it. It gets used to the items shes putting into her body and it becomes a regular thing, like sleep and doesn't do anything anymore but maybe help suppress her hunger occasionally.

I for one have never used one to lose weight, but have use the ones that are energy pills along with fat burners or kick start matobolism ones.
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Old 05-19-2010, 01:36 PM   #4  
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I haven't given them any money, that's my contribution to the effort.
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Old 05-20-2010, 06:58 AM   #5  
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I think you're right, in order to achieve long term success we need to find what works for us as individuals. That's what I've done this time around and I've had greater success than on anybody else's plan. But to give WW, Slimming World, Slimfast etc their dues they have taught me something on the way. From experience of these programmes I learned what I was prepared to do for life and also what I wasn't and taken the best things from them and ditched the rest.

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Old 05-20-2010, 08:06 AM   #6  
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i've tried everything from slimfast to jenny craig --- but now that I do my own diet and eats tons of fresh fruits, vegetables and get plenty of protein i feel so much better. i always felt so weird eating processed diet food but now I feel amazing. i'm also eating more organic and whole foods and shopping for such a wider variety of foods and cooking fun recipes. my whole relationship with food has changed so much - I now love grocery shopping, I love cooking, I love figuring out how to make something lower in calories and swapping a high fat food for a better alternative. i literally go to the grocery store almost everyday to buy fresh foods and I'm spending so much less money than I did when I was on those boxed bland diets
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Old 05-20-2010, 09:26 AM   #7  
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I'm no conspicery theriost, but I have always thought that if you dig down deep, that the mulit-million dollar food industry has some pretty tight ties with the multi-million dollar diet industry.

But *sigh* I have been quilty of buying pills, drinks and potions. Darn, I wish I had all that money back to help buy my new wardrobe in a size 6 that I achived by counting calories and eating real, non commercialized food!
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Old 05-20-2010, 09:38 AM   #8  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nada View Post
I haven't given them any money, that's my contribution to the effort.
Same here. The only thing that I use is whey protein powder, and very infrequently, I buy a protein bar (but they are not part of my diet, it is usually an 'emergency' situation). I have never been into granola bars and any other stuff. Even slimmed down George Costanza (what a hoot! - I saw the commercial the other day) would get to buy Jenny Craig (or similar diet) food.
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Old 05-20-2010, 09:51 AM   #9  
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While I do share your suspicion on the sheer EFFICIENCY of these "wonder cures", I don't think they're inefficient because of some grand conspiracy to keep us fat. It's simply because they're based on wrong principles and too "one size fits all" to work long-term.

A good business model IS based on happy customers and in this is no exception. There is no finite supply of fat chicks in the world limited to one generation. People who are now thin may very well gain weight as they grow old by maintaining unhealthy diets/lifestyle + aging so the well of potential customers does not dry out simply because their product is SO efficient it will eradicate weight gain. It won't (not saying technology won't advance one day to the point where genetic manipulation WILL prevent anybody from getting fat... but that's not the kind of miracle cure we're discussing). Weight gain and weight loss is OUR responsibility, not theirs.

There are very efficient treatments for acne for example. Has it been eradicated and has Clearasil gone out of business because there are both homemade and pharmaceutically enhanced much better cures on the market?

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Old 05-20-2010, 10:20 AM   #10  
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I think sometimes there is a grain of truth in some of these methods, but then they're taken to an extreme. Sensible advice doesn't sell; hype does.

Last edited by tea2; 05-20-2010 at 10:20 AM.
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Old 05-20-2010, 11:15 AM   #11  
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I think that pills and potions can work for some people but for me, the big thing is sustainability. I've been eating the same way for 6.5 months now, minus a few lapses here and there. I can truly see myself eating this way forever. I enjoy my food, I'm getting a good variety (at least for me, probably too limited for a lot of people), and a good balance of nutrients and what works for me as a good mix of protein, fat and carbs.

I think that unless someone is prepared to stay on a commercial plan forever, there is a high risk of gaining weight when they go off it and don't have that automatic balance, portion control, etc. IMO, that's one of the big positives about WW - that you can achieve lifetime status and have the ongoing support of meetings and formal weigh ins. I'm not doing WW but I still think that is a good thing - for me, 3fc is my version of this sort of accountability.
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Old 05-20-2010, 11:33 AM   #12  
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Whenever I am jogging on the treadmill at the gym and see a commercial for Nutri System, I giggle. Now - don't get me wrong. I am NOT knocking it. I am sure Nutri System has helped plenty of people. I am sure it is a great way to see what real portions look like.

But really - I would love to take a look a the ingredients on all that pre-packaged food. MSG? trans fat? HFCS? IDK if there is any. I would bet money there is at least a lot of MSG.

Diet pills, etc. don't work... they don't work, b/c if they did, everyone would be thin. They don't work b/c they boast themselves as a quick fix, instant gratification to something that can't be done over night. When people don't see immediate results - they stop.

Also - for me, it isn't about some magic pill... I need to focus on the mental and emotional stuff that is going on that leads me to over-eat.
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