Several years ago I saw a type of “Dateline NBC” show that was an exposé on weight loss ads. I hang onto interesting information like this in my mind, however I didn’t take notes at the time because I didn’t know that I’d want to use it in the future! 😉 This has led me to hours of searching for information on this topic since I’ve wanted to write about this since starting my blog.
The reason I found this information so very interesting is because I, like so many other people, have been lured in by those glossy ads in the magazines. They show a before photo of an overweight man or woman in a bathing suit with a downtrodden look on their face, and an after photo of them smiling and happy, fit and strong.
I always examined these photos and assumed that they were all just “Photoshopped”, that they put the head of the overweight person on the thin body. This was until I saw the TV show and thought, “wow, isn’t that something!”.
The show explained that the models in the weight-loss ads were paid, previously injured athletes. They gained weight due to inactivity after their injury. When they were completely healed, they simply resumed their previous schedule of training and easily dropped the weight. Additionally, they did not look like a skinny version of their plumper self (will occur if you only lose weight but do not work out and build muscle) in their after photo. They knew how to work out because they were trained athletes and knew how to regain their muscle tone.
In the show, they reported that the athletes did not want to give their names or be interviewed, however they had been paid to shape up and appear that they had lost weight with the diet supplement that their pictures would advertise. Of course, unless you were a professional athlete, you would not look like the after photo, especially since most (if not all) of those diet aids don’t even recommend changing what you eat and exercising. Instead, they advertise taking a pill to lose weight.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find solid documentation for the show that I watched after hours of combing the Internet and even searching the individual broadcast stations. So, imagine my excitement when I found this forum page titled How To Get a Before & After Weight Loss Testimonial Gig. This at least confirms that I truly did see that show, since others saw it, too! 😉
There truly isn’t a quick fix for overweight. There is no pill, magic powder, cleanse or miracle cure to make your body get thin quick and stay there for life. The only real solution is to a) heal the root of your unhealthy eating behaviors (which is what made your body overweight) and b) release the Inner Self struggles that have been driving your unhealthy eating behaviors and c) then you’ll be able to live a healthy lifestyle without a struggle, without willpower, and without it being any big deal.
That’s the work I do with my awesome coaching clients in The Inner Self Diet and it isn’t a quick fix either, even though my coaching clients say that 8 weeks is quick. This is because they (just like me) struggled a lifetime with emotional eating, binge eating, and yo-yo-dieting, and to be able to end those unhealthy behaviors in 8 weeks or less is pretty fast. And then of course you do have to change how you eat and include exercise (cardio and strength training) and those physical steps of a common sense healthy lifestyle plan are easy to do once you have healed your Inner Self.
Remember, 92.8% of achieving permanent weight loss hinges on your Inner Self. Get your inner world sorted out, get that healed, release the hidden road blocks that are standing in your way and then it will be simple for you to live a healthy lifestyle, to lose weight and keep it off. However if you avoid addressing the Real Problem and you keep chasing phony diet claims and magical fat fixes with paid athletes and models in the before and after pics then unfortunately you’ll continue to struggle with food and your weight forever, because you aren’t fixing the Real Problem that made your body fat in the first place.
I hope you check out the link to the forum post above. There are so many opportunities for us to compare ourselves to unrealistic images that we see in the media, airbrushed images that do not even look like the person in “real life”. On top of that, I think it’s important to know that the before-and-after photos you see in those ads that promise you quick weight loss by simply taking a pill are just a way for you to spend your valuable dollars on a quick fix that won’t deliver. There is no pill that will fix what made you overweight, however the Real Problem CAN be fixed when you’re wise enough to stop running from it and address it.
If you’d love to get that done as quickly as possible, that’s the work I do with my amazing coaching clients in The Inner Self Diet. To find out if it would be a good mutual fit for you to join The Inner Self Diet click here for your first step.
