Fads…

It’s that time of year again – even Groupon is in on it now…offering ‘fantastic’ deals on meal replacement packs…I do use the word fantastic with significant amounts of sarcasm by the way! 😉

I posted this –

– on Facebook earlier…and waited. I waited for someone to stand up in defence of fads and I wasn’t disappointed. The last time I did this I was accused of all sorts of misdemeanours – such as putting myself in a position of inspiration.

Sod it, I am going to rehash an old blog post so that you can read it for yourself – stick with it – here goes…

Fads. I fecking hate fad weight loss methods with a passion. You know this. So why when I make a comment about hating fads does it open a floodgate for people who have bought into such fads? I am not interested. It’s simple. I have tried so many ways of losing weight…I am now in agreement with the experts – who by the way think these products that I mention are shite – that a healthy and balanced diet – containing actual food! – along with exercise and mindset changes is the one approach that will work.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is – and in the case of weight loss products and plans, it will undoubtedly be too good to be true! However, a lot of us ‘losers’ seem to be under the impression that our excess weight can be lost far quicker than it was gained, and we fall foul of scams and fads designed specifically to target our desires and fears.

“Drop a dress size in a week!”
“Lose 21 pounds in 21 days!”
“Double your weight loss with our miracle pill!”
“Wrap, and watch the inches melt!”
“Absorbs fat!”
“No exercise or dieting needed!”

Do any of these statements sound familiar…? They are a small selection of the claims that I have been sent via email – many of these emails have been from companies asking me to promote their products in return for cash. They want to target the people I have connected with throughout my weight loss journey; I refuse to promote anything that I don’t believe in and haven’t had success with…regardless of how much cash is on offer!

The top scams and fads that I am subjected to are:

Body wraps
Meal replacement shakes
Diet patches, perfume and jewellery
Fat blocking pills
Herbal supplements
Weight loss teas

Body wraps – In the defence of wraps, they do work. They leach the water out of your body. So you will feel smaller and weigh less. They also moisturise your skin, so it will feel smoother. But the effects of a wrap will probably be gone by the time you are tucking into your dinner. The effects of a wrap on your bank balance will be felt for much longer than that though! You would be far better off buying a bottle of baby oil and skipping the chocolate cake!

Meal replacement shakes and detoxes…I have spent lots of money on these – and also fainted at the gym and knocked myself out on the elliptical machine when using them! The thought of not having to cook, or think about food – especially when the thought of food consumes our waking hours – sounds appealing. Next time you consider using them though, take a look at the nutritional content – sugar tends to be the first ingredient; they are designed to give you a quick burst of energy so that you feel great…and then need another one a few hours later to keep you going – which lines the pockets of the creators nicely! As for detoxes…you have a liver and kidneys – if you put good quality food in, you don’t need to detox…and if you haven’t put good quality food in, no amount of ‘detoxing’ will help…but a good healthy eating plan will.

Patches – delivering drugs via the skin – work well for some people…smokers that I know have managed to beat their habits using them. Diet patches however have proven incredibly ineffective…there are no weight loss drugs that can be delivered via skin patches. Most of them contain nothing more than herbs that are found in weight loss teas and supplements…herbs that also prove ineffective without a sensible diet and exercise. Weight loss perfume was a new one on me! Apparently is is based on ‘aromatherapeutic’ and ‘neurocosmetic’ research…hmmm..the makers also claim that it is designed to help you slim with pleasure – personally, I prefer the smell of a good stew in a slow cooker! Magical weight loss bracelets and earrings have also been promoted…I just fail to see how there can be anything that would help shed weight in a piece of jewellery…unless of course they are referring to the lightening of your purse or wallet after you buy them!

Then you have the ‘pills that make you poo your pants’..not a marketing claim, but a rather nasty side affect. Consuming anything that changes the way in which your body metabolises food leads to all sorts of issues – bloating, gas, diarrhoea and the inability to control your body when you do break wind…the ‘poo your pants’ moment! Not only do they cause all sorts of unpleasantness, but they can prevent your body absorbing vitamins too as they are swept out of your system. Quite why anyone would accept such issues for the sake of losing weight, when they only work in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise, is beyond me…although I have used them, and had to carry spare pants and trousers with me at work in case of accidental ‘leakage’!

As for herbal ‘diet’ teas and weight loss supplements…goodness! The main ingredient in many diet teas is caffeine – a diuretic which leads to water loss. So you aren’t losing fat, but water which is later replaced. Herbal weight loss supplements are, in many cases, dangerous. Within the past decade the US has banned many supplements sold over there – which could be bought online by anyone, worldwide. Ephedra, an ingredient in many of these supplements, was banned as it was closely linked chemically to speed, or methamphetamine, and caused insomnia, tremors and seizures, high blood pressure, strokes, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and even death. Kava is another ingredient which has been banned following links to severe liver injury.

Products like Juice Plus, HerbalLife, Body by Vi…seriously, I have no time for them and never will. I have heard literally every justification under the sun from people who do use them. Good for them. I don’t and won’t use them now – but I have done before – and I won’t promote the shite either. I met a senior guy involved with Juice Plus recently who tried to sign me up to selling for him within minutes of meeting me…and having no idea of my views on the product. I got the lowdown on how it all works…knowing there was no chance on earth I would ever sell the stuff…but the longer he spoke to me, the less time he had to convince someone else to sell it for him! What I love most about the claims of these guys are the ‘natural’ and ‘unprocessed’ ones…I always ask if they can show me the Juice Plus tree that the capsules grow on!

The desperation that you experience when you want to lose weight and make changes to your health can twist our minds. What our rational minds would never fall for, our irrational minds believe – all of these scams and fads sound like the answer to our prayers. Finally – something that will give us the body we crave, the happiness we are seeking, and will shift those pounds with minimal effort within a few months!

Life is hard and we want it to be easy. We are forever being sold stuff to help save time, money, space…and given the choice of a quicker option, it is so bloody tempting. When it comes to our excess weight there really is only one road to follow – and that road comes with twists and turns, tears and tantrums, and highs and lows. It’s no wonder that it sounds more appealing to join the ranks of the fads – especially when they have expert marketeers selling you the dream!

What these marketeers know deep-down however is that there is no miracle! So save your money, and do your self-esteem a favour…all of these fads and scams come with the caveat that they work well in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise. Spend that money at your local green grocers instead…even better, walk to your local green grocers and carry the heavy bags back!

My concern is that all of these fads and scams will hold your weight loss journey up. As you waste time trying out all of these quick fixes, you could be losing a couple of pounds each week using a healthy, safe, and fulfilling weight loss method…healthy eating and exercise. It sounds boring and is not a sexy strap line on the side of an expensively packaged product, but it is far more effective in helping to reduce weight-related illness and to help you to reach your goal.

Finally, let’s not forget that most of our weight issues stem from emotions and behaviours…how the heck is a pill or a perfume going to help you address these areas? No product on the market can fix those problems!

So I do take offence when someone says, ‘…however having put your self in a position of inspiration surely the emphasis should be on support, I would never claim to any of my readers that their ‘diet’ isn’t good enough, I offer support and encouragement surely the whole point is getting healthier and weight loss at the end of the day not who’s diet is better.’

For a start, I never put myself in a position of inspiration. I was killing myself with food, and now I am making myself better with food, exercise, and mindset changes…the fact that this is deemed as inspirational is frankly a sad indictment of our times…none of us should have ended up where I did and I think the ‘inspiration’ comes from us all struggling and you being able to see this struggle. I never intended to be an inspiration and actually find it all a bit embarrassing!

Secondly, I offer more support than anyone could imagine. I have spoken with people who were killing themselves, and have killed themselves in a couple of very sad cases, with food – trying to pull them back from the brink. I receive over 150 messages on average each week asking for help, advice, and guidance…and I answer each and every one of these messages. I have taken qualifications to back up my own experiences in order to support people in more depth, safe in the knowledge that I have the theoretical underpinning to support my views as well as the life experience to do so. I never ever tell anybody directly to stop following the plan that they follow…and I work with people who are on every conceivable weight loss plan that you can imagine…and I help these people achieve their goals. Slimming World works for me – but it’s not for everyone…I don’t feel the need to jump in and defend Slimming World…yet it’s funny how people following fad plans feel the need to justify their methods…is this some kind of defence mechanism as they know in their heart of hearts that it’s a load of old bollocks?!

Finally, I don’t have to allow people to promote those methods on my Facebook page. I don’t believe in them…and as it’s my fecking page…if you don’t like it then use the ‘unfollow’ button and feck off! I don’t jump on their Facebook pages telling them how wrong they are to be selling this shite…I talk about it on my page…and to be quite honest, I don’t want convincing that I am wrong so I don’t care for opinion sharing when it feels like a veiled attempt to drive traffic towards fad pages, upon which you will be encouraged to spend money!

Then this comment was made, ‘To call some other plans a scam so publicly is to slam all the people using such plans.’ If the fecking cap fits…I am not the first and certainly won’t be the last person to slam these plans…in fact I would put money on the fact that most of the people who use them at the moment will soon start slamming them too! Oooh…how controversial of me?!

I was told recently that I am the nicest woman you could ever wish to meet. And I am…most of the time…but if you question my integrity and try and use my ‘influence’ – as some may say – to promote shite, then I am not afraid of bringing out the B in WLB!

Truly and finally now, I have a feeling that the people who sell these kinds of products would probably have snapped the hands off the offer I had a while ago…£50,000 to give a weight loss pill company my before and after pictures. Do not question my fecking integrity or influential power when I am turning down offers like that…when I have no pension, a leaky roof, am in need of a new car, new boiler, a rewire…just feck right off with your shite products – I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THEM!

Phew…if you have managed to stick with me this far, then thank you – my rant is now over!

I guess I had best do something to show that I am not blind to other methods. For me, Slimming World works. I can incorporate clean eating principles into the plan as it’s incredibly flexible…and it’s this flexibility that means that I don’t have to feel guilty about eating something that some methods deem ‘naughty’ or ‘not on plan’. To all of those considering getting healthy in the New Year, I thought I’d throw out a few suggestions. Obviously, I am a huge (not so huge now!) Slimming World fan – it’s worked wonders for me, helping me lose over 21.5st so far – but I know it’s not for everyone. So to show that I am not too biased I will highlight some reputable and knowledgable sources of support…not shitty fads! 😉

There are some fabulous people out there doing fabulous work to dispel some of the myths. I will link to a few of these and you can make up your own mind…

First up is Jessie Pavelka and his Pavelka Health Revolution. He’s a throughly lovely guy and inspires so many people…and doesn’t advocate fads or quick fixes.

Then there is Chris Hilary and his crew at Fitness Frenzi. I met Chris at a recent Jessie event and he’s just wonderful. I had my first taste of Zumba with him and had a ball! He has a fab website that you can sign up to for tips, tools, and inspiration…for less than the cost of a pie and chips a month!

Loz and Baz from Rock Solid are next up. What can I say about these guys but ‘Wow?!’ They have amazing bodies and help people make some fabulous changes. I met them recently and they are lovely! I am going to be contacting them to discuss some of my food choices to see how I can better align them to my training – and it will fit within my Slimming World plan too.

Then there are a few people that I haven’t met personally, but I have been watching them from a distance and they give some brilliant no-nonsense advice.

Scott Baptie at Food for Fitness…Joe Wicks at The Body Coach…and Liam Sartorius at Rebel Fit. As I said, I haven’t met or worked with these guys personally – but I know people that have…and I have kept an eye on them over a fair old period of time (for what that’s worth!) and they give sound advice.

So that’s my lot for the day. I have been quiet over the festive period, but only because I didn’t have much to say! I have had a wonderful time with family and friends and have enjoyed some wonderful food…and even went for a walk on Christmas Day – unheard of in years gone by! 😉 I think planning my meals over the past few days has helped. I had a lovely meal with my Mum on Christmas Eve – which included salami and cheese and a few syns…

Christmas Day was wonderful and on plan – my Mum cooked a delicious Slimming World style dinner, including scallops…

Boxing Day was good too – we had a meal out with my sister, brother in law, niece, nephew, and the old lady down the road – I enjoyed three courses and asked for my starter to be served without sauce, so it was syn free…the rest of it I was not sure about, but it all tasted lovely!

And today has been on track too…

Breakfast: Beef and ham with wilted spinach, rocket, cherry tomatoes, and scrambled egg.
Lunch: Crab, tuna, and bean salad, with tabbouleh, couscous, and bulghar wheat, and salad.
Dinner: Hot smoked salmon, roasted peppers, pickles, and coleslaw made with fat-free Greek yogurt, capers, and dill.
Snacks: Fruit.

Oooh – today I finally fitted into my bath…and I didn’t need a bottle of baby oil and a crowbar to get out of it! 🙂 I was tempted by a Lush bath bomb and enjoyed it – but got restless so jumped out after a few minutes. I need to practice my bath relaxation skills I think.

Exercise: Not much today – just mooching at the horses.

Thank you for reading,

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

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