Are "they" trying to keep people fat?

The diet industry rakes in $59.7 billion dollars a year.  Keeping one-third of Americans overweight is a very lucrative business.   Dieters need to beware of ways the diet industry may want to pull — and keep, the wool over our eyes, such as:

1) Using words like “Fat Free” on packaging, tricking dieters into thinking they are eating less calories.  For example, Yoplait advertises their yogurt as ”99% fat free;” however, one container has 170 calories.  Dannon Fit ’N Light Yogurt only has 60 calories per container; it’s what I eat every morning for breakfast.  Did you know that if you eat 100 more calories than you burn in a day, you will gain one pound in a month, or 12 pounds in a year — or 120 pounds in 10 years?  It adds up.

2) Watch out for clothing retailers that trick people into feeling thinner than they really are, by

Sonja in Haleiwa, Hawaii, August 2011

making them fit into “smaller” sized clothes — or so it says so on the tags.  Old Navy is mentioned on MetaFilter as one of these, with women saying they fit into a size 4 or 6, when they are 8s and 10s anywhere else.  Men are quoted as saying the clothing there is “wildy big,” and while they are a large or XL at all other stores, at Old Navy they are a medium.  I think this sets people up to think they can now eat more because they feel thinner — and, of course, they will want to shop at the store with the “smaller” size.

3) The very lucrative $59.7 billion-dollar weight loss industry, and all the diet programs that go along with it (I know, I have probably been on every diet out there).  They all work.  I even lost my final 50 pounds on a nationally known diet, and bought food, products and supplements from them.  It’s not the diet, I have found, it’s living thin and keeping it off afterwards that is tricky.  Eighty to ninety percent of dieters gain their weight back after they quit dieting.  The diet industry keeps dangling new diets in front of our noses, telling us what was wrong with the last diet, and telling us why the new diet is going to work.  Aren’t we smarter than that?  Quit financing the diet industry, and live thin, my friends!

It's fun to wear nice clothes and feel pretty.

We all know about the health benefits of losing weight  (lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, control or eliminate diabetes, helps joint and arthritic pain, etc.), but still one-third of people are overweight in the United States.  It must not be motivating enough, or else everyone would be thin — right?

What are the other benefits, the ones that keep you going when all you feel like doing is eating everything on your plate even though you are way past full, or you have one of those ”all-I-feel-like-doing-is-devouring-a-bacon-double-cheeseburger-and-large-order-of-fries-with-a-chocolate-shake-because-I-can’t-take-one-more-salad” kind of days?

Here are the real benefits to being thin, with enough motivation and inspiration to keep you going no matter what!

1) Fun clothes to to wear.  It’s so much more fun to show off a cute figure if you are at your happy weight.

2)  You fit nicely into an airplane seat.

3)  You can sit on any kind of furniture without fear of breaking it.

4)  You fit nicely into a movie theater seat.

5)  You can wear any necklace, bracelet, ring or watch you desire.

6)  You fit nicely into a booth in a restaurant.

7) You no longer worry about stares or comments from people about your weight; if anything they will be telling you how good you look!

Sonja, enjoying the beach in Haleiwa, Hawaii, with her son, Mackie

8)   At job interviews, you don’t have to worry if being overweight will be a factor in deciding whether or not you will get the position.

9)  If you are trying to date, being thin helps.

10)  It is easier to keep a thin body clean.

11)  It’s easier to go to the bathroom.

12)  It’s easier to have sex. Sex is better.

13) It’s easier to enjoy any kind of physical activity that is fun, like riding a bike, taking a walk, swimming, hiking a trail, etc.

15)  You can go up a flight of stairs without feeling like you are going to die.  You might even seek out the stairs, because it is good exercise and will burn calories.

16)  You eat in front of people now, not worrying what they might be thinking.

17)  You are happy to see people you haven’t seen in a long time, not worried anymore about what they might be thinking of your weight gain.  You are thin now.

18) If you have suffered from sleep apnea, it gets better now, maybe even goes away entirely, and breathing at night gets easier (OK, this is technically kind of a health one, but who doesn’t want to get a good night’s sleep?)

19) You fit into a cars nicely.

20)  You will most definitely like yourself better, and feel better about things —  everything.

What’s on your list?

Remember, nothing tastes as good as thin feels!

Sonja, summer of 2011, Utah mountains

One thing I did after losing fifty pounds ten years ago was give away all my fat clothes.  My closet used to range in clothing sizes 8-18, perfect for a person used to yo-yo dieting for most of her life.  Getting rid of the larger-sized clothing was a huge commitment – it said, “this time, I’m going to stay thin.”

After reaching your “happy weight,” just go ahead and do it.  Get some new clothes to show off that new figure, and dispose of those larger-sized clothes.  Here are some ideas:

1)  Bag them up and take them to a donation site like Goodwill, Deseret Industries, the Veterans Association, your local church or any place looking for clothing.  Many will come and pick them up at your house.

2)  Take the clothes to a consignment store, where you can receive some money, nice when you are going to be spending a bit on a new wardrobe for your new figure! (but oh so worth it!).

Buffalo Exchange consignment & thrift clothing store

3)  Invite a friend to go through your bags before they go to the donation site, if it would make you feel better if your clothes went to a good home.

4)  Alter something only if it’s worth it to you.

When you go through your closet and drawers, be ruthless.  Get rid of everything that is too big now.  Baggy clothes do not look good!  Besides, you worked hard to lose weight, and it’s time to show off. 

Only having thin clothes in your closet is a huge commitment, and can be a bit scary.  But it shows that you are now living the thin lifestyle, and that is who you are now — a thin person, now and for the rest of your life!

Read:  “Act Like a Thin Person,” and “Think Like a Thin Person.” 

For other ideas:  “Yo-Yo Dieting: Stop the Insanity!” and “Life After Dieting; What Now, That the Pounds Are Gone?”