*** Exploiting Women? Help us create a case against Weight Watchers

One of AnyBody’s goals is to bring a case against Weight Watchers as one example of where the diet industry knowingly exploits the aesthetic ideal of slenderness. It has plenty of evidence that dieting does not help people maintain weight loss.

A recent contributor to AnyBody.org; Sue Thomason, wrote a very insightful piece in response to AnyBody's ongoing case against the ethics of Weight Watchers. We thought you should all read it on our front page, and if you have personal experiences of the Weight Watchers program, please help us by leaving a comment.

From Sue Thomason:

The diet industry marketeers know full well that restriction leads the human subconscious survival instinct to activate, which drives people to overeat. The subconscious survival instinct does not know that food is available, it takes messages from the conscious mind that food is restricted, so it sees danger and it FORCES you to eat as much as you can in order to survive the famine.

The diet marketeers know that restriction of food allows you to take control only for short periods of time before this survival instinct kicks in. They perpetuate the message that the only way to lose weight is to follow their restriction regimes, and they set their customers up for failure and those customers, who see no way out, keep on going back to them and giving them more money, fuelled on by their short term success, which they see as evidence that diets work.

The reality is that they don't work and that they CAUSE overeating in the first place. Diet companies, such as Weight Watchers, CREATE overeaters.

With its ever growing profits and it's 98 per cent long-term failure rate, The diet industry is the most successful failed business in the world.

The universally accepted diet information, be it under the label of 'healthy eating' or 'cutting down', is creating the so-called 'obesity epidemic' that is now the second biggest killer next to smoking in the developed world. (And it's not an 'obesity epidemic' it's an overeating epidemic. Obesity is only one symptom in a line of symptoms caused by overeating. To pick it out and place the blame on it makes as much sense as blaming lung cancer caused by smoking on the accompanying cough!)

Without restriction, we have a genuine choice and are not driven by the subconscious need to survive in the face of a famine. Without restriction we do not overeat - because overeating is unpleasant. The only reason that overeating feels pleasant is because when you do it you are relieving yourself of the pain and suffering of restriction (or dieting). The pleasure is an illusion.

The diet industry has done as much harm to our society as the tobacco industry - if not more. I teach overeaters how to stop overeating. All of these women have spent their entire lives being dictated to by the diet industry and the physical harm, the misery, degradation and misplaced self-disgust that they live with is no different to torture. If they were in a marriage that affected them the way the diet industry does, the relationship would be legally regarded as emotionally and physically abusive and the courts would provide them with the protection of a restraining order.

Yes, Weight Watchers should be taken to task in court. They should be forced to reveal the long-term failure statistics of their products and services and made to publish them alongside the temporary success stories that they use to 'push' their drug.

Comments

[Bethan]

I have never joined a slimming group, but know enough people who have. Did any of them lose weight? Some ... but then it went back on again. Were they happier? Nope, they were obsessed by calorie counting and meal sizes. One woman lost so much weight she looked gaunt and ill. Six months later she was back to her old size again.

All of the diet industry - the pills packed with caffeine, the powders that damage your liver and kidneys, the weird combos of what you're allowed and what you're not - are all the fall out from our desperate need to fit the mould.

It's the way we think about food, ourselves and our bodies that is the cause of the issue and surely this is what we should pour our energy into as mothers, daughters, sisters, women? I deeply believe that the way forward is not to sue one company and push the blame for this body dis-ease that is embedded in our culture. The answer is to reeducate people via the media and it's ambassadors, so that the person's inner perception of their body is transformed. I also think that this shift in awareness is possible.

Oh and just for the record, I once met a woman from the Philippines who was married to a very wealthy British man. This guy had made all his money in the diet industry and when she asked him about his business, this was all he said:
"Never buy any of it. Diet products don't work. They're for idiots." Sounds pretty similar to those big men in the tobacco industry who were once filmed scoffing about how smoking is "for morons."

[Caroline, London]

I used to believe WW was brilliant. I have in fact done the programme about 4 times now over the past 10 years. In addition I have done a few other diets and have yo-yo'd between 7st 10lbs and 11stone 4lbs. When on WW or a personal weight loss programmes I have always lost weight but always then put the weight back on again because of all the reasons outlined in Susie Orbach's brilliant book Fat is a Feminist Issue ie compulsive eating, not knowing how to enjoy food any more, not knowing when you feel satisfied etc. It's like smoking. Whilst you know smoking may make you ill, many still do it. Thinking you might get lung cancer and die is not enough to stop people smoking. Eating, being 'overweight' and dieting is complex. It's driven by all sorts of subconscious motivations, just like smoking. I didn't realise how entwined I was in the diet trap until reading Susie's book. I do have successful personal experience of stopping smoking through working out why I did it, so this gives me hope that my relationship with food can be worked through. I don't feel so strong (at the moment) to bring a law suit to WW, but I am now starting to see the light with the whole diet trap and diet mongers. The more I learn about myself, the more I realise that diets are futile. However, I consider myself to be open-minded and intelligent, so I am still unsure as to whether those who sell these diets, especially WW leaders who have gone through weight loss themselves, realise that WW is doing this to keep people in a trap.

[Nicole R Harris]

I did weight watchers 3 years ago as well as a friend the one thing that really got to me was more than anything they stressed tghat if you left weigt watchers or didnt attend the meetings you would gain more weight. when going to the meetings ou were introduced to more of their products and their way was th eonly way. When i was loosing weight they had different tactics to try to keep you going. I found it much more positive to look for friends with the similar problem and discuss it for free.

[NATALIE]

I think that a boycott against weight watchers is ridiculous. Why take down the only weight loss program that teaches the right things; Healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds/week, skipping meals is a no no, realizing if you are emotional eating or really hungry. If you are against pro-overeating why not boycott BUFFETS OR FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS?! The meetings once a week teach healthy eating and which foods are filling foods in order to change bad habits.In my meetings I see nothing but inspiration, hope and happiness. Most older women who have dropped more than 5 sizes over a period of 2 years.There are also women with diabeties, high blood pressure, that NEED to lose weight to survive! Before joining weight watchers I was an emotional overeater, eating fast food once a day, drinking alcohol without care, whatever looked good I ate. Now my 7th week in weight watchers I am starting to gradually change my lifestyle and these bad habits. Weight watchers doesn't restrict "bad foods", you are allowed to eat whatever you want while implementing healthy fulfilling foods. I am learning how to live a healthy lifestyle while still enjoying every kind of food. Weight watchers is a excellent program because it is paired with support groups and teaching how to change your mindset.The reason why Weight Watchers works and women are able to keep off the weight succesfully is because it is a lifestyle change, not a diet. Don't knock it until you try it.

[Sue Widemark]

This is a foolish idea. FYI, WW keeps all their lifetime members in the computer and DOES have statistics on them - according to statistics published by one of the scientists, Stanley Heshka, 80 percent of those who regularly weigh in monthly, keep off all or most of the weight. And to say the diet industry is worse than tobacco is bordering on the ridiculous. According to the American Medical Association Guide to Health and Wellness, tobacco use is the NUMBER ONE risk factor for most maladies including cancer, heart disease, vascular disease and more. I would further like to point out that all lifetime members at goal pay NO MONEY to Weight Watchers and they are the ONLY group I know of, which does this. They do encourage your medical provider to set a healthy weight goal FOR YOU also. To say that dieting CAUSES overeating is baloney. We have free will. We live in a food oriented society. If we CHOOSE to overeat (which most Americans do but only 15 percent or less get fat from it) then that's our choice and should not be messed with. Susie Orbach who is stick thin likely HEAVILY restricts HER calories and does she get the 3 dairies, 5-7 portions of veggies, 2 proteins and 2 teaspoons of healthy fatty acids which Weight Watchers teaches their members to do, every day? Probably not. The lady writing the above opinion is "teaching people to not overeat" --- and I ask "FOR FREE"? Doubtful. Go ahead, make my day. Take Weight Watchers to court - you will SO LOSE! Their scientific committee includes Julie Stern (collaborated on the HAES study with Linda Bacon), Stanley Heshka and Pi Sunyer. One person asked on another site - if it's doing SOMEONE good, why should it be attacked? If you want to restrict, restrict. (like Susie Orbach for example). If you want to overeat, do that. But let's not point fingers, huh? Each of us has the option to deal with our own bodies. Let's give people that freedom, huh? I am incredibly metabolically challenged (pituitary damage, hypothalmus damage,age and genetic obesity) and yet managed to lose 107 lbs via Weight Watchers - it was my fourth time around but being 107 lbs lighter is very nice to my arthritic joints - I have been able to drastically cut my pain meds etc. Let's give people the freedom to make their own decisions and the respect OF those decisions, whatever they may be. Please...

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[Mary-Jane Wozenski]

Great article by Sue Thomason.

Weight Watchers' ethics are questionable.

Their survival as a business depends on people being continously on diet, in a yo-yo dieting style.

What most people do not realize is that, losing weight and keeping it off is very simple.

Make the decision that you are going to lose weight, and change your lifestyle to suit.

All you need to do is to burn more calories than you consume, and of course change your eating habits, primarily through avoiding fatty foods. It really is that simple.

You don't need to pay for some expensive special products.

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