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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the diet industry is utterly evil?

385 replies

ICBINEG · 11/08/2013 13:16

been watching 'The men that made us thin' and am simply overwhelmed.

So diets don't work....most people end up heavier than if they had not dieted at all...one guy was like "well duh! if they worked we would lose our customers"....another wrote a book aimed at teenage girls including the advice to " buy scales and keep them secret from your parents"

The constant stream of adverts aimed at middle aged women are seen by children who by age 6-7 have self-esteem issues and can quote the number of calories in most foods...

My evil-ometer is broken.

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 11/08/2013 13:24

Yeah you're not wrong.

However, if it wasn't for weight watchers, I'd still be morbidly obese instead of fit and healthy as I am now.

So I guess there's good and bad to be said for the industry as a whole.

Original poster
ICBINEG · 11/08/2013 13:26

It was the weight watchers guy that said the thing about not making money if it actually worked...

I think you should take the credit for the weight loss as the evidence shows weight watches doesn't help much...

OP posts:
toomuchtoask · 11/08/2013 13:26

Diets DO work. It's motivation/will power that fails in most cases.

Sirzy · 11/08/2013 13:28

I agree. I think they are too focused on making money rather than actual results.

Yes of course they work for some people but I know many more people who have 'failed' at them, or lost weight then put it straight back on than who have a sustainable, manageable relationship with food and excersise.

I am losing weight now and have done it by realising diets and fads don't work. The only way to do it is to change my thinking about food, do more excerise and take control of it myself not expect someone else to control it for me.

Original poster
ICBINEG · 11/08/2013 13:28

erm...so the diet shouldn't include motivation or long term change?

Plus a diuretic will lose you weight over night! But you put it back on when you are so weak willing you drink water the next day....

OP posts:
slightlysoupstained · 11/08/2013 13:30

No. I have been quite disturbed by a number of threads recently where people have been talking about dieting, how you don't "need" more than [small number] of calories etc.

I think the absolute fucking best thing my parents ever did for me and my siblings is to keep us away from that shit. I have never dieted. I eat an amount that other women seem to consider shockingly large. I have always been slim.

I don't think I'm the abnormal one. I think most women in our society have been so thoroughly fucked over by the constant diet industry shite that their metabolisms and hunger responses are completely fucked. And then they blame themselves for not being able to stick to some fucking insane deliberately designed to fail eating plan!

inallmydays · 11/08/2013 13:30

eating healthy and exercising is the only thing that works long term.

Tee2072 · 11/08/2013 13:32

Diets don't work because they aren't sustainable. Once you stop the diet, the weight comes back.

So don't diet. Just eat sensibly and exercise.

toomuchtoask · 11/08/2013 13:32

You can't teach motivation ICEBINEG and I didn't say anything about long term change.

TidyDancer · 11/08/2013 13:32

Weight watchers does work, you just need to be realistic about it.

You have to be motivated to make a long term change, not look at it as a diet and more of a lifestyle choice, and know what you plan to do to maintain target. Weight watchers got me here, it's me that keeps me here, iykwim.

Those people who go onto the weight watchers plan and expect it to be a magic bullet cure for obesity will be disappointed, as they will be on any other diet plan or healthy eating kick.

Original poster
ICBINEG · 11/08/2013 13:35

"You can't teach motivation ICEBINEG "

yes...so the question is why are you allowed to make money out of diets that don't solve the actual problem?

OP posts:
inkyfingers · 11/08/2013 13:36

The programme didn't seem to say that they didn't work so much that the dieters gained weight afterwards. Well, that would be after they'd stopped regulating what they ate, and went back to the eating patterns that got them heavy in the first place. fWIW I have always had to watch my weight and now believe that exercise is also important, which some diet plans don't consider.

Original poster
ICBINEG · 11/08/2013 13:37

tidy I agree with what you said...but if you get the motivation for long term change then why do you need weight watchers?

I got the motivation and hung out on here for FREE with some people doing a weekly weigh in....

OP posts:
toomuchtoask · 11/08/2013 13:45

yes...so the question is why are you allowed to make money out of diets that don't solve the actual problem?

Because it works for many people. Because it's perfectly legal. Because people are looking for a solution for them and there is a diet out there that would suit the lifestyle of many people.

It is a unique industry in that 100% of the effort is by the person paying for the service that's for sure. I lost 4 stone with slimming world. I couldn't have done it alone. The social aspect helped me a lot.

Diets do work for the majority of people (certain medical conditions may make it harder/impossible) and the people running the diets are there to support. Many people need this support. Some don't. Simples.

toomuchtoask · 11/08/2013 13:46

and I would only reserve the words 'utterly evil' for certain horrendous crimes. Certainly not for the diet industry.

Overreaction me thinks!

DontmindifIdo · 11/08/2013 13:55

I think the problem is that diets do work, but you need to do them for the rest of your life. This is the bit where it goes wrong. I dont know of any diet that doesn't have a 'maintenance' eating plan/guide for once you've got the weight off, but the problem is that we have a culture of seeing a diet as something you go on to lose weight. Not a way of eating for your life.

The sort of people who are very overweight are not the sort of people who have healthy eating habits in the first place, and few understand that they shouldn't be aiming to "go on a diet" but "change the way you eat forever". Every diet company tells people they can never go back to eating the way they did before without getting fat again, the reasons diets don't work is people nod and smile and then once they've hit their ideal weight think they don't need to be on a diet now.

Or they stop before they hit their ideal weight, not because diets don't work, but because they want to eat crap more than they want to be thin. Then the diet gets blamed, not the people doing them.

Basically, WW and all the other diet plans make money from other people's greed and wanting a 'quick fix'.

WorraLiberty · 11/08/2013 13:56

I know very, very few people who have only been no a diet once in their life.

Generally (but not exclusively) people gain weight because they eat too much, too often and take far too little exercise.

Until they can change that, it's unlikely they'll keep the weight off that they lost during their diet.

I've seen people get flamed on MN for saying "eat healthier, eat less and move more" or for saying "If you consume more calories than you burn off then you're going to gain weight".

But in most cases it's absolutely true.

Most of my overweight friends have been that way all their lives, despite trying almost every single diet out there.

expatinscotland · 11/08/2013 13:59

I have never been on a diet in my life, but I disagree people need large amounts a calories in general.

Thumbwitch · 11/08/2013 14:00

I wouldn't go as far as saying they're utterly evil, but it's not honestly that much of a shock to work out that the diet industry really has no vested interest in people staying thin, is it?

CortanaWentUpTheMiddleAisle · 11/08/2013 14:06

"I got the motivation and hung out on here for FREE with some people doing a weekly weigh in...."

So you used the weight watcher format, didn't charge yourselves, WW is evil and doesn't work, your method did even though it is the same idea minus the charge?

I can see why the WW food range took off too. Portion control seems to be non existent. The other thread on portion sizes was an eye opener. The food range takes the effort out of what's a portion and how much of my daily calories/fat/sugar does this meal use.

We went to F&B for tea last night. Portion sizes are stupidly large there, we had one course and were stuffed.

Itsjustafleshwound · 11/08/2013 14:10

Personally, I blame the fact that we are so far removed from the process of eating and food production.

The dieting is just an ineffectual, money making way to deal with a self made problem that shouldn't be an issue in the first place.

Being fat now is classed as being a disease and nothing more than just putting too much into the gob.

If granny doesn't recognise it, it probably isn't healthy to eat. If it is low fat it means that it has probably been loaded with many empty calories to make up for the loss of taste. Eat plainly, look at the labels and if it is a struggle to eat a certain way, it isn't going to get better and be sustainable

Pinupgirl · 11/08/2013 14:12

Diets don't work-denying yourself something only makes you want it more.

The diet industry is a huge con.Shock-not.

Honestly the amount of my friends who have turned into diet bores lately is shocking. One had lost a huge amount of weight-6 stone-looks less attractive than she did before,has lost all her confidence and all she does is moan about how slimming world are no longer interested now they cant make money out of her

inkyfingers · 11/08/2013 14:12

A friend was in a group of four friends. £5 each on the table each week. Weighed in and the one who'd lost the most took the winnings. Plenty of time left for a pizza or film!

DontmindifIdo · 11/08/2013 14:12

Worra - I've never been "on a diet" as in, a diet that someone else has decided to write out in a book, or a club etc. I have, however had to cut back - I'm facing that now, as DD is 9 weeks old and it's time to start dealing with the 4kg I gained. That's not a huge amount to lose, so I'll just cut portion sizes, make slightly better choices, skip puddings, cut most of the snacking, and hopefully it'll be gone in a few months. However, I'm starting from a base of having quite a healthy diet, so a little cutting back, plus upping my exercise levels will do it - if you have very bad eating habits, then it takes a bigger change and you might need someone to point out the bad choices you're making. (Plus I'm planning on losing weight over a long period, not expecting results in a month)

There's another thread running about portion sizes, people saying that they can't imagine a quarter of a pizza being an adult portion, the amounts of pasta and cereal for a portion size being too small, but that's why some people are fat, the amounts of high calorie food they want is too much. They genuninely don't know how much they should be eating - if you grew up with a family who served the recommended portion sizes, then you probably think of that as the amount you'd serve, if not, it might well take someone spelling it out in a diet book for you to realise.

timidviper · 11/08/2013 14:15

I think cynical and uncaring rather than evil.

I think education is the key to these things. When I was about 14 one of the girls at school got very into "if we only have an apple for lunch we'll get thinner" and of course we all did but, from there on, we all yoyo dieted. We need to teach children about diet, nutrition and self-esteem at a very early age so they can avoid all this crap.

It is true that long term weight loss should be about lifestyle change but my experience is that WW, SW, etc don't offer that, they offer a temporary solution. For example I have always had a very sweet tooth and, when doing those diets, would have a diet yoghurt or fruit and meringue after tea, it is then very easy to relapse as the fundamental change to the way you eat has not been made and it is easy to slip back into proper puddings. Their way of eating is akin to a new vegetarian living on Linda McCartney or Quorn sausages, burgers, etc instead of learning how to live well on vegetables and non-animal proteins