Plain Advice

I have been associated with Weight Watchers for several years, and generally, I have found that the information they give is concrete, and full of common sense. A few years ago I lost 47 lbs with them, and have seen lots of others lose weight with their methods. I attend meetings, frequently visit their website, and I also subscribe to their magazine.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the September/October 2007 issue yesterday and found something that actually made me mad. I am still angry, and wondering what possessed them to write what they did.

The article, found on page 116, is titled “Can we talk? We help you find the right words to address a loved ones weight problem“.

WHAT? Can they really be serious?

Since when is there an overweight adult out there who doesn’t know they are fat? (I say adult, because I do think it is important to address weight issues if you are dealing with your minor children).

Can you imagine saying “Hey Barb, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’ve really got some muffin top going on there. I just wanted to let you know”. Barb looks down, genuinely surprised to see that her belly is, in fact, hanging over her jeans. “Thanks”, she says,”now that you’ve pointed that out, I think I’ll go on a diet! You are such a great friend!”

I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or curse about this article. I will be even more mad if well meaning friends and family, having read the article, try to strike up conversation with me about my weight issues. I don’t care how much you love somebody, or hate somebody for that matter… it is never in good taste to point out to them that they need to lose weight.

I cannot think of a single way somebody could sensitively tell me that they thought I was getting too heavy. People, do you think I don’t know?

Even more than that, having someone approach me about their “concern” would probably just send me right into the comforting arms of a donut.

Weight loss is a difficult process, and the main ingredient for success is personal motivation and desire to do it. An individual is not going to lose weight because YOU told them they needed to. It has to come from them and them alone (OK, maybe a doctor’s advice or the innocent comment of a 5 year old can help to open their eyes, too).

If your friend, sister, mother, father, husband, wife, etc. has a weight problem but is not doing anything about it, you can safely assume that they are probably not ready, no matter what you might say or think.

You can support your overweight loved one in their own goals, but you cannot help someone lose weight until they have decided for themselves to do it, and for their own personal reasons..

I think there are plenty of people out there who feel this same way I do. I don’t need anybody to point out my weight issues… chances are, I notice them much more than anybody else could anyway. And besides, we have enough 5 year olds out there to get the message across, if somehow we become blind to how we look.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Weight Loss and Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.