Weight loss ads are getting on my nerves

I've never been fond of weight loss ads, for a whole slew of reasons, but lately they've begun to make me feel rather stabby. I could accept the ads when they were mostly for weight loss programs, and stuck to the formula of "Want to lose weight? Join us." Those ads tend to feature both men and women and are fairly inoffensive. But now we have ads for weight loss pills and for weight loss surgeries. At least a failed program wouldn't (so far as I know) have a negative impact on your body, but pills have side effects and surgery...is not something one should just jump into. There's the little matter of it potentially killing you, for one thing.

There are the Alli ads that feature thin women and tell you in voice over that you have to...wait for it...change your diet and exercise. But with this marvelous pill, you'll lose weight faster than you would by just changing your diet and exercising. Because this pill stops you from absorbing some of the fat you eat, which means that if you eat too much fat in a meal you may experience "treatment effects" - "oily spotting, loose stools, and more frequent stools that may be hard to control." Well, that should teach people women to cut back on the fat, all right. Why women? Because the ads and the site almost exclusively feature images of women, many of whom are not overweight. Men either don't need to worry about their weight or can lose weight without taking a poo pill.

I'd say more about the many mail order weight loss pill ads, but I couldn't find any of them on line and I can't remember the names of the pills. But, again, they mainly feature women and they tend to say things about "unsightly body fat" and imply that pretty much everyone needs their product. I wish I could find them, because they are far more immediately disgusting than the other ads.

Then there's the Lapband ad that has overweight people listing what they would do "if they lost the weight," which might be accurate to how some overweight people feel, but seems both misleading and offensive. Losing weight won't necessarily mean you have fewer health problems, and it won't necessarily help with type 2 diabetes (not to mention at least some people can control that with diet) or cure your aching back, feet, or knees. And, unless you were very overweight, it won't make visiting an out of state relative any easier. And, in a culture that teaches women to hate their bodies, it's unlikely to make you feel better about shopping for clothes.

But the ad isn't the only thing that makes me feel stabby about Lapband. Read the first year dietary instructions. So, basically, you lose weight because you eat less and exercise. AAAARRRRRRGH!!!! Then why do you need to clamp something on your stomach that results in a longer list of things to be careful eating than they recommend for people with an ileostomy?! I mean, fuck, we're just supposed to be careful of fibrous stuff and popcorn, but lapbanded people, you better watch out for "dry meat, shrimp, untoasted or doughy bread, rice, peanut butter, fibrous vegetables like corn, asparagus, and celery, nuts, greasy or fried food, [and] membrane[s] of citrus fruits." Just how tiny do they make the opening? I mean, really.

Underlying all these anoyances are the reasons why I've never been fond of weight loss ads. Weight is not, in and of itself, a measure of health. A person can be thin and unhealthy and a person can be fat and healthy. That isn't the current fadish belief, but it's true. If you eat well, get exercise, and are happy, you will probably be healthy, regardless of your weight. If you eat crap, never exercise, and are miserable, you probably won't be healthy, again, regardless of your weight. (In fact, eating crap and not exercising might have something to do with being miserable.)

And, of course, there's the annoying fact that weight loss ads tend to be aimed more at women than men. Because women just have to be thin, you know. *stabby*