Dieting is all fake

By Tabitha Barr / Editor in Chief

With the new year setting in, people are pushing to keep their 2020 resolutions.

The most common resolution is for people to become healthy in their everyday lives. Whether that spans to exercising, eating healthier or losing weight, everyone seems to want to better their bodies. I’m happy that people strive to be healthier so they can feel better, but when people say they want dieting to be their resolution, I just shake my head.

Diets range in all different kinds of ways. There are those that cut out certain areas, others tell you to eat/drink more of something, or they give you complete meal plans, exercise tips, and weight loss goals by a certain date. Those are the ones that people rely too much on, because, to put it bluntly, they’re a scam.

If those diet brands worked and kept working, people would no longer need them. They would disappear from our society because it worked so well for everyone. But what most of those brands don’t take into consideration is how each person has a unique body that doesn’t follow a path they give everyone. Bodies don’t work like that; every single one of them is different and there’s nothing a weight loss system can do about that.

There are famous weight loss programs, such as Jenny Craig, which is super costly with added-on fees and relies heavily on having access to prepared food during the day. People think they need to spend thousands of dollars to be able to get “healthier,” when in reality, they just need to understand their body and take things one day at a time.

The most enraging weight loss program is the horrendous Weight Watchers, or now known as WW. The dieting company changed their name because of the backlash they were receiving about their ridiculous ways. This is seen as the most famous weight-loss program, with Oprah Winfrey as a spokesperson for it. Now, I understand some programs “work” for some. However, programs like these take advantage of those who believe it will automatically work for them and those who throw their money in the barrel.

Weight loss programs aren’t perfect in general, but they are unhealthy for those who suffer from body image illnesses and eating disorders. I speak from experience because I went through my whole life hating how I looked. During high school, there was a stint where my relationship with food was unhealthy. I would go between eating excessively and accepting that I was obese or have days where I barely ate anything. People judge others for having anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating disorder, but they don’t realize how hard it is to get past them. It’s not a physical disease where you can do something to help the pain, but it’s a cage for your brain that makes you think in ways that hurt you from the inside.

I oppose weight-loss programs, but Weight Watchers crossed a line they can never come back from. They created an app called Kurbo, a dieting plan for children. You heard me right, children. When I heard that, I felt so enraged that I went on a Twitter rant about it.

Making a dieting app for children can create so many problems. That is exactly how eating disorders develop and they don’t ever go away.

You’re telling me this idea passed through the company and no one batted an eye thinking there could be severe consequences and backlash? They clearly need a new team because that’s just absolutely ridiculous.

If WW’s overall goal is to help people be healthier, they are creating so many other illnesses that it’s hurting way more than it’s helping.

WW tracks your food in a point-tracking system. For those who obsess over calories and how many types of food you intake, it’s a destroyer. I’ve learned that I cannot track my calorie intake. I obsess and overthink everything I am eating and have eaten. I get down on myself when I have certain types of food or too much of one. It’s not something I can get past because my body weight is still something that affects me more than I want to admit. I’m trying to appreciate my body, no matter what weight it is.

I think as a society, we need to learn that our bodies are just an extension of us. The way they look, how much they weigh, how different everyone’s is, doesn’t matter in the real world. My body is not what defines me, it’s my thoughts and actions that matter.

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