Media and Weight Loss

I find that there is a interesting psychological dynamic that many women struggle with when it comes to weight loss. The problem is that many of us are caught between the confidence to be who we are regardless of how much we weigh, and the desire to improve our physical appearance. It’s strange because I feel as if by losing weight and improving the way I look, I’m somehow saying that my previous body when I was twenty or thirty pounds heavier wasn’t ok, and that’s the furthest from the truth. You can be beautiful at any weight, I just made the decision that I can do better for myself. Weight loss isn’t about saying that a certain weight is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it’s about being the healthiest person you can be. If you’re mentally and physically comfortable at 180 pounds, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The only person that has to live with yourself is you, and if you feel that that’s your personal best why let anyone else tell you differently?

We are constantly bombarded with contradictory messages in the media. Eat McDonalds; but be skinny. Have a new car, a new house, and ten million credit cards; but don’t be in debt. Have children; but live an exciting, expensive lifestyle. We live in a reactive culture based on instant gratification, go ahead and eat the burger and then buy the diet pills afterwards. We have a tendency to shy away from anything that isn’t instant, it’s human nature to want to best results in the shortest amount of time. Maybe human ‘nature’ isn’t the right word; we’re conditioned to feel that way. We are compelled to live a lifestyle of instant gratification because it fosters a buy or eat first, deal with the consequences later kind of attitude. This sort of superficial motivation benefits one sector and one sector only, and that’s big business. Companies all around the world encourage this sort of behavior because it results in bigger revenues for them. Don’t think for a second that Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig are motivated by an altruistic desire to improve the lives of others, they are businesses, just like Wal-Mart or JC Penny; and they’re here to make money.

There are a few problems with how big business approaches weight loss. The first one being that they employ their instant gratification marketing schemes on the public just like every other industry, but it’s particularly damaging to individuals trying to lose weight. It’s damaging because the reality of weight loss is that there is no quick fix; this billion dollar a year industry likes to tell us otherwise but the truth is that the only way to effectively lose weight and keep it off is through proper diet EDUCATION and exercise. Most of these companies have absolutely no desire to educate consumers about anything, the reason being that they want to keep you dependent on their system or product. It’s in their best interest that you fail! If you lose twenty pounds and then gain it back, chances are you’ll be right back making another product or program purchase to lose it all over again. Do you think they make money off of people who use their product once and then lose all the weight they need to and keep it off? Of course not. Repeat customers are where revenue is generated.

The point is that the media or our culture should never set the benchmark for where you feel comfortable. Society is driven by money, which has nothing to do with reasonable standards, and our culture is rooted in the ideal that what we have is never enough. The truth is that what you are at this very moment is enough; your weight, your car, your clothes, all your worldly possessions. It’s all enough. You need to set the standard for acceptable in your life, and if the standard for yourself is that you’d like to lose a few pounds then so be it, but don’t let anything else make that determination for you. If you’re on a crusade for perfection the sad reality is that you’ll never be happy with yourself or your body. If you’re unhappy at 200 pounds chances are you’ll be unhappy at 150 pounds too; the confidence that comes from weight loss has very little to do with the results in the mirror. The confidence is gained through setting a goal and accomplishing it; truly, that is the only thing that can build self esteem.

I encourage you to set your own standard for happiness, weight loss included. There is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing a goal or improving yourself, just make sure that what you’re striving to accomplish is, in fact, an improvement. Set goals that are intrinsic in nature, gauge your feelings instead of possessions or appearances because a standard that’s material in nature is subject to outside influences. Be your own yardstick for success, it’s the only measure that really matters.