Guess what?!? You’re a disgusting wreck!

It’s January, and you know what that means–the diet ads are out in full force!

• Lose Weight NOW!
• I Lost 200 Pounds in Twelve Seconds!
• Lose Those Extra Inches Just Like the Stars Do!  (Fyi–is it any wonder that the word “starvation” begins with the word “star”?  Hmmm… methinks there could be a connection…)

This is how the marketing world makes all of us begin to see ourselves as disgusting messes worthy of nothing but self-loathing.  We’re wrecks, people!  The advertisers say so!  We must diet… immediately!  Don’t you understand?

But wait!  They can’t be overt about their plans… so they FRAME their advertisements in the guise of selling us HAPPINESS.  They want us to BETTER ourselves, to feel FREER, to be the person we know we can!

Pathetic. 

And I know I’ve fallen for it year after year and I’m willing to bet you’ve fallen for the hype, too. 

Oh, and make no mistake. Hype is all it is.  For the marketers and advertisers known d**n well that you aren’t going to STICK to their diets, nor are you going to KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF.  They don’t care.  Just as long as you buy what they’re selling now.

Of course, some poor souls who buy into this nonsense probably will lose some pounds.  Then some more.  Then, if they’re predisposed to eating disorder behavior, they’ll begin to disappear right off the face of the earth, slowly dissolving into memories.  (Score:  Ana-1, Marketers-1, Anorexic-0.)

Oh, how I dread January because of the desperate “get fit quickly” marketing ploys.  (And I understand marketing–I have much experience in the selling realm.  It isn’t all bad.  Really.  It’s just that the way they manipulate us occasionally makes my blood boil.)

Men and women, I beg you… if you are unhappy with your appearance, do me a favor.  Look INSIDE yourself first before purchasing anything that sounds “too good to be true”, whether it’s a book, a liquid diet, a pill or a program.   

And if you do need to lose weight (especially for medical reasons), do so through gradually introducing exercise and healthy eating into your life.  Walk every day.  Eat salads with lunch and dinner.  Avoid fatty items.  But please don’t starve.  Size four may look good from the outside, but it hurts like h*ll from the inside.  That’s something the marketers won’t tell you.