As you may or may not know, I'm an aficionado of TV commercials with the specialty targeted on weight loss programs, because weight loss and weight gain has been the bane of my existence since adolescence when my weight was too great for my height, but my full height of 5'10" finally caught up with my weight. Bagging a boyfriend (Dick Jones, damn him) wasn't easy to get through while I was happy and eating to celebrate my engagement to him---fat 'n happy! So, I went to Dr. Mallory at the old Link Clinic, and he gave me "diet pills." I exercised half the nights before we married, and I kept it to 700-900 calories a day. I was hopped up on what became "speed," which would have killed me today---amphetamines---I used them later illegally when they were called White Crosses---$20 for 100 pills (bargain basement price from a dear friend---HA!). Both times, I got down to my fighting weight.
My first retail experience with a retail program was wildly successful with Diet Center, which I think was earlier than TV commercials of weight loss programs. I was running Knowles Cafeteria at that time, and some of my customers were telling me, "That's enough, Nancy! Don't lose any more." Made me feel sooo good!
Weight Watchers was my method countless times, and it worked nearly every time, but there were times when I just said "Screw it! I'm sick of this!" And I'd fall into my gluttonous habits once again and always gained any lost weight back.
I lost my daughter in '84, which seemed to trigger my genetic predisposition to Lupus, and it was so severe that long-term prednisone use caused weight gain, a "buffalo hump" on the back of my neck, a "moon face," and I was the heaviest I'd ever been---horrible. It was out of control. Back I went to WW and lost 75 pounds. I was going with two besties, and we all lost together. I still had 25 pounds to go when we lost our drive and just kind of drifted away from WW. We remained besties as neighbors and rebels without a cause, living in a country club neighborhood who thought we were not quite country club material. We pretty much thumbed our noses at them and did our thing. I once got a call from the Mattoon Country Club from one of the besties who was home who said to me, "Get over here! They have free peel & eat shrimp and Margaritas!" We both made fools of ourselves drunk, with ice water and shrimp juices running off our elbows, laughing at the sight of each other, where the next table of old women stiffs glared at us. Made us laugh even harder.
Now, I see Marie Osmond speaking on TV for Nutrisystem. She appears with a red sweater, stylishly ripped jeans, and her long, dark hair perfectly framing her boobs with a wave around the boobs. She's trying desperately to appear 20 years younger than she is, and damn it, I think she has succeeded.
As for Jenny Craig, have you seen the ad where some young, blond woman says, "Are you serious? This is supposed to make me lose weight? I just ate a chocolate cake!" Let's you and I get serious. What do you think of when you think of a chocolate cake? They're not fooling me. I know all their tricks because I'm a lifetime hog, and as Dolly Parton once said after having lost a lot of weight---"Hogs don't get anorexic." The chocolate cake that Jenny Craig provides is no more than one of those cheap Little Debbie pieces-of-crap, and I defy anyone to prove me wrong. In my world, a chocolate cake is 2-4 layers with lots of creamy frosting between each layer and slathered on the outside. Now THAT is eating a cake. I'd have to hide it in the cabinet above the fridge and cut it in 4ths to shove to the back of the fridge to eat a fourth each day. Fat chance he'd ever see it wrapped back there. Yessiree, that's what I call a cake!
I have to be on my deathbed to lose serious weight, and I was on that bed a couple or 3 years ago. Since then, I have gained 15 pounds and am struggling to keep it at that to avoid buying new clothes. At times, I've given serious thought to a crowbar to get 'em up and pliers for the zipper.
