The Weight Watcher’s Dilemma
Sit back and consider all the features you would like to change about yourself. Next, imagine yourself perfectly. Imagine that you look exactly the way you want to look, think of how amazing and satisfied you would feel. Now—what’s stopping you from achieving these goals of personal perfection? Do they seem out of your reach? Flipping through the channels, one finds no sign of obesity or malnourished, until one happens upon a charity commercial featuring Sarah McLaughlin. As soon as the television is turned off, the vision of reality restores. Humans are huge! In the past we naturally lost weight and maintained a healthy lifestyle through manual labor and subsistence. Now the world swells with laziness and slobbering obsessions and industrialization spoon feeds the bad habits. The dilemma most health conscious individuals face start from the core and branch into other dilemmas including eating habits, media consumption, food anxiety, and economic factors.
The problem seems external, considering all the unattractive side effects of obesity; however, the true dilemma of a weight watcher lies within the mind. The mind has the ability to manipulate the limbs and generate action. Evidence suggests that the brain can release chemicals in the brain that will make a situation better or worse. The solution rests in the ability over the different perspectives and ways of life naturalized by outside forces like the media and industrial companies. The body is known for adaptation and will adjust to whatever it is given, in moderation. Essentially, we should exercise the mind in confidence and self-satisfaction, which will result in happiness that will perpetuate a healthy body.
When developing a new way of life ...
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...o workout routines suggest are problematic. The workout regime Insanity is a national craze that requires the person to do short amounts of workouts where instead of pushing the body to its limit it challenges the mind to work beyond comprehension. I decided to partake in this obnoxious exercise and it literally becomes a war of the mind to keep going. The amazing part of the exercise is if you can train your mind to ignore the signals from the body to continue going you complete the workout and feel completely triumphant. Eventually you see results. The word insane or crazy means to continue doing the same thing expecting different results and this workout shatters this definition because after a while of doing the same exercise over and over you definitely see results. This idea that the mind controls everything that happens to the body essentializes weight loss.
As the rising epidemic of obesity has attracted considerable media attention, so has the promotion for maintaining healthy wellbeing. Tom Naughton’s documentary, Fat Head, is a stellar model of this media attention. It examines the exact cause of weight gain, and the reliability of the Government’s nutritional guidelines. The contention of Fat Head is that the U.S Government and Morgan Spurlock (the creator of Super Size Me) present misleading information. However, Naughton’s bias becomes apparent through the careful selection of film techniques, and the silencing of certain characters, who may express opposing viewpoints. The ideal audience of this documentary, parents and concerned parties such as medical professionals, are invited to agree that the U.S Government and Spurlock are deceptive.
In the article, “Too ‘Close to the Bone’: The Historical Context for Women’s Obsession with Slenderness,” Roberta Seid goes in depth on the emotionally straining and life altering trials women take on to try to portray society’s “ideal” body over time. She delves far into the past, exposing our culture’s ideal body image and the changes it has gone through over time. The article brings to light the struggles of striving to be the perfect woman with the model body. On the other hand, in the article “Rethinking Weight”, author Amanda Spake, details the many differing views of obesity. Spake voices her opinion on the idea that being overweight, and not losing weight, is caused by laziness. “Too Close to the Bone” and “Rethinking Weight” both deliberate about weight issues that are
Obesity is one of the most serious health problems, and it has been increasing significantly. The film “Fed Up” attempts to provide an answer to why people become obese: food itself. However, “real food” as solution offered in the film begs the question of feasibility. The film assumes that people in general have time to buy, prepare, and cool “real food” and thus commits the fallacy of contradicting its own theory by suggesting that it’s the people’s fault for not being diligent enough in taking care of their health.
The Weight Watcher’s program was founded in 1961 by Jean Nidetch, who had struggled with her weight throughout childhood and all of her adult life. She decided one day to try yet another diet ran by the New York City Board of Health in Manhattan close to where she lived. After two months she had lost 20 pounds, but she realized a very important component of the diet was missing, a support group of others to share their daily battles with their weight issues. She began writing down all the things she had learned from her meetings in Manhattan and started inviting friends over who were fighting their own battles with their weight. Soon this diet that starting out with a few lady’s in the middle of one lady’s living room would later become a world icon. In late 1961 the Weight Watcher’s Program began. By 1963, just two years Weight Watcher’s was incorporated and by 1967 Weight Watcher’s went global and became Weight Watcher’s International, Inc. including Canada, Puerto Rico, Great Brittain and Israel. Today Weight Watcher’s is one of the leading diet programs in America and operates in over 30 different countries. (Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch shares her start, 2010).
In this generation, filled with technology, we are surrounded by the media and are constantly seeing commercials for weight loss and billboards covered with extremely fit people that have the bodies we wish we could obtain. We see images in the media all the time and do not even realize the affect that they are having on us. When watching television,about 30% of what you are watching is advertisements that are slowly stimulating your mind. “The media and body image are closely related due to the number of images we see in the media and the excessive amount of exposure we have to those images” (The media and body image, 2015). When people view advertisements they do not think of the effect that it is having on them, it may be small but it can grow as more and more are viewed. Advertisements lead us to believe that we need to be like that, so when a magazine has photo shoot of a woman with a perfect body getting a tan on the beach we strive to be like that. We do know that that body is not achievable but want it so badly we will do whatever the magazine tells us. Photoshopping is also a dangerous thing when it come to body
The society we live in today is addicted to the false sense of realism set by popular culture. From movies to magazines emerging adults are fed an unhealthy expectation of what they should look like physically and are contrastingly given a plethora of unhealthy choices. In most cases these signals are subtle and often times go unnoticed. From the constant flow of photo-shopped celebrities to the consistent stream of weight loss commercials on TV, the youth of today are being told they must look a certain way. These messages have pressured many young individuals, especially girls, to slim down to unreasonable levels. Nearly all images published by popular magazines are photoshopped and are receiving more and more criticism from feminist groups around the world (_________). Yet society influences physical development on the other side of the spectrum as well. As fast food imbeds itself into the foundation of every day life an increasing number of emerging adults find themselves battling weight gain and obesity. The issue has become so prevalent that, “obesity has more than tripled in adolescents… ...
An average American is bombarded daily with random propaganda to try to sell what some would consider "perfection". Most American citizens try to emulate those fictional characters in celebrity magazines. The truth is a lot of those pictures are air-brushed and some of the individuals have had extensive cosmetic surgery and other medical procedures done to look that way. This media manipulation is the main cause for the many eating disorders and the people addicted to them. For most people eating is a satisfying experience. But for some, eating is an impulse. Men and women of all ages force themselves to eat too much or too little, and experience incredible psychological pain when they do. Body weight and image become a fixation that damages relationships and has severe health consequences. Food addiction is a disorder characterized by obsession with food, the accessibility of food and the expectancy of pleasure from the intake of food. Food addiction involves the recurring consumption of food against the individual’s better judgment resulting in loss of control and anxiety or the limitation of food and obsession with body weight and image. In today’s society the worth of a female is based upon her age, her body size and her looks. The male’s worth is based on the amount of money earned or inherited, and athleticism. These images of “perfection” have been engraved in people’s minds, forcing them to believe that if they can’t live up to the same standards it will mean that they’re not good enough. This is a main cause of most disorders and addictions. Some addictionologists believe that society contributes to the development of addictions by establishing unreasonable or unreachable criteria for worthiness. Individuals who are under chronic emotional distress like negative feelings of self and inappropriate methods for dealing with emotional stress use food disorders.
When we think of our national health we wonder why Americans end up obese, heart disease filled, and diabetic. Michael Pollan’s “ Escape from the Western Diet” suggest that everything we eat has been processed some food to the point where most of could not tell what went into what we ate. Pollan thinks that if America thought more about our “Western diets” of constantly modified foods and begin to shift away from it to a more home grown of mostly plant based diet it could create a more pleasing eating culture. He calls for us to “Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants.” However, Mary Maxfield’s “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, argues differently she has the point of view that people simply eat in the wrong amounts. She recommends for others to “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs.” The skewed perception of eating will cause you all kinds of health issues, while not eating at all and going skinny will mean that you will remain healthy rather than be anorexic. Then, as Maxfield points out, “We hear go out and Cram your face with Twinkies!”(Maxfield 446) when all that was said was eating as much as you need.
It’s been shown that “Nearly two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese. Despite the attention of the health profession, the media, and the public, and mass educational campaigns about the benefits of healthier diets and increased physical activity, the prevalence of obesity in the United States has more than doubled over the past four decades” (Marks). These alarming statistics are increasing exponentially as individuals all over the globe continue to adopt unhealthy lifestyles that can lead to detrimental, and many times, irreversible, health issues. As a result, my discussion section chose to design our utopian society, named Troytopia, with the founding main vision of adhering to strict, healthy lifestyles for the betterment
Obesity has spiked precipitously in the past generations. In the 1960’s the average adult male weighed 168 pounds and now he weighs 185 pounds. In addition to this, the average adult female in 1960 weighed 143 and now she weighs 155 (Cutler). One reason why today’s society is continuing to gain weight over the generations is because today’s population “expends significantly less energy on a daily basis than their parents and...
Problem: Weight Watchers is struggling with customer retention and people hold misperceptions about the company’s offerings compared to that of other major competitors. Weight Watchers is directed toward women, however they offer products and services to fit the needs of men. Also, it is challenging for the company to create a forward-focused diet plan for mainstream users, trying not to steer away from the initial mission, which is fostering success through group support. External Environment: Weight Watchers market segmentation strategy primarily targets women who are in the 25-55 age range. North America and other developed countries are facing staggering amounts of obesity, which makes weight management an attractive industry for Weight Watchers.
You are what you eat. The fact is many American’s are out to lunch when it comes to making healthy food choices. The obesity epidemic is affecting every man, woman, and child regardless of age, race, religion or geographic location. Obesity occurs in over one-third of adults age 20 or over (BMI ≥ 30)Body Mass Index. More remarkable is the dramatic weight increase in America’s adolescent youth. According to the NHANES 1999 - 2000 data, 15% of children ages 6-11 are overweight.(Obesity In America.
Obesity and overweight remain the two major social problems in the United States. Apart from the fact that obesity and overweight are dangerous by themselves, they also cause a variety of negative health consequences. Our lives our overloaded with tasks and obligations, and we often choose to eat something fast. “Fast”, however, does not necessarily imply “useful”, and more and more people face the risks of becoming obese even at young age. Because obesity has already become a national i...
For this paper I decided to take a second and evaluate my life and think about what were some of my current lifestyle habits and behaviors and which out of these habits would I like to change. After sitting down and evaluating all of my main habits I categorized them into groups of which ones were helping to lead me to a long healthy lifestyle and which ones were likely to lead me to an unhealthy life and lifestyle. After narrowing these unhealthy habits down to my top three I decided to focus this paper and my attention on my current nutrition and most of all on my negative eating habits. After evaluating my lifestyle and all of my unhealthy habits I felt that my current nutrition level and eating patterns were in need of the most improvement and change.
The United States is one of the most obese countries in the world. This shows us that many people look towards food to fill voids, to de-stress themselves, for convenience, and for various other reasons. This also shows that countless Americans do not try to stop their bad habits until it is too late. This highlights that many of them have the mentality of “it won’t happen to me”. When they do develop a disease, or become obese they wish they would’ve done something about it. This also brings up the issue of many generations acting and thinking this way due to their parents’ lack of knowledge and understanding. This causes their children to grow up thinking and acting the same way towards food and potentially walking the same path as their parents did with food. Obesity has become a growing infection plaguing the world and its children. A simple forty-five-minute exercise everyday can reduce the risk of heart disease, a disease in which I struggle with daily and has become a never ending battle. If American’s would make eating properly and exercising regularly a priority, their lives would be