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No, really, it's not
15 Dec 2021 09:55OMG. So I was reading posts on the Weight Watcher's board and a few things jumped out at me:
1. The number of people who've lost someone or who have some sick from Covid is pretty large. WW demographics is not the same as my twitter feed or real life, clearly.
2. The number of people who dismiss others' lived experience is... upsetting. A month in, some people are still unhappy with the new program and not doing well on it. The immediate reaction seems to be "What are you doing wrong that the program isn't working for you?" or "change is hard!!!" or "where are you cheating?" as opposed to assuming that people with problems are OMG, telling the truth. I remember one day, a few months after the start of the HORRID flex points program telling people at my meeting how it was not working for me at all, that it was making me unhappy, and they all gave me the 'change is hard!' line and I tried to explain that it wasn't change, I can deal with change, it was the lack of flexibility that I was hating. Anyhow, the dismissal of other people's concerns it kinda ugly, and kinda constant. Note: I don't like the new program, I find it profoundly stupid. I can make it work, but it isn't a good long term fit for me.
3. Two parts on this one. LOL.
3.a The constant refrain of "WW is sooo based in science, that's why they've changed the program!" LOL, nope. They changed the program because they do every other year to keep people hoping that Something! New! will work for them. Science, maybe, but marketing science, not endocrinology science. There have been no major changes in the science of weight loss in years (calories in calories out, we can't prove it works work, and we're going to pretend that everyone's body operates at same efficiency so we can blame dieters and their mothers for everything). If anything, while WW pushes low sugar etc, the data coming out from long term studies seem to show it doesn't matter WHAT you actually eat if the goal is to lose weight. Anyhow.
3.b "I gained today... must have been the diet soda I had yesterday... they have SO much sodium!" LOL, no. Your diet coke/pepsi has at much sodium as 3 or 4 baby carrots, if you gained, it could be from a zillion different reasons, your diet coke isn't one of them. I find the puritanical focus on blaming something that gives so many of us a little bit of guilt-free pleasure really annoying. It's like 'fat people should have nothing to consume that they can enjoy' and it's not nice. See: parties with multiple mixed drinks and plenty of expensive gourmet soda but not a single offering for anyone not able to drink sugar. Anyhow. Yeah.
1. The number of people who've lost someone or who have some sick from Covid is pretty large. WW demographics is not the same as my twitter feed or real life, clearly.
2. The number of people who dismiss others' lived experience is... upsetting. A month in, some people are still unhappy with the new program and not doing well on it. The immediate reaction seems to be "What are you doing wrong that the program isn't working for you?" or "change is hard!!!" or "where are you cheating?" as opposed to assuming that people with problems are OMG, telling the truth. I remember one day, a few months after the start of the HORRID flex points program telling people at my meeting how it was not working for me at all, that it was making me unhappy, and they all gave me the 'change is hard!' line and I tried to explain that it wasn't change, I can deal with change, it was the lack of flexibility that I was hating. Anyhow, the dismissal of other people's concerns it kinda ugly, and kinda constant. Note: I don't like the new program, I find it profoundly stupid. I can make it work, but it isn't a good long term fit for me.
3. Two parts on this one. LOL.
3.a The constant refrain of "WW is sooo based in science, that's why they've changed the program!" LOL, nope. They changed the program because they do every other year to keep people hoping that Something! New! will work for them. Science, maybe, but marketing science, not endocrinology science. There have been no major changes in the science of weight loss in years (calories in calories out, we can't prove it works work, and we're going to pretend that everyone's body operates at same efficiency so we can blame dieters and their mothers for everything). If anything, while WW pushes low sugar etc, the data coming out from long term studies seem to show it doesn't matter WHAT you actually eat if the goal is to lose weight. Anyhow.
3.b "I gained today... must have been the diet soda I had yesterday... they have SO much sodium!" LOL, no. Your diet coke/pepsi has at much sodium as 3 or 4 baby carrots, if you gained, it could be from a zillion different reasons, your diet coke isn't one of them. I find the puritanical focus on blaming something that gives so many of us a little bit of guilt-free pleasure really annoying. It's like 'fat people should have nothing to consume that they can enjoy' and it's not nice. See: parties with multiple mixed drinks and plenty of expensive gourmet soda but not a single offering for anyone not able to drink sugar. Anyhow. Yeah.
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