Today's rambling: My email to 20/20
Written on March 01, 2002 at 11:11 p.m.
while feeling a bit

(For those of you who don't know, 20/20 is a news program that comes on around 10 pm...I think only once or twice a week, but anyway...)

Tonight on 20/20, there was a segment about diet ad claims...you know, those "Lose 30 Pounds In Five Minutes!" and those sorts of things (I hope there really aren't ads claiming to help you lose weight in 30 minutes...). The online article doesn't cover everything that was in the television segment, but one of the products they talked briefly about was Body Solutions.

If you'll recall (if you read my diary at all regularly, anyway), I use Body Solutions. Or at least, I did...before my lack of discipline shone through and I got too lazy. Heh. Anyway, 20/20 pointed out the fact that the television ads (I've never seen TV ads for this product, btw) say only that "Results may vary" (hey, SlimFast says the same thing), and they don't tell you how much you can lose or how fast. The guy speaking for Body Solutions said that typical weight loss is like 1/2 a pound every week. The website--and the DJ endorsements I've heard on the radio--say that this system is NOT a quick fix; the weight is lost gradually, which is the way that weight SHOULD be lost. (Yes, I know that DJs are paid to endorse this product, and the website only tells the promotional side.)

*shrugs* I understand where this segment comes from--most of those "miracle" drugs out there ARE hoaxes. And I'm not even saying that Body Solutions does do anything. The point is, you should do your research before buying into these claims, so that you can make an educated decision about whether or not to buy. I don't fall for most gimmicks (except perhaps for the whole Rose Red story *blush*), and even if I did, it seems most diet drugs have ephedra in them, which is BAD (Body Solutions, by the way, does not have this ingredient--at least, the Evening Formula doesn't).

As I said, I don't even know that Body Solutions does anything by way of losing weight for you. It tells you not to eat for 3 hours before going to bed--big deal, you're not supposed to eat after 6 pm anyway. It also tells you to drink a substantial amount of water, and who among us has NOT heard that well-known advisory to drink 8 glasses of water a day? More or less, I feel like this is just a sly way of making a person conform to the guidelines of a healthy diet without actually realizing that they're dieting. As the guy on TV said, you could take a tablespoon of water each night and probably get the same weight-loss results.

Anyway, here's the email I sent to 20/20:

I just finished watching your story about those "miracle" gadgets and diet drugs, and I caught the part about Body Solutions. I'm not complaining about anything that was said throughout the segment--frankly, the thought of strapping on some device that's going to send electric zaps into my muscles frightens me!--but I had to comment about Body Solutions.

I first heard of it through a local radio station's DJ endorsement. Now, I'm not the sort of person who falls for any and every diet drug that flies from the airwaves. Forget the fact that they promise more than they can deliver; ingredients such as ephedra seem so prevalent that I wouldn't trust ANY of those "miracle" pills. So when I heard this mini infomercial for Body Solutions, I at first passed it off as just another Metabolife, or something along that vein.

Maybe it was because the praises were being sung by people I listened to all the time...I don't know. But for whatever reason, after hearing a couple DJs from the same station talking about how this stuff really worked for them (and let's face it--DJs may SOUND young and sexy, but half of them turn out to be rather fat and flabby in person), I couldn't help but be interested. So I found the Body Solutions website and looked around.

I'm not fooled into thinking that there's not some serious card-stacking at their website. I don't believe they're lying, but at the same time I doubt they're telling the entire story. But their reiterations that this isn't an instantaneous weight-loss program, but rather a gradual and healthy method, encouraged me. I'm not severely overweight by any means, but nevertheless I *do* need to get into a more healthy zone and I find I can't do it without some sort of help. When I made sure that Body Solutions contained no ephedrines, I bought a bottle of their Evening Solution. I received my bottle on Christmas Eve, and started then.

The "no eating 3 hours before bedtime" shouldn't be anything new. Don't doctors say that we shouldn't eat after 6 pm anyway? And the instructions tell you to drink as much water as possible...but we're supposed to drink at least 8 glasses anyway, so again, that's nothing new. So maybe this isn't any sort of "miracle" diet drug, but rather a sly method of making you "diet" without actually realizing what you're doing? I remember learning, in my 12th grade psychology class, about a test that had been done for hair growth drugs. A placebo was used for one group, but to the surprise of those testing, there had been quite a bit of hair growth for those who used the placebo! Could it be that the mind had some sort of power over it? Could that be what's going on here as well? Maybe it's just enough for us to BELIEVE that little tablespoon is working, when in actuality we're doing all the work ourselves. It's just the sort of help *I* need, at any rate. Just something to make me feel as if I'm not alone, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I'd already rationalized from the start that there weren't any magic chemicals in Body Solutions to sap away the fat. I knew it wouldn't work without help, and yet I bought it anyway. As of right now, I've lost a total of ten pounds. Is it because of the Body Solutions, or because I was fooled into making myself diet? As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't really matter.

Maybe that's how it is with ALL of those diet drugs (minus the ones with dangerous ingredients). Maybe it's not so much the drug's ability to siphon our fat away, but its ability to make us believe, to give us that tiny bit of support so that we can complete the journey. For those of us who find we can't do it without that bit of help, I see nothing wrong with using Body Solutions. After all, there are always worse ways of losing weight.

Didn't really get to say EVERYTHING I would've liked to, but I think I got the main point across. If you're overweight and you can't find any other way to lose that extra weight (and it IS hard), I find nothing wrong with taking stuff like Body Solutions. I can't vouch for the other drugs out there, but this company at least makes you follow healthy guidelines. The commercials say that you can eat anything you want during the day, but the booklet that comes as a package with the Phase I program tells you that you should do things like walk for at least an hour a day, things like that. You also get a book to write down what you've eaten during the day (tedious, but I discovered from way back when I was doing that silly Weight Watchers thing that it actually DOES help)...This is healthy. It is. And if the Evening Formula itself doesn't do a damned thing? Well, at least it subtly pushes you into a healthier lifestyle...if you have the discipline to follow it.

Maybe I should've titled this "My Endorsement for Body Solutions" instead, LoL! But it's not that I'm saying everyone should use it; use your own judgment. Do your research. This particular plan worked for me, whereas for someone else it might not. I like the idea of gradual over instantaneous anyway (though of course right now I'd like to have some immediate magic drug, since bathing suit season is fast approaching, ha ha!).

That's about all for my argument, however. I think tomorrow I'll force myself to stop being lazy and get back into the habit of drinking water during work instead of those bottles of Fruit Works. And hey, if I get really angry at John and feel the need to throw the contents of my drinking cup at him, at least water doesn't stain...

Later note: Lest I get tons of Notes pointing out various places where critics point out the bad points of Body Solutions, let me say that I've already started to look. And I found this link. Apparently, aloe vera gel is a laxative when ingested. Is this supposed to be a blanket statement, or does it only act as such for certain people. Because I had none of those sorts of problems while taking the Evening Formula.

The "article" (I don't know what you'd call it) also says that the other formulas (such as the Phase II stuff you can order separately) contains diuretics, and I've read elsewhere that they also contain ephedrines (which, as I stated already, are bad). The company has stated that no ephedrines are contained in their product, but maybe they just did some fancy hedging...maybe it's just the Evening Formula that doesn't contain ephedrines.

But then again, this little article-ish thing doesn't like that you're not supposed to eat for three hours (saying that it's calorie deprivation), and what about all those times that I've heard the "experts" say that you shouldn't eat after 6pm anyway, when your metabolism slows? Am I just out of the loop, and they've amended that statement? If this weight I've lost was just one of those things where you lose it quickly, then gain it back because it wasn't lost in a natural manner, I would've gained it well before now. It's been off for several weeks, now.

I don't know. Believe or disbelieve, I don't much care. I already said that this stuff wouldn't work for everyone, and it IS expensive, so I'm not telling you to run out and buy it. It's your own personal choice. Just know both sides before you jump into it, and then you can't feel guilty or stupid for doing so.

You do what works best for yourself. That's the last I have to say on this subject.