I want to try to sound educated, I really do. But I was at the gym yesterday morning, a Saturday, and as I did my 10K run on the treadmill in front of 12 ceiling TV panels, the infomercials marched on before my eyes. Saturday morning must be prime sales time for these companies, and weight loss must account for 25% of them. As I worked myself into a massive sweat burning over 1100 calories and watched these TV spots, there was the only way I could express myself..."Diet Infomercials Suck."
I was stuck watching this one called "Zumba!" I pick on this one not because I hate it in particular, it just happened to be the one I had in front of my face. "Zumba" (pronounced Zoomba) is weight loss by dance. It is a cardiovascular exercise that will miraculously have you effortlessly losing massive amounts of weight. You will look sexy, fit into your clothes, burn fat and sculpt your abs into 'model looking' shape. By the sales pitch, this infomercial is targeting women.
At this point in my life, after 38 years of yo-yo dieting and two years after losing 85 pounds and keeping it off, I think I know something about weight loss. I know about the discipline of developing a meal plan and making good choices, the rigor of exercise that it takes to lose weight and the lifestyle of exercise to keep it off, and I know the emotional triggers that will get you to make the right choices. That said, this infomercial was so full of crap it had my complete attention. I will never buy their product, but if their intent was to get me to watch, it at least did that.
The first thing that struck me was that there was not one overweight or obese woman (and again, not being sexist, that was their target audience) dancing on the infomercial. These women had toned dancer bodies and probably half or more of them have never been overweight in their life from my observation. I know what an obese woman looks like after weight loss and THAT was not it. After they have lost 50-100 lbs, large women look like you just took the air out of a basketball. They do NOT look like Julianne Hough of 'Dancing with the Stars.' The goal of this commercial monstrosity is that YOU will do Zumba and untimately look like THEM. That was the first big lie because to look like these people on the infomercial takes a concious diet plan and a life that centers around 'how you look.' These women work out at gyms in Beverly Hills with trainers and eat salads all day long looking to get a modeling gig or, gasp! a spot on an infomercial! Most of the people who are overweight today do not have that type of mentality...but they do have the desire to look like those ladies on the TV.
The second thing that struck me was that no one was sweating. This is exercise right? No one is sweating and every person is smiling? Remember Mr. Roark from that 70's TV show? "Smiles everyone...Welcome to Fantasy Island!" The infomercial said you could burn up to 1000 calories per hour doing Zumba. Sure you can. If you do it with effort and if you do it for an hour. Let me tell you something about exercising enough to burn 1000 calories per hour. Back in the real world, as the infomercial played, I looked over at a woman who had got onto the treadmill the same time as I did. I was running at 7.5 mph and had been going for 25 minutes straight. I had burned about 550 calories. She was walking at 3 mph and had been walking for 25 minutes too. She had burned just under 100 calories. You can wipe out that 100 calories by eating 1.5 apples. Why had she only burned 100 calories? Because 3mph is pretty much an easy stroll. Because EXERcise takes EXERtion...and EXERtion equals SWEAT. The woman next to me, while showing a very admirable desire to exercise, was not working hard. To Zumba enough to burn 1000 calories would mean that these pretty, eye-lined, body make-up laden models with their designer exercise clothes would be moving their fannies long after this 30 minute infomercial was over and their make-up would be running into the audience. Which makes one think...who the hell works out to an audience? No one cheers me on at Planet Fitness!...and practically no one is smiling.
This brings me to my third observation. Time. This infomercial did show some overweight women...in their before and after shots. Here is the sequence I watched. Overweight Mabel, followed by trim Mabel, followed by sexy girl doing Zumba. Where did Mabel go? Did she have a heart attack doing Zumba? My point here is that they show examples of people with 50-100 lbs of weight loss and they do it by showing you picture A, picture B and then the dancer. First of all, the time it takes to get from Picture A to Picture B, especially to a dieter losing over 50 lbs is like an eternity. I was on a 900 calorie per day (medically supervised) diet and exercised for 45 minutes every day. 50 lbs took me two and a half months. It wasn't instant and it wasn't easy. This presentation took you from fat to thin in an instant. And it's easy. And fun. And miraculous. These dancers on the video are moving, at most, for about 45 seconds. That burns about 30 calories at maximum intensity. Can you Zumba for 20 seconds if you are overweight? Sure. Can you for 45 seconds? How about 45 minutes? Per day? For 4-6 months?
How does their product sound now?
Here is what the infomercial isn't telling you.
1) Weight loss for an overweight or obese person is difficult and takes a long time. It requires a lifestyle change and commitment. You can't lose that weight by dancing for three minutes.
2) To look like those dancers requires a life that has, as it's goal, to look like those dancers. Their lives revolove around how they look. Not their families, their jobs or their problems. Those dancers' biggest problem is how to lose that last ounce of cellulite. Does that feel like YOUR life?
3) As fun as dancing is, it is not a lifestyle change that will be long lasting. Figure out an exercise plan and an eating plan that fits you and commit to it.
Losing big weight and keeping it off is not easy. It is not a lot of fun. It requires choices, concious ones. It requires owning your life. You can do it. If you do, you will feel better than you ever have in your life. You will have better self-esteem, better health and you will live longer than your current timetable is predicting. I promise.
I found this on YouTube...the real Zumba for the overweight. This won't sell their product like their infomercial but it is real. If you are fighting and winning the weight-loss battle, my best to you. Don't let these infomercials get you down. I applaud your hard work and dedication.
