NutriSystem Size 2 Commercial - UGH!

[bicker]

My only other comment is to those of you who seem to resent people who feel "fat" in a size 8 or 10 or 12 - why does that bother you?

As I mentioned earlier, I can see things both ways. I remember back before I had lost all my weight originally. It was very distressing to me to think that, "I couldn't be happy until..." something happened that I couldn't imagine ever happening (i.e., my being thin). It is like standing at the bottom of a sheer cliff, before you learn rock climbing. It may help some folks to focus on the fact that many of us who have had at least some level of success started out by thinking we couldn't achieve anywhere near as much as we eventually achieved.

 

[ZerasPride]

I'd like to weigh in here for a moment if I may and I certainly don't want to word this in a way that it will offend anyone or make them mad.

I think a lot of us are coming from a place where for most or all of our lives we have been obese/heavy/plump or just plain fat. I wore a size 26/28 for most of my adult life and I was purely miserable. My goal was a size 10 or a 12. I thought those were dream sizes and that short of weight loss surgery it would never become my reality. Well thanks to lots of hard work and low carbing I actually got down to sizes 10 and 12. I was thrilled (still felt fat and unworthy but that's a different story). Over the past year, I put back on some weight and was up to a size 16 and was so miserable. Now my size 14's are getting loose on me again and that's a relief.

I don't mean to speak for the group or anything but I do think some of us may feel that our dream size where we hope to feel fit, healthy and happy is causing others to feel the way we felt at our heaviest that to me is very discouraging. But speaking from the stand point of someone that has "gained back a few" I can totally see how someone that starts off a size 10 can feel fat and long for a size 2. But as I said, it can be discouraging to have someone say they feel fat at your dream size.

I wish everyone the best with whatever their weight loss goals are and I can emphathize with someone whether they have 5 or 105 pounds to lose. It's simply not an easy task and it's even harder to keep the weight off once you lose it!

My goal in addition to taking off the weight I gained back is to find a way to be fit, healthy, happy and comfortable in my skin. I didn't allow myself to feel that way when I wore 10's and 12's because I allowed other people (family and media to name two) to dictate how I felt about myself. Now I realize that a size 10 or even a 12 is great for me and if I can get back there again, I won't take it for granted or allow anyone to make me feel like I'm still too fat. Thanks for listening and I hope even a little of what I said makes sense.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Agreed! I wish more weight loss commercials showed more realistic goals to strive for!

I'm a tall girl- 5'11, and the way I'm built, I look aneorexic at around a size 8. I would basically be dead at a size 2!

 

[bicker]

It is hard to sell the whole idea of "a life-long and never-ending progression of small, intermediate goals". Some folks won't spend money on anything that won't get them to where they feel they want to be. (Little do they know that what they pay for isn't what actually gets them there... but that's another story.)

Incidently, our company accountant has got to be 5'11" or maybe 6'. I'm not really familiar with woman's sizes, but I suspect some folks would be pretty surprised by how thin she is. While that is perhaps something that no one that height need ever even consider striving for, it's okay for her. She's athletic, from what I've heard, and clearly very healthy and fit. I think it is just one of those things you cannot tell until you're in that situation. For some folks, even some folks that height, that's perhaps the correct long-term goal.

 

[k_null81]

I agree with you about commending no matter where someone starts out. I got to about 140-145 #'s which I was wearing a size 12 @ that time of my highest weight. I'm also 5'2 so keep this in mind. Some people may not think that is over weight but in reality if I didn't start exercising or dieting at that point and I just kept with eating whatever I want and didn't exercise I would be a lot heavier now. I didn't want that! I have watched my mom struggle for years with her weight so I made the decision @ 145#'s @ the age of 20 to start a better life style for myself before I got older and it got a lot harder to lose the weight. I struggle with my weight every day. I think all the commercials on tv regarding diet pills, exercise equiptment, and diet plans where you have to buy their food is all crap! I don't believe those models/actors one bit. You can't lose weight just by the one thing they offer. To maintain a healthy weight you have to be ready to make better decisions regarding food and start exercising regularly. Remeber it's a life style change not a diet. I say that but it's doesn't make it any easier!

FYI odd numbered sizes are juniors, which are proportioned differently and generally 2 sizes smaller than misses sizes, which are even numbered. So a size 5 is in fact smaller than a size 2.

And yes exposing ourselves and children to healthy body images is important.

But can we lay off the judgey "she probably started as an 8 or 10" comments? We all have body issues and loosing 20 pounds is loosing 20 pounds and to be commended no matter where someone starts out.

Flame away.....

 

[becky_AK]

It makes me so angry too. Last year before I had my son I had lost about 30 pounds and was a size 9...the smallest I have been since high school. I was so proud of myself and felt better then ever, only to go shopping and have the salesperson tell me that I had to shop in another section because they didn't have anything my size in that deparment.

I am tired of seeing size 2 models...c'mon, it's not realistic nor is it healthy. It's seriously time to promote healthy bodies for the sake of our children who are developing eating disorders way too young...and of course for my sanity because I hate seeing skinny models on every commercial

 

[AKASnowWhite]

Agreed! I wish more weight loss commercials showed more realistic goals to strive for!

I'm a tall girl- 5'11, and the way I'm built, I look aneorexic at around a size 8. I would basically be dead at a size 2!

My skeleton wouldn't fit into a size 2

Stupid commercial, imo. Doesn't make me want to use their system...

 

[Zoesmama03]

FYI odd numbered sizes are juniors, which are proportioned differently and generally 2 sizes smaller than misses sizes, which are even numbered. So a size 5 is in fact smaller than a size 2.

And yes exposing ourselves and children to healthy body images is important.

But can we lay off the judgey "she probably started as an 8 or 10" comments? We all have body issues and loosing 20 pounds is loosing 20 pounds and to be commended no matter where someone starts out.

Flame away.....

Oh I know and totally believe that its just as hard to lose 20 lbs as it is to lose 100 lbs or more probably harder since the last 10-20 is always hard. My reasoning is that she is like OMG I can feel comfortable in a bathing suit. I think its great that she was able to lose weight. Anytime someone loses weight its awesome. Just can get discouraging like 10 is the end of the world. There is lot to consider her bone structure and her height.

 

[Zoesmama03]

Okay my problem with the adverts is not the "I'm a size 2" thing. Good on her for losing. What I find really funny us comparing the ad to the one with Dan Marino (sp?) She is all wow my husband thinks I'm sexy now, and the Dan one is wow my sex life has really improved. I love that the guy ad is all about how great I look and I can score hot chicks, and the woman one is all no one loved me before, but my husband does now. As a woman I am slightly annoyed by that. But then I find Cosmo magazine annoying in the whole "I am independent woman" then on the next page it's "how to keep a man" (don't get me started on Sex In The City!!) Is it any wonder we women have such conflicting ideas and self esteem issues??

Having said that I still am on NS!! I've lost 20lbs, but I am so not close to being a size 2!!!

OH yeah that brings me to the oh I will only have a better life if I lose the weight is so NOT(atleast not always) true. Many people lose to only find out the problems didn't just go away like they thought. ITs all about learning to deal and moving on. Its great to "FEEL" great at any size or with any amount lost small or really large amounts. Thats just it though they make it out that you can only be happy at a size 2 and its just not true. I work with kids in a children's shelter and I can't tell you how many of the girls come in worried about their weight. One 11 year old thought she was fat and exercised herself silly because she was 90 lbs. Then she sees ads like that and magazine covers are worse. They were all looking at one with bathing suit and saying I wish I looked like that and I was like "you do know that they don't really look like that" "they are touched up by very creative people on a computer"

 

[bicker]

Oh I know and totally believe that its just as hard to lose 20 lbs as it is to lose 100 lbs or more probably harder since the last 10-20 is always hard.

My solution to that is aim to lose more than just enough to get into the healthy-weight range for my height.

http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/healthieryou/html/chapter4.html#chap4table1

So I'm 5'10", so my goal is to get to 160, but I'll be okay at 167, so if I don't lose those last seven pounds, I'll still be okay. Just keep myself in control and recognize that I'll be working the rest of my life to keep myself healthy, so if it takes 10 years to get from 167 to 160, who cares?

 

[bicker]

OH yeah that brings me to the oh I will only have a better life if I lose the weight is so NOT(atleast not always) true.

Generally, I don't think there is ever anything that "if" it happens I will be happy. What's insidiously disappointing is that the opposite is true: There are things that "if" they don't happen, I may not be happy. I look at losing weight as a necessary but not sufficient condition for happiness.

 

[sunshinegirl]

I'm glad that I found this thread because I was really put off by the commercial as well. It made me feel like I need to be uncomfortable in a 12 or a 14 because everyone else feels like a 12 or a 14 is huge. But I would actually feel pretty good about myself to be a 12 again. .

I guess it is the use of the numbers and the perception that it creates. I know it shouldn't matter what the number is. I know I shouldn't care what other people think. But the bottom line is that I do. And most people who are trying to lose weight (and would use their product) feel the same way. Was it really worth it to alienate those of us on the 12+ end of the spectrum to get that commercial to come across? Seeing that woman healthy without hearing her talk about what size she is would have been motivation enough for me to believe the commercial.

 

[bicker]

Seeing that woman healthy without hearing her talk about what size she is would have been motivation enough for me to believe the commercial.

This is an interesting statement. I think this reflects the inherent diversity of people. For some, just "get healthy" isn't a clear enough target, while for others, it's the only important target.