I couldn't tell you what I was looking for now, but about a week ago I stumbled onto a site and signed up; it was an experience that made me stop, think, and walk away immediately. The site is called weighins.com, and the idea is to challenge you to lose weight by journaling your daily results. You can join in “challenges” to lose the most weight by a certain date, and if I understood correctly, at the end of the year, a panel of judges looks at all the challenges and awards a site prize. Depending on the challenge you join (or invited to), you can win money that's placed in a pot at the end.
At first this seemed to be a great idea, but something started to bother me after I signed up - emails; some from the site managers, others from average Joes who wanted you to join in their “challenge”. Turns out when you join, the site's settings automatically places you in the “receive email from everyone!” as if you wanted more junk email in your mail programs. The second thing it does is list your name on the front page of the site, so everyone can see who the new people are. This unfortunately opens you up to emails inviting you to join the various challenges as well as invades your privacy. It's one thing to be known as fat in the real world, but cyberspace doesn't need to plaster your name on the “newest fatties” list.
After I got over the shock of a bunch of invites because I was listed on the front page like raw meat teasing a pack of hungry pit bull dogs, it started to rub me the wrong way. I didn't join a “challenge” on the spot because I didn't like the description and decided instead of fade away gracefully. This wasn't the answer I was looking for, but you can't unsubscribe once they've got your email address; the most you can do is modify the settings to shut down the emails.
Nearly twenty years ago I met a man who had absolutely no hair on his body anywhere. I assumed he was a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, but soon learned something more radical. He lost all his hair because of a cash bet between him and a friend on who could lose the most weight by a certain date. He won the bet and has been hairless ever since. I asked if he talked to the doctor about it and he said he had, and the doctor couldn't do anything for him because the radical weight loss and shut down his hair follicles.
His story and soft-spoken manner kept running through my head as I saw these cash prizes associated with the various challenges and I began to realize although the site might have its good points, to me, it's a dangerous outlet for dieters. What happens when you're dropped from a challenge, or you come in dead last? These kind of emotional lows can set in motion a binge eating session that might push the person into giving up altogether - is that what they want? I signed in, changed the email settings to avoid future junk solicitations, and decided to walk away.
The other side of this coin is it can create such a pressure to lose weight, the person in the club might just develop an eating disorder just to win. I don't have any scientific study or fact to back that up, but it's definitely a gut reaction that wouldn't be outrageous to wonder about.
One of the better support sites I did encounter is called 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet, and it's quite no-nonsense. Three southern sisters who were raised eating some of the best food to be found anywhere created this site when they realized one day they had become fat. They have been through most of the fad diets and gimmick products, and they are journaling their way through their own weight loss journey, sharing what they've learned and tried. To me, this is a good, solid site that sorts through a lot of garbage products and advice to save other dieters from being taken advantage of.
A weight loss site should be a support system that's ready to catch you if you slide backwards, not make bets with your wallet and force you into quick and dangerous weight loss techniques just to win a few dollars. This kind of site sets the dieter up to lose the weight, as well as regain it, which is another reason it's dangerous. The idea is to break the weight loss/weight gain cycle once and for all, not perpetuate it through crash diets.
I am glad I walked away from this site. Some may think it's a wonderful idea, and if it's helped them to lose weight, that's great! I just hope the people can maintain that weight loss over the long-term haul or else it's all for nothing.
If you don't like trying to find all the segments of this series, you can locate the links to them here and they will return you the exact spot on the appropriate site.
quazen.com articles by this writer can be found here
socyberty.com articles can be located here
relijournal.com articles are here
picable.com photographic images are here
