Diary of a Fat Girl

I hate those phony ads too. What pisses me off is that this shit inducing product is one letter off from my damn name. I eat healthy shit just because that is how I eat. I don't like the way I feel if I eat anything, but healthy food. You are right on with this one.

Oh girl, I've used Alli. Let me tell you a little about it.
It's a Pavlovian sort of drug. If you take it and eat no fat, you're fine, no anal seepage, no intestinal troubles. You might a well be taking sugar pills.
But if you take it and drink, say a Venti Cafe Vanilla Frappacino and eat a fat soaked egg, cheese and bacon sandwich....well, you better hope you are less than 15 minutes from your nearest friendly bathroom.
The way it "works" is to force you to eat properly by punishing you for straying. The idea is that once you are forced into learning to eat right,you can go off the drug and will keep eating right. Which is baloney. Most girls who take it are diet pills pros, like me, who figure out the loop holes and abuse it to try and keep from gaining weight when we binge.

And just to clarify, the anal seepage is not "uncontrollable". It only happens when you fart.

Rule number One on Alli: NEVER FART.

I want to start by making it clear that I'm not saying this drug is good, that I like these type of ads, or that I am trying to defend any of these quick fix solutions.

But, and as you know, everyone likes a big butt....

Why does everyone who wants to lose weight, or potentially be interested in these products, have to be someone with an eating disorder?

Some of us truly do need to learn some better eating habits - and the suggestions you criticize from the advertisement, (bagging 1/2 the meal, smaller plates, etc....) are pretty good suggestions and would not imply to me that I am a "a-fat-pig-with-no-self-control".

I do not have an eating disorder. I do have a problem with portion control from time-to-time, especially when I go to a buffet. So switching to a smaller plate in this instance would force me to take less food on a trip, which means I will eat more slowly, which means I will have more time for my body to tell my brain that I am not as hungry as I think. Not so bad, eh?

Not everything is directed at people who have eating disorders - as this post seems to imply (especially to a reader who does not, or has not, read you for some time - like some of your new readers thanks to a particular magazine article).

I get that this is your target audience, and that you are writing from a particular perspective - as you well know, I understand the idea of voice and audience in writing. :-)

But you say "we don't need" this, and that, and a few other things. We? Who is we? Are you lumping everyone into one giant category? If so, you are as guilty as the manufacturers of that pill. Do you mean, we - as in people who have had the surgery? If so, perhaps you need to say so.

Toward the end, you say "But wouldn't it be wonderful if there were ways to help people get healthy without surgery and pills?" "People"? What people? Who? All people? Many people? Most people? Well, depending on what group of people you are talking about - there is! Eat right and exercise. Is eating right the answer for someone with an eating disorder - of course not! Is exercise the answer for someone with physical challenges that make it difficult or impossible. Of course not. Are people with eating disorders or physical challenges the sole audience for these pills. No, of course not. I'd wager, for most of the people who think about dietary supplements, eating right and exercising would go a long way to providing them with the solutions they are looking to pop a pill for.

Do I do eat right and exercise - no. Would I weigh less and be healthier if I did - yes. Am I overweight - yes, by about 30 pounds.

Now - before your readers start flaming me, its important that they know that you and I have been friends for AGES! That I love you like a sister and have seen you through the good times and the bad times - so this is not an attack on you but a reaction to what you have written.

BTW - congrats on the magazine, teaching stuff - lots of current success to focus on. Of course, this makes it less likely we'll see each other anytime soon. :-)

AJ, I don't think my readers will flame you. You're the angel who brought me my Bosie Zeek the Bumble Bee!! Let me see if I can answer your points... I'm not sure I could say that all folks who want to use Alli are eating disordered, but using a drug that has a known side effect of anal seepage seems slightly disordered to me. It's self punishing behavior, I think. The suggestions that I didn't like about cutting out half of one's meal are great if one is trying to control portions of foods that are probably not the best choices to begin with. I wouldn't bag half a salad nor would I bag half of my broiled tilapia. My fresh vegetables aren't going anywhere either. I'm an advocate of high volume foods so bagging half my dinner doesn't strike me as necessary. When I say "we" don't need a drug like Alli I do mean the human race. I am lumping us all in one category. I'm not sure how that makes me as bad as a multi billion dollar diet industry or the manufacturers of Alli. Humans need good nutritious foods and more of it. As an eater at buffets, I know that I used to be tempted by the white rice, bread, pasta, fried foods and starchy fatty crap. I am daring to say that all people would do well to not eat that stuff. Yes, I am making a sweeping pronouncement about crap foods and how bad they are for all people. I think the Alli pill is evil. Another sweeping pronouncement on my part. Whether or not their target audience is me or you I'm declaring Shenanigans on them. Big time.