Results Typical

I'm still stuck watching commercials so that means being subject to the Valerie Bertanelli tear-jerker. In high-def, no less. Whee.

We open with a very telling sight. Valerie is in the middle of the screen with the Jenny Craig logo in the lower left corner and the words "Results Not Typical" in the other. Its an important phrase and keep your eyes out because you'll see a lot of it as diet-ad season heats up this week.

You'll find it at the totally not a diet Weight Watchers website. You'll find it at Jenny. You'll find it attached to Nutrisystem's ads. If a diet claims it caused people to lose weight, you'll find it. The all-important "product doesn't work" disclaimer. Of course, its worded obscurely enough and buried under asterix aplenty so no one ever needs to confront that message. Results not typical means the product doesn't work. See, even the diet companies can admit that diets don't work.

Anyway, back to the emotionally manipulative ad. after Bertanelli apologizes for still needing to lose a few pounds (actually, that might "test" better) she explains whats so wonderful about her diet. Seems the best thing is that this New Year's she's going to wake up for the first time and not think about her weight. And she doesn't have to make a resolution about losing weight. Thanks, Jenny!

Funny thing, though, is that I know something else that will do that. Its called fat liberation. I'm going to wake up on New Year's Day and not be thinking about my weight. I won't be making any resolutions about losing weight. Fat hatred isn't inevitable. Self-loathing doesn't have to be a way of life. Everyone has the capacity to liberate themselves from fat hatred. Everyone. I don't buy into the notion that self-love should be withheld from people if they really don't want to. No matter how certain you are that you can't accept your body. No matter how much self-justifications you make for self-hatred.

"I just want to lose some weight. I don't expect to be thin."

"I'm not comfortable at this weight."

"I need to get healthy"

These aren't mandatory. You can be comfortable, healthy, and accepting at the size you are NOW. Really. You ARE okay in your body. It doesn't have to be anything else. You can come to feel this way. No one is too far removed from self-love. Believe me, these results are very typical.

Not that its not without challenges. Emotionally manipulative TV commercials extolling the virtues of thinness, for instance. Openly hostile TV commercials decrying the horrors of fatness for another instance. But self-acceptance is a sure way to stop hating your body and a good deal more reliable than trying to remake your body into something acceptable. These results are typical.