Reaction to My Weight Loss

I turned the big six – o a short time ago and one of the changes I made was to slim down – to take off the extra weight I’d put on over the years. I’ve been healthy all along but this weight loss enhanced my health even more. By changing my eating habits and losing the weight, my blood pressure dropped and so did my cholesterol. Deciding the extra weight had to go has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in the past few years.

Today, I met a person with whom I’ve been a co-worker for several years but had not seen in a couple of months. Her first comment was an exclamation, “You’ve lost a lot of weight! You’re looking great! How did you do it?” So I told her of the program. She knew I’d been using nutritional supplements from this company for years. But I had never used the weight loss component to get my weight fine tuned.

She also knew that, like her I do not believe in any of the weight loss programs that are marketed on street corner telephone poles, by spam e-mail, TV advertising or flyers. These weight loss programs set a person up for failure and the weight that does come off isn’t off for long.

She also has proposed to be health conscious and has always been a strong proponent of natural and organic foods. But she has never really looked healthy.

I was surprised at her reaction. She said, “I’m looking for a program too but hopefully I won’t have to use the one you use”. What a negative response! And then she left. I will ask her about the response later when I see her again.

She does need to lose some weight. But she will probably go for some advertised quick fix weight loss program that will result in failure and then she will bemoan her wasted money.

Her response was interesting and intriguing. She was looking at me marveling at my weight loss; she acknowledged how healthy I look; she knows I’m always upbeat and she knows that I always scrutinize everything and accept nothing without investigation,. I believe I carry credibility with her.

So, is the lack of credibility with the company from where I get my products? She’s known the company name for a long time but as never investigated its scientific background. Weight management is one of its foci but there are not specific weight loss products. She doesn’t know this because she shuts down at the mention of the company. Why does she shut down?

Is it because the company markets its products via direct sales? Did she have a bad experience with a direct sales company? Does she have some erroneous belief that valid products (weight loss or otherwise) are only sold in health food stores and chain stores so that middlemen must be paid. Is she afraid to look at the company and its products for fear that she might find something that works? Maybe she is one of thiose people who derive their identity from not being healthy.

I shall take this on as a project. Hopefully it will be a learning experience for both of us. Hopefully my obvious weight loss and her desire for weight loss will be a sufficient springboard for discussion. Understanding how people’s biases arise is a fascinating subject. This has provided an opportunity for me to a little research.