I not only bring home the bacon, I bring home the bacon too. So since I'm the primary grocery-getter in my household, I have to find things to keep my waits in checkout lines as tolerable as possible, given my well documented "issues" with supermarkets and whatnot. While this usually means toying around on the Blackberry, sometimes I like to peep at those tabloids, just to see what sorta ignoramus stuff they're trying to pass off on their "readers" this time.
You don't even have to crack open such trash-mags as People, Us Weekly, or the National Enquirer to lose a few brain cells. They usually spell out the idiocy right there on the cover in BOLD LETTERS for you.
BRITNEY PREGNANT WITH QUADS! WHO'S THE BABY DADDY?
DAKOTA FANNING'S WILD WET WEEKEND IN CABO!
OPRAH AND GAYLE SECRETLY TIE THE KNOT IN GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONY! STEADMAN FURIOUS!
And so on and so forth. These magazines usually aren't even 10% factual, yet people still burn hardearned cash on them for reasons I can't figure out.
So, the other day, I'm checking out, and I see the US Weekly cover above, with pop-tart Christina Aguilera proclaiming how she lost 40 pounds in 4 months. This would be a pretty cool thing to read about, but there's one minor detail being omitted.
Uh, she also just had a baby.
Seriously, do they really think people are that dumb? It's not like Aguilera was Shamu before the baby, so reality is, the 40 pounds they're talking about having lost most likely included the baby itself (born in January, according to Google) as well as a sh*tload of afterbirth. If the baby was a solid 7 pounds, and the afterbirth and water weight added another 13 or so, it's probably fairer to say she dropped 20. But of course, 40 both sounds and looks a lot better in BOLD LETTERS.
Talk about disingenuous.
But of course, this is all about selling magazines, not empowering other women, so why let something so superficial as a baby get in the way? And since we're on the topic, here's a commercial that irks me for the very same reasons.
Barberie and Aguilera prolly weighted a buck and a half at best combined before the pregnancies. There's no way either was 40 pounds overweight after they dropped their kids, given the fact that the average woman only gains about 25-35. Believe me, I'd know.[1]
I'm sure you guys are reading this and sayin' "why the hell is AB talkin' about two ditzy blondes?" Honestly, I don't have a good answer for you on that one, but I know a Grand Hu$tle when I see it, and hey, I can't resist callin' em' out.
Question: Do you think the US Weekly cover and Nutrisystem ad are misleading? Got any other examples of recent Grand Hu$tles that really irked you?
Pregnancy and Weight Gain [WebMD]
[1] Well, not personally of course, but secondhand, yeah.
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Since I'm up writing papers, I catch a lot of informmercials. The one that bothers me the most is the one for Extenze ... the herbal male enhancement. The unintentional comedy is through the roof on that.
I think the 6 week body makeover is too complex to be real.
The six week body makeover does work.. Tried it once, but I couldn't make it past week two. I was literally starving myself. My body felt like it was attacking itself. Needles to say you have to have some serious discipline to do it and self preservation. So maybe for me it was the two week makeover... :). Anyway, I always laugh. Anyone that has ever had a baby knows what that is about. Average bro, we know about the 40 pounds. I always measured my weight loss by how much I weighed prior to pregnancy, but if it sells copy, let them go for it.
Eat all you want and still lose weight!
That's right!
Eat all you want and still lose
weight!
We couldn't say it on TV if it wasn't true!
AKAVAR IS COMING!
My God, that ad scares the crap out of me, especially at 2AM. It's so wrong!
EG
I just want to take this opportunity to tell all the men who read this to STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HERBALIFE!!!!!1111one
While you're taking the pills, it does... stuff. Stuff that you don't want. To your junk.
Yeah.
Seriously, trust me on this: Do not take Herbalife. Evar.
As a person who's never dieted or used a diet pill in her life but has maintained the same two sizes (depending on the designer and the cut) for almost a decade; I'll say it takes freaking hardwork to stay in shape.
Right now that I'm embracing a new decade of my life, I'm finding out I can't just eat anything and not pay for it.
That's why it irks me when I see 6-8 mins workout informercial to have a great body. Oh please!
Also, all that Nutrisystem I've seen colleagues eat don't work for the long term.
You may lose weight dramatically for a few months but when you start eating real food (without diligently working out), the pounds start piling up.
Another one that gives me the creeps is some kind of breathing technique that will make you drop two to four dress sizes. I've been seeing that informercial since college with this tall blond 50ish-60ish woman and I'm dumbfounded it's still on the air.
I get my tabloid gossip from the nightly news! Lord knows that with the exception of a (very) few networks, that's all they're taking about anyway.
THAT WAS DAKOTA FANNING IN CABO! Crap she told me she was a 19 year old divorcee!
I would've fallen for the hype if I didn't consider the baby weight and after birth that you brought up.
Christina was all baby when she was pregnant.
America's way too body-obsessed. My coworker told that he read somewhere that America has the most weight losses and the most weight gains. I can believe it with all of these fad diets.
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