MIKE HEATLIE: ARTICLES:Be Aware of bogus diet scams!!

Be Aware of bogus diet scams!!

10 Greatest Tips forWeight Loss

You have permission to publish this article in web sites, ezines, electronic publications, and any media format, as long as the article
is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.

Be Aware of bogus diet scams!!

By Mike Heatlie MSc
Article Word Count: 721

I was in London recently watching GMTV a Good Morning Show with my lovely fellow Scot Lorraine Kelly presenting. Her guest was a woman who had
purchased “SLIMCHOC” a product designed to lose weight and priced at £70 ($140 USD) for 100 chocolates. Now this
is fantastic right? Eat chocolate to lose weight! Believe me if it’s too good to be true……then it’s a lie!! The woman, and plenty others, didn’t lose weight (surprise, surprise!) on this miraculous product, and there’s plenty more of them out there! The UK spends £20 million ($40 million USD) pounds per year on bogus products. On the show was a gentleman from The Office of Fair Trading criticising these scams that are “misleading”, “deceptive”, “exaggerate claims”, “provide fake testimonials” and “market directly to the vulnerable”.

In North America there are an abdundance of bogus fitness products and diets for sale. They’re targeted at people in their late 30’s early 40’s. They’re aimed at people looking for quick answers. Their primary target is single women looking to have the body they had back when they were 18. It’s even better if they happen to be divorced (especially if the husband left them for some “younger, firmer, sexier” girl). These people are vulnerable and begging for a quick solution. If they can look 18 again (quickly) they can find that wonderful man that’ll marry them and they’ll live happily ever after. These companies are peddling products that probably cost the manufacturer $5 to make (have you ever seen one of those “Ab Rollers”?) to overweight women with the promise that for $50 their lives will be radically transformed. Anybody who knows anything about the human body should know better than
to trust a commercial that promises you can lose weight by “eating more and exercising less”. It just doesn’t work that way. If you’re pouring more water
into the bucket, in the end, there’ll be more water in the bucket. It’s reality.

We can try to call it anything we want, but telling someone who is currently eating 3000+ calories to eat more and they’ll lose weight is nothing short of a lie. Actually, it isn’t always a lie. Many of them are actually selling the concept of eating 56 meals a day rather than just 3? But if they can ever hope to show progress, even those 56 meals have to have some harness controlling the calorie intake.

This ambiguity is what bothers me most. They’re still trying to promote the concept that there are “easy ways” to making it while actually trying to con
people into doing the same thing. When they “eat more” they mean, “eat more often” bottom line. The products you want to be weary of are the ones that isolate a muscle group, mostly the abdominals and the glutes (buttocks). These are the products that have a great deal of ‘small print’ with the infomercials! Next time you watch one, look closely at the small text. It may be hard to read, and they’re only on screen for a few seconds, so let me blow it up a bit, so you get the message: ‘RESULTS NOT TYPICAL’ ‘YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY’.

You better believe your results may vary and of course the results from the ridiculous testimonials are not typical! Also keep an eye out for this small text: ‘This product is best used in accordance with a balanced diet’ (you mean I can’t use it and eat crap at the same time!!)The bottom line for most of the diet and fitness product selling companies is that hard work every day and strict attention to what you’re eating DOESN’T SELL!! What if I had posted my own
infomercial advertising you to write down everything you’re eating, your total calorie intake, exercise every day etc. That sounds like hard work! People want the quickfix, but they won’t get it, they’ll end up having spent their money on another product they just knew was “too good to be true!”

The diet and supplement industries are mutlibillion dollar (yes billions!) industries. This shows how desperate people are to losing weight. Every year
billions upon billions of dollars are spent on products, diets, diet books, gym memberships, fitness products etc. etc. The real message is not getting across,
as we’re getting fatter, not thinner!

Mike Heatlie MSc is one of the leading Personal Trainers worldwide. Mike holds a Masters Degree in Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise and a 1st Class Honors Degree in Sport & Exercise Science. He has a ten year Personal Training relationship with US singer Gwen Stefani, and is the author of the epic ebook 'Lose 10 Years, 10 Pounds, in 5 Weeks!'