Have you noticed the ads for weight loss plans - all of them have the disclaimer: "Results Not Typical". No matter how little or how much the person shown is supposed to have lost, be it 20 lbs or 120 lbs, or more, they still show the disclaimer. I even saw this on the Atkins website when they still had success stories of people who had lost on their plan.

So, WHAT IS TYPICAL? If 20 lbs isn't, if 120 lbs isn't, if anything in between isn't, then what is? Regardless of whether it's NutriSystem, Jenny Craig, South Beach, Atkins, Weight Watchers, or any other plan, what is typical, or what can I expect if I use that plan?

Does the typical person try out a plan, get frustrated, or sidetracked, or cheat a lot, and just abandon it completely? So is 0 lbs loss typical? Or perhaps even lbs gained? Or does the typical person actually lose weight?

I know that all of these plans have success stories, and they always pick the most dramatic ones to feature, but I still want to know what is typical.

I always liked Dr. Atkins books because he said up front that everyone is different, some will lose a lot during induction, some will lose little, some will lose fast, some with lose painfully slowly, but all will have success if they stick to the plan.

I know, being that truthful certainly won't sell "diet" food, and putting those marvelous success stories on television or in magazines is the best advertising, but I think they still need to publish typical results somewhere so that we can make more informed choices.

It's always bugged me to see that disclaimer. If those results are not typical, if I have 50 lbs to lose, and the person they show losing 50 lbs is not typical, then why should I bother with that plan? Or is it just a way to cover their backsides if someone sues them, saying that "Your ad says I can lose 50 lbs, and I didn't it!"?? If they show the disclaimer, then there would be no basis for a lawsuit.

What do you think?

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Nita

Lawsuit protection, Nita. Just like the warning labels all over ladders. Just like the "this is not a toy" warnings on dry cleaning bags. Product liability is big business and dictates how most people DO business.

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That's what I figured, Maggie. Like the guy who put his ladder on a frozen manure pile, as the pile thawed, it became slick and the ladder went down with him on it. He sued the ladder manufacturer, and, sadly, won.

I subscribe to This Is True, a free online newsletter telling about stupid things people do, by Randy Cassingham, and he also has a sister site, The True Stella Awards, highlighting frivolous lawsuits named for the woman who successfully sued McDonald's after she spilled their hot coffee on her while driving.

It wouldn't surpise me if someone sued one of the weight loss companies because they didn't lose 120 lbs. Well, some guy DID sue the Atkins Company, because he claimed that his heart problems came from following the Atkins plan, and that his health has been failing ever since. The suit was thrown out of court because the book he read was not an advertisement for any products, and he was suing Atkins Nutritionals. I suppose the guy would have had a sudden surge in health if he'd won the lawsuit!

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Nita

Nita,
Everytime I hear that term that is under a person's picture that lost a good amount of weight. I think that they lost alot of weight, really stuck with it and that a good percentage of the population isn't able to do what that person did. I think that it is very common for people to fail diet after diet, if that wasn't the case the diet industry wouldn't be a billion dollar industry. And there wouldn't be 1,000's of programs out there!
I just think, I'm going to have not fall into that statistic (for LC atleast)!!!

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"Summer of PQ"
19 pounds down....
Atkins

I believe this is actually an FTC requirement, based on complaints that diet programs were overselling the likelihood of losing a large amount of weight and keeping the weight off. The FTC now requires all diet ads to make it clear whether or not the results are typical of experience on that diet. The sad fact of the matter is, it is NOT typical to lose a considerable amount of weight or maintain weight loss on ANY diet (arguing, once again, for what we all know -- you have to change your lifestyle, not just "go on a diet").

Aderyn