Results not typical

I just saw a commercial for one of the many weight loss systems available in the market today. This one will ship the food right to your door and shows several ‘actual customers’ talking about their 50, 60, even 100 lbs weight loss. But there on the screen are those three little words – Results not typical. My favorite was ‘Results atypical’. Atypical? My eight grade English teacher taught me that he was a theist – meaning he believed in a god, as opposed to an atheist which does not. Atypical means not typical – very clever, but I digress.

Results not typical. What if you saw a car commercial with ‘actual customers’ saying “This is a great car, very affordable, reliable, sporty, and fun to drive!” but the small print said “Results not typical”? Would you buy that car? It’s sad to think that while the rest of the world is starving, we are spending billions of dollars to take off the pounds – but its tragic to think that despite that the results are… not typical. Television shows like “The Biggest Loser” tell us that you can lose 30 lbs in a week, while doctor’s tell us that anything over 2 lbs a week is unhealthy weight loss.

My goal this year is to loose 50 lbs, considering that I am about 120 lbs overweight. I pray that at the end of 2008, I can say ‘Results Not Typical’, but for the last several years I keep getting typical results…