According to a Los Angeles article published in 2008, “Profiting from America’s Portly Population,” between $33 billion and $55 billion is spent annually on weight loss products and services. These products and services include but are not limited to medical procedures and pharmaceuticals, with weight loss centers garnering between 6 percent and 12 percent of total annual expenditure.
Clearly, Americans are very concerned with their weight. The problem is they don’t know how to solve the issue themselves, so they place their faith and money in the hands of qualified others that offer quick weight loss solutions by following “simple” diet regimes.
One weight loss center which is spreading throughout South Florida, thanks to Rush Limbaugh’s 2009 weight drop of 80 pounds, is called, Quick Weight Loss Centers. Like most of its type, Quick Weight Loss Centers’ homepage boasts loads of pictures of happy, healthy women enjoying their new bodies, but unlike other centers, their testimonials seem to be from very real, un-model-like people. In fact, a lot of forums have women who praise the company and the results they have seen.
When you join the facility, they start you off with a 6-week program option (for $449) that includes on-line weight loss counseling, your own personal nutritionist, a weight loss cookbook, multivitamins / multimineral supplements, and a package of foods tailored to your favorite flavors (chocolate, fruit, peanut butter – vanilla, or the most popular of each package). The next step is to then create a customized diet plan (with a cap of 1,500 calories per day). You still can buy most of the foods you like to make, but the rest you have to supplement with Quick Weight Loss brand’s soups, beverages, and bars, all aimed at speeding up weight loss.
Most of Quick Weight Loss’ diet plans parallel the Atkin’s diet where members eat foods higher in fats and proteins instead of carbohydrate-high foods like fruits and vegetables. The diet has many rules to it, one of which is not combining different types of proteins in one meal. That is, you are not allowed to mix fish and steak for dinner. Perhaps this is because the body digests foods of the same type easier than mixed ones, but I am not sure and Quick Weight Loss Centers’ diets are not scientifically founded. Also, which is a good idea for any diet, you are not allowed to have any sugar, alcohol, fried foods or refined flours. Additionally, you are advised to buy and use the company’s carbohydrate blockers, herbs and fatty acids – all products which are actually just stimulants.
Although quite promising from the outside, there are many cons to Quick Weight Loss Centers’ methods. First of all, the program is expensive ($449 for the first 6 weeks alone)! Aside from paying to have your own nutritional expert, you have to buy plenty of foods and supplements, too, not to mention that the supplements cost a pretty penny and can only be bought from the Quick Weight Loss Centers’ own line of food. In addition, the centers are only present in South Florida, but an on-line version of the program is now available to anyone, including kids. According to some message boards, however, other free on-line programs do just as well like one called, Calorie Count. The only difference is with Quick Weight Loss Centers, you get an actual nutritionist entering the calories for you and personally advising you on your diet along the way. Really, it’s a matter of preference and money.
Still, the worst negative of the plan is that the weight loss results aren’t permanent. Because the diet plans have you on such a strict budget of calories (1,500 per day), you are discouraged from working out. Consequently, you do not build the muscle necessary to keep the weight off. In other words, it is better to engage in a diet that is cheaper, more balanced, and of greater physical activity.
Yes, Quick Weight Loss Centers offers a program that works. Rush Limbaugh did it and so have many others. But like most clinics, rebounds back to high fatty diets are inevitable. Without exercise, most nutritional plans don’t stick. Also, who’s happy with such a limited selection of food, the majority of which has mixed reviews in terms of flavor? It’s hard to change yourself by yourself, so join a weight watcher program if you need to. Quick Weight Loss Centers will get you results, but unless you have the money to spend and spend, you’re better off finding another solution.
