There's MONEY in FAT!

There's tons of money to be made in the fat business - by playing to people's emotional needs, fears, wants, and desires.

Recently I had to disable COMMENTS on my Losing Weight Now! blog to limit them to blog members. I'm sorry to do that, but I was not getting many legitimate comments there anyway.

On the other hand, about every day I was getting SPAM comments from people who wanted to embed hyperlinks in their comments that would lead you to their "fat burning pill" websites.

Let me re-iterate this for all you fat girls who don't want to stop eating donuts and think you can eat a whole pizza pie and lose weight if you take a "fat burner" pill or powder:

THEY DON'T WORK!

Please re-read the last line until you "get it". Otherwise go away, I have no time for people who engage in self-delusion and want to blame all their problems on their hormones, genetics, the trilateral commission or whatever.

Calorie in, calorie out, it is as simple as that. You want to lose weight? Eat proper portions and proportions, that's it. There is no "weird old tip" or "secret". I'm sorry if you even want to believe that.

Belief is one thing that leads to a lot of problems in the world, whether it is in racial superiority, various forms of government "isms" (Nazism, Communism, whatever), or the "religious" beliefs that the world would just be a swell place, if only we could kill enough of the right people.

Illogical beliefs cause the world no end of grief, and they cause individuals no end of personal grief as well.

So stop being a "believer" and try being rational. It is not as scary as you might think - reality and all. In fact, it is rather pleasant, as once you stop believing in silly things, your personal life gets a lot better, as you can make rational decisions about your life. And more often than not, rational decisions pay off better than irrational ones.

Seem kind of simple, but there you have it.

Marketers make billions of dollars every year off of fat people, particularly women, by trying to sell them magic fat cures. So yes, I am hard on "fat chicks" because they are the ones who continually fall for this nonsense, again and again. And being nice and sympathetic and a shoulder to cry on is not the medicine they need. They need a good wake-up call, however uncomfortable it may make them.

Money - it drives a lot of evil things in this world. It is not inherently evil, but as the Bible says, the pursuit of money is the root of all evil. Many people miss that part and assume money itself is evil. It is value-neutral. It is people's greed and desire for it that is the evil thing.

And one evil way to make money is to take advantage of people - by playing to their greed, fear, lusts, wants, need for status, and other emotional triggers. Once you can "hook" someone emotionally, you can really loot them clean. And they will give you their blubbering thanks for it, too.

So all you have to do, if you want to make a PILE of dough, is offer to sell someone a fat pill, a fat powder, an exercise dealie, whatever. PROMISE them they will lose weight with little or no effort on their part. Provide tearful testimonials from some model in a bikini. Tell them "operators are standing by, call now!"

And they will call - again and again. And it doesn't matter how many times they get "burned" by pills, powders, diet plans, exercise devices, or whatever, they will keep calling, again and again, until they are flat broke.

You see, like Ponce de León and the Fountain of Youth, people will believe crazy shit. And they will take it to total extremes, too. You don't have to work very hard to instill belief into people, they will gladly take the bait, hook, line, and sinker, and then tell all their friends as well.

It is amazing, really. And you wonder why some folks think it is so hard to make money in this country - if you really want to get rich and have no scruples whatsoever, well, all you have to do is pander to the lowest common denominator in humanity. And you really don't have to break any laws, either. Just tell someone they'll look sexy or wealthy driving a shiny car, and chances are, they'll buy it - and pay 20% over book for the privilege.

The secret to losing weight and the secret to financial success are closely intermingled. That's why I am cross-posting this in both my blogs. The secret is no secret - you just have to embrace reality and not fantasy.

You have to monitor your calorie intake and your exercise and your weight on a daily basis, and then take steps to reduce calorie intake and increase exercise, if you want to lose weight.

You have to balance your checkbook and credit card accounts on a daily basis, and then monitor your spending and have a plan to increase savings and reduce debt, if you want to increase your wealth.

In either case, there is no "secret" or "magic". There is no "fat-burner pill." There is no "money system." You can't call a 1-800 number, hand over your credit card number and lose weight and get rich. Life just isn't that easy. If it was, everyone would be slim and wealthy.

Yet, a surprisingly large number of people are willing to believe that they are fat because of hormones, genetics or some other factor beyond their control. They pray for a miracle fat-burner instead of addressing real factors that are really within their control.

Similarly, many people look at money like it was a natural weather phenomenon. Some days it rains, other days it is a drought. Where money comes from, and more importantly, where it goes are mysteries to them. So a "money system" sounds plausible, as to them, money is a deep, deep mystery.

And because of human weakness, we all want to hear easy answers. You can lose weight without effort. Wealth can be generated without work. Weak minds want to believe. And they do. And the irony of it all is, the people who take advantage of these weak minds end up leaving their victims fatter and poorer - the exact opposite of what they were striving for.

Save belief for intangible questions in your life, such as "Is There a God?" and "What Happens After I Die?" Belief is well-suited for such questions, as we will never answer them, for sure, until we die.

But for things like "what is the balance in my checking account?" and "How many calories are there in Sweet Potatoes?" belief has no place. These are rational, numerical questions, with finite answers. A money system or a fat burner are not going to provide you with the correct result.

Sober up! Live in reality.