Angela Bartlett is fat. Or at least that’s the way she sees herself. She returns home from her job as a receptionist every day amidst images of models wearing size two or three dresses on billboards lining the freeway only to watch TV shows filled with thin women who seem like they have no worries. Bartlett is 5’8″ and wears a size 14 dress.
“I used to be size 6 before I had my son,” she said with a far off look in her eyes. “Boy, I wish I could be that size again.” Bartlett has tried as many diet and exercise programs as she could get her hands on. Her first was the “Hollywood 48-hour diet.”
“To say the very least, it didn’t work,” she said. “First of all, that stuff tastes like medicine and second of all, it doesn’t curb your hunger at all. I lasted for about 6 hours before I rushed to the McDonald’s drive-thru to get a Big Mac.”
Bartlett’s dilemma is not uncommon. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 107 million (more than half of all adults in the United States) are overweight or obese.
This is evidenced by the thousands of weight loss programs available in the country, from exercise programs like Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo to dietary supplements like the aforementioned 48-Hour Diet.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, Americans spend $33 billion every year on weight loss products and services, including low-calorie foods, artificially sweetened products such as diet sodas and memberships to commercial weight loss centers.
“People come in every day, and I sell about one [weight loss product] every hour,” said Jit Suvana, a salesperson at American Nutrition in the District.
The advice of dietitians and physical fitness experts across the nation is that a combination of a health diet and exercise is the best way to slim down and keep the weight off. Though many Americans have heard this advice, millions of people continue to spend money in an attempt to lose the weight as quickly as possible.