What is your body worth to you? - Real Mum story on MoM

10 Comments

This time of year the pressure one is under to lose weight and look their best is somewhat overwhelming. Advertising for all the latest in weight loss and fitness products seem to be at their highest. And then there is the niche group of companies specifically targeting their market at mothers, as their product is considered ‘safe to consume during breastfeeding’.

The latter marketing scheme is perhaps the worst as it almost uses psychological warfare against its potential clients. They make mothers feel safe and supported throughout their weight loss journey and sell you books which you can get for free from your GP.

Once you are successfully suckered in to these various weight loss programs, then comes my most favourite part- the before and after photo competitions.

Clients are asked to send in photos of themselves before using the product and after successfully losing weight on the product. In return the ‘winner’ will receive a gift voucher sometimes as high as $250.

Two hundred and fifty dollars. To most, that is a great deal of money. But let’s put things into perspective for a moment:

You first have to buy the product for $44 + $12.95 shipping. One $44 tub is equal to 16 servings of product. In one week if you replace breakfast as well as lunch with the product then you are looking at roughly $56.95 per week and $228 per month. How many months are you going to need to be on the product before seeing any results?

So to be eligible to try and win this $250 worth of gift voucher you have to first be prepared to outlay perhaps triple that amount.

This isn’t even close to the biggest problem at hand. My question is what criteria does your before and after photos have to meet to be able to be considered for this weight loss competition.

I personally fell for one of these companies. Did the time. Lost some weight. And then entered my photos. I then received an email back from the company stating that I “looked too fabulous” in my photos and asking if I had any where I didn’t look as great.

To this date I still don’t understand what they wanted from me. Was I supposed to strip off into my mismatched underwear and take my before and after photos whilst practically naked just like most of the other mothers do for the company? Was I supposed to make myself look more haggard and sleep deprived? Is that their vision of what a mother is supposed to look like?

Looking back on the whole ordeal I am somewhat pleased that I did not go out of my way to try and meet the company’s requirements. In fact I feel downright embarrassed that I even attempted to hand over my photos for a measly $250.

My body is worth so much more than that!

This particular company has a ‘private Facebook group’, where you will find a great number of members posting their half naked photos all in the name of gaining support from other mothers. What most forget to ask themselves is how they would feel if the photos were to get into the wrong hands?

Just because a group on Facebook claims to be ‘private’ doesn’t mean that your photos will never leave the group. And there is absolutely nothing stopping other members from making negative comments about your photos, sure negative comments are deleted, but once you have hurt someone’s feelings who is going to be there to pick up the pieces?

The weight loss company surely does not have the time nor consideration to console a person who has been bullied in their group. Their psychological tactics are only for financial gain, they don’t care about how well you fair emotionally through the roller coaster which they encourage you to get on.

Lastly I would like you to ask yourself how you would feel if an ex partner or someone who had tormented you in the past were to get ahold of your half naked before and after photos. Would you care? Would you hand these same photos over to anyone willing to pay you up to $250 in gift vouchers?

Most important of all, I would like you to think about how much your body is worth, because I guarantee you that a celebrity wouldn’t be stripping off for a mere $250 gift voucher, and after all you are no different to a celebrity as at the core of it all we are all human beings.

Posted by someonesmother, 6th January 2015

10 Comments

- - mom93821 said
  - 26 Sep 2015
    6:36 pm
Consumer beware is always something to keep in mind.

- - mom81879 said
  - 13 Sep 2015
    6:44 pm
So glad it didn’t go through too. So sad that unscrupulous people are still taking advantage of those that wish to lose weight
- mom93821 replied
  
  27 Sep 2015 , 7:20 am
  Sadly; there are people that have no morals and ethics and will take from others.
- - smiles said
  - 25 Apr 2015
    9:18 pm
So true about photos on facebook they can get into the wrong hands. I had never heard of a scheme like this one but there is no way I would put photos up of myself!

- - mom113055 said
  - 11 Apr 2015
    2:15 pm
nice story to have a read

- - Kelly said
  - 22 Feb 2015
    4:44 pm
I would never use any magic powders to lose weight or hand any photos of myself over to anyone.
Surely us woman really look into these sorts of things and know that you never actually win the company will always come out on top as they wont give there product away for nothing.
Please ladies be careful.

- - christial said
  - 16 Feb 2015
    9:22 pm
Unfortunately big companies are preying on the self conscious people who are never happy with their weight…

- - kazjl said
  - 10 Feb 2015
    5:59 pm
You just can’t fall the quick fixes I guess, because they never seem to work in the long run, leaving you overweight and broke. :/

- - mom72550 said
  - 20 Jan 2015
    10:21 am
It’s sad how these big companies target this group of people. And long term they aren’t great for your health. You need to lose the weight slowly and healthily to maintain it by good eating and exercise habits. You should only be competing against yourself – not anyone else.

- - mom62054 said
  - 06 Jan 2015
    9:55 pm
With all the advertising out their telling women that they are not good enough unless they purchase a specific product it’s no wonder people are posting their pics. Women are looking for praise, they want to be told they are good enough, pretty enough. We live in a vein society that worships the celebrity world and we all want our little part without forethought of the consequences.