Dieting 123I Were Thin I Wish I Were Fat, argued that women unconsciously want to
be fat and that this is why they overeat; if they can come to terms with
these unconscious desires, they can “finally fulfill our conscious wish to
be thin” ( p. 13). Conley (1996) described one woman who lost weight using
her diet, but regained it, and stated that “Vivien has had a few personal
problems and has regained some of her weight. However she has resolved
to try and lose it again as she was so delighted with her previous success”
( p. 30). Being overweight relates to psychological problems and thinness
remains the most desirable way to be.
The belief that dieting can change body size
The industry also perpetuates the belief that dieting works and can change
a body’s size and shape. Diet books all present their product as an inevit-
able pathway to success (see figure 7.1). For example, Coleman (1990) opened
his book Eat Green – Lose Weightwith the statement “You should buy this
book if you would like to get slim – and stay slim – and you are fed up with
short term diets which either fail or become boring,” and later on claimed
“within months you will feel healthier, fitter, stronger and happier” ( p. 7).
Likewise, De Vries (1989) indicated that his reader should “Make up your
mind that this time you will succeed. No more yo-yoing up and down. You’re
going to lose weight and you are going to lose it permanently” (p. 20), and
Twigg (1997), after describing the success of his clients said, “And if it works
for them then I promise you – we’re going to make it work for you, too!”
( p. 17). Even those diets designed not to reduce fat are described as lead-
ing to successful weight loss. For example, Lazarides (1999) described fluid
as the root of many people’s problems, and said that “to be able to sit on
the loo and urinate away up to 20 lbs of excess body weight in a few days
probably sounds like something out of our wildest dreams” but if you stick
to her diet “you will literally be able to urinate much of your excess body
weight, sometimes within just a few days” (p. 6). The dieting industry offers
its vast range of products as being able to change body weight. It empha-
sizes the success of its products and by doing so reinforces the belief that
body size and shape can be modified and changed by the individual.
Changing the boundaries
If the dieting industry was only aimed at those who needed to diet for health
reasons, then their audience would be very small. However, by involving
all those women who want to be just a few pounds lighter, their audience
grows enormously. To this end, not only do diet magazines run articles on