"Smart Technique"

from Mommy Style

Review

It is refreshing to see a weight loss program that focuses on the mental battle of weight loss. Diets do not succeed or fail based on the food or exercise program, but based on whether you can deal with the mental demons of lifestyle change. The program consists of a number of audio recordings that contain information that will compensate for your cravings and your mental demons, which always seem to doom most diets. There are recordings for diet preparation, mental change, support during holidays, and support during periods when you feel vulnerable to your cravings, among other recordings. All this seems like a rational and helpful approach.

But, the Smart Technique has a number of fatal flaws without even getting into the basics of the program. The marketing is slick, having been written as a pure sales pitch and is overly optimistic. The infomercial which sells the program is peppered with the words, "easy," "automatic," and "effortless." They claim that weight loss on their program is "as easy as listen and lose," all for four easy payments of $33.95. But wait, order their program in the next "16 minutes" and they will deduct one of the payments for a total of over $100.

The informercial does not mention exercise and purely focuses on the food aspect of losing weight. The problem is, the one thing in common with the 5% of dieters who lose weight and keep it off is regular exercise.

I am a firm believer in basic common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Revolutionary products don't need to resort to being sold on slick infomercials, aired late at night and on Sunday afternoons. The bottom line is, healthy long-term weight loss is not easy and it never will be. If it was, the long-term failure rate would not be 95%.