Sometimes snarky says it all, until it doesn't

I will be the first to admit that I find the endlessly shared posts from Buzzfeed, Io9, Huffington Post and the like to be barely one step above spam mail. It's easy enough scroll past them on facebook or twitter, even if your friends somehow feel the need to send the exact same one directly to you an infinite amount of times. (Yes, yes, I like libraries, we get it!) But I know you're all just sharing because you love me, so thanks.

But today, my Pilates Studio linked to one from Jezebel:

"How to Lose All The Weight You Want in Just 89 Simple Steps"

And I laughed all the way through the list. Why? Maybe because the author or Jezebel's research department (or their poor interns, most likely) did the research to find some study or report that matched all these contradictory statements. And not so oddly enough, a lot of these are reports I have in my "research corral" for future blog posts. So, I did identify.

But I also found it funny because it is true. We are so starved (pun intended) for a "weight loss solution" that we will (pun #2) swallow anything that comes along as THE answer. Even if the premise is contradictory or foolish or just plain odd.

But what takes this piece to another level is the comments. Now, I do believe the internet has created a new level of snarkiness in commentary but there's something about diet and exercise stories which just get everyone on a special chair or self-entitlement. I see this in the NY Times Health & Wellness section, too.  ("I lost 50 lbs. by being smugly superior to you sad sacks and I ate what I wanted! That's the answer!")

A lot of the commentary on this piece also falls into that "Well, THIS worked for me, so you're all idiots for doing the other diets/workouts/fasting." But the thing is, this was meant as a humorous article. To be that kind of snarky commentator takes a lack of humor, a lack of irony and no sense of decorum, really.

This wasn't a NY Times article on a medical study. Nor was Jezebel trying to become an expert on the issues. To me, it seems the author was trying to show that there is no one solution. Just as I always say that my weight loss and ongoing maintenance are "Dan-spired", one can't assume there is a one size fits all solution to this situation.

So stop being so serious about it. Obesity is a serious issue. Losing a crapload of weight and keeping it off is not easy, both physically and emotionally. But not finding the apparent idiocy in most quick-fix diet plans just makes for some very unfunny lives. 

I bet these guys didn't worry about the color of their food or if there was a certain cheat to workouts:

Stall Bar Class Minneapolis, MN (from the Kautz family YMCA Archives, Univ. of MN Libraries via the Digital Public Library of America)

Although I am a little concerned about future lower back issues of that fellow in the middle. You know MY solutions was....