Fat Girl Diaries: The Weigh Down Diet, or When Weight Loss Becomes a Religion
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Before the turn of the century (man, that makes me feel old!) I was driving home one day when I noticed a sign outside one of the larger Baptist churches advertising a new weight loss group. I’m always on the lookout for a new program, hoping maybe THIS TIME will be the answer. I had just been through my first bought of low carb dieting, so I thought maybe I could give this thing a try. And that is how I started the Weigh Down Diet.
The Weigh Down Workshop was pioneered by a woman named Gwen Shamblin in 1986 while she was working on her master’s degree in food and nutrition at the University of Tennessee. She started the business in her garage, and meetings in her own church. By 2000, there were 30,000 groups meeting in churches across America. Her book, “The Weigh Down Diet” sold over a million copies. Clearly, Shamblin tapped into something and people responded.
So, what does the program entail? You can boil the whole book and all the video presentations down to four words: “Eat less. And pray.” It’s as simple as that. No counting calories, no forbidden or mandatory foods. No exercise required, but encouraged if you enjoy it. Just not as a means of overcoming your gluttony. It’s hard to believe one woman turned such a simple message into a diet empire, but she did. Furthermore, Shamblin was absolutely correct in her diagnosis and prescription for weight loss. We’re overweight because we eat too much. And many of us overeat because we’re trying to fill a void within ourselves. Christians in particular are susceptible to gluttony. People who would never smoke, or let alcohol pass their lips will down a meal fit for King Henry VIII. Have you ever been to a church potluck? Some of the best eating you will ever get. All those good women will bring in their specialties to be shared with the congregation. Fried chicken is a must. And macaroni! Tea so sweet it will curl your hair. And every type of pie and cake imaginable. A true smorgasbord of culinary delights.
Shamblin had a solution. You can still eat those fried foods and carbs, you just have to eat less. The program started off by instructing followers to wait until you were hungry to eat. Like, ACTUALLY hungry, with stomach rumbles. Not just “It’s noon so I guess it’s time for lunch,” or “I’m feeling a bit peckish. What’s in the fridge?” I tried that and was amazed to find that it took a long time for my stomach to speak up. Then I realized that it was in fact possible to eat a partial sandwich. Maybe half. Maybe less. Many of us were admonished as children not to waste food because there were “starving children in fill in the blank third world country that would love to have that.” Throwing away food was a sin! And in modern America, the portions kept getting bigger and bigger, so we ate more and more. Then we got fat and cried and prayed for deliverance.
The program suggested that if you wanted something sweet, take a very small portion, even just one M&M and REALLY savor it. (I watched the Lifetime movie with Jennifer Grey as Shamblin and there was a scene where she literally took ONE M&M out of a fancy container and popped it in her mouth and closed her eyes in bliss.) So, I tried it and it really worked! Yeah, I would eat more than ONE, but I wouldn’t eat a whole bag. I learned to do the same thing with potato chips. During the 12 week course, I lost about 20 pounds. Then the program ended.
I was such a fan that I went back to my own church and asked to start up a new chapter. They turned me down flat. Why? Because Shamblin went and committed heresy. She posted a video on her website denying belief in the trinity. Many churches left the program in outrage. She was called out by Christianity Today and many prominent pastors. Her publisher cancelled her book contract. For those of you not familiar with the tenets of Christianity, trinitarianism is the belief that God has 3 equal but separate persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and yet they are all one. It’s complicated, and hard to explain, but it’s an absolute bedrock belief for almost all Christian denominations.
I was very disappointed and a little outraged over this. I didn’t really CARE what Gwen Shamblin thought about the trinity! I don’t know what Jenny Craig’s religious affiliation is! Or Dr. Atkins. What difference does it make? It had nothing to do with the weight loss program. I wasn’t asking to do a bible study based on her teachings. I just wanted to help others lose weight with a program that had helped me. But my church wasn’t the only one who forbade it. The church where I attended the workshop shut it down too, and I couldn’t find another group nearby. So, like every other diet I had been on, I quit following the program and regained the weight.
I didn’t give Gwen Shamblin another thought for years. I heard about her death in a plane crash and it made me sad. Then the documentaries came out. Shamblin may have started out with a sensible weight loss program. Her mistake was turning it into a religion.
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