Not to crush anyone's resolutions, but today's New York Times reveals the not completely surprising story that most commercial weight loss programs are not tested to prove that they actually work. Obviously, people can be called on for outrage:
"I don't understand how you can have a product you never evaluate for effectiveness," Ms. McAfee [of the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination] said. "It was a slap in the face to all people of size." [nyt]
The article is sprinkled with interesting comments from the academic "weight change community" including unaddressed questions about why people don't just go to their doctors to lose weight (my guess: it is probably way more expensive) and the suggestion by University of Toronto psychologists that "simply declaring you are going on a diet makes you feel better."
