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1. 1 On January 31st, 2008, Meowser said:

   What if you make a practice of weighing yourself buck nekkid? (I did so in the days when I owned a scale.) Do you get to take off all your clothes at work before jumping on the scale?

   I actually work for a company that has NO IDEA what most of its employees look like. Seriously. Almost the entire workforce is remote and was hired remotely, including me. But I did work for a similar company once which, while it didn’t have “promotions” like this, did give spiffs on insurance premiums for agreeing to “healthy lifestyle interventions” (gack).

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 6:40 pm

2. 2 On January 31st, 2008, Macy said:

   Hi Rachel. Funny that this should be your blog topic today; I began reading the Fatosphere shortly after I enrolled in my company’s Wellness Program. I am a professor at a small state college. The faculty and staff were offered a great deal. Enroll in Wellness Program, and we would get our health insurance for free. Not too shabby. The program actually has some great points. I was given a complete health check up including glucose level, cholesterol level, CO2, weight, waist measurement, and of course BMI. We are quired to do the following to stay in the program: go to wellness classes, exercise three times a week (free access to the campus gym), lower cholesterol, stop smoking, and…lower the BMI. I am behind most of what they are trying to do since they seem to focus on the overall health of the enrollee, but the BMI bugs me. I am told that the requirements are flexible, and that someone who is in good health would be allowed to stay in the program, but still…

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 6:58 pm

3. 3 On January 31st, 2008, Tari said:

   My company (a big, ugly, multi-national corp) has an on-site WW program, and gives health insurance discounts and bonuses to people who join a managed weight loss program. At least once a month, I get some corporate e-mail or other to “remember there are always Health Counselors available to advise me in how best to achieve my health goals” blah blah blah. I find this kinda funny, since we have a really awesome, intense Diversity program that recognizes every kind of diversity but body size….and our new CEO probably tops 300 pounds himself.

   In the ten years I have worked for this company, though, no one, from the HR folks who have helped me get through two major medical crises involving short term diability, to the five supervisors I’ve worked for in two different offices, has ever mentioned my weight or any need to do anything about it - even the gym-obsessed asshole boss who pushed me (in unfriendly ways) to get counseling for chronic pain and depression.

   I feel very lucky…and often wonder why it is I don’t catch more flack about my fat ass. But I try not to look a gift horse, etc.

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:01 pm

4. 4 On January 31st, 2008, Lacy said:

   oh my goodness. My local Y is doing the same thing. I’m just floored that the Y would base a health promotion on a such an abhorrent model.

   Last year, they were touting the “war” on obesity, and they caught hell for it. This, to my mind, is even worse.

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:02 pm

5. 5 On January 31st, 2008, Julie said:

   We get weekly e-mails at my organization about Weight Watchers meetings. I don’t feel pressured to join.

   However, having been on every diet imaginable since the age of 12, losing 30 lbs with each diet only to gain back 60 lbs, and then disappointing my parents and health care providers with my failure, I cannot imagine bringing this into the workplace.

   Here’s an idea: Have more sane workloads so employees can go home at a decent hour to make a healthy meal, go to their gym or do something fun and active with their families.

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:04 pm

6. 6 On January 31st, 2008, Lexy said:

   I’m ashamed to admit that a couple of years ago I helped start a “wellness program” at my previous office.

   It wasn’t a biggest loser style thing and there was no embarassing weigh-in requirement but we did have a message board and recipe exchanges and a couple of running groups. Overall… nothing remotely related to work and something that most of us spent a great deal of time gabbing about instead of working *shame*

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:08 pm

7. 7 On January 31st, 2008, Macy said:

   Edit to clarify my above post:
   I am all for the cholesterol, the CO2, and glucose testing. Waist, weight, and BMI testing can go to hell.

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:22 pm

8. 8 On January 31st, 2008, Fat Girl said:

   The company I was working for had different branches in different cities and all the ones except the one in my city had “wellness” programs. We had a crappy “gym” in the basement of the building with most of the equipment broken.

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:27 pm

9. 9 On January 31st, 2008, ShannonK said:

   My company started “health month” a couple of years ago as a way to put a positive spin on the fact that the elevator would be out of commission for a month for seismic retrofitting, which cracked me the hell up. It’s been repeated since then, and they actually do some interesting seminars, like one on “healthy finances” and various employees did little sessions on “healthy hobbies” that included everything from photography and DJ’ing to martial arts demonstrations. We’re a smallish, creative office, and I really think the spirit of the idea is a nice one. But, of course, there is also a “biggest loser” contest, and that is a bummer.

   We also get discounts at a couple of gyms, and recently 24 Hour Fitness was here doing “fitness assessments” (which, having been an unfortunate member of that gym, I know are fairly shoddy). One (totally awesome, by the way) woman came back to her desk to report that she’d been told she had the body fat composition of an “apple fritter.” I wasn’t there, so I can’t comment on exactly how that went down, but I am having a hard time imagining it as anything other than horrifying and offensive.

   posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:47 pm

10. 10 On January 31st, 2008, Renee said:

    I know of several workplaces that encourage and/or sponsor Biggest Loser type of competitions, but we don’t – and in fact, we wouldn’t allow the employees to set one up and tie it to the workplace in any way (I’m the HR Admin, luckily, so I can keep it from happening). However I do think, unfortunately, that HR professionals are a major part of the problem here. SHRM (the national Society for Human Resource Management) sent out an email to its members last fall that was all about workplace weight loss contests, the reasons you should sponsor them (“fat workers are more expensive”), employer incentives for weight loss, etc. Then there was a “special report” article in the January ’08 issue of HR Magazine called “Getting the Weight Off” – which covered all of these topics but readily admitted that “results remain elusive.” Wellness programs are big business, but really only for the people selling them. The article even stated that “there is no industry-accepted way of determining return on investment” for them. Basically, you have to just believe that you’re better off with a wellness program of some kind than without it. A lot of this push comes from a CDC paper I have yet to locate/read, from 2005 that supposedly concluded that “The cost of obesity to organizations with 1,000 employees is approximately $285,000 per year, and about 30 percent of that is from increased absenteeism.” Where in the world did they come up with that data?

    I have multiple problems with workplace weight loss competitions: 1) The false notion that it will bring down health care costs – wellness programs don’t do this, and neither do these misguided contests; 2) they can lead to potential discrimination (if people suffer job consequences or are otherwise penalized because they choose not participate); 3) the Biggest Loser is a terrible model for any kind of real health program; 4) it causes tensions and negative peer pressure among groups of people that are supposed to be working together, and 5) it has absolutely nothing to do with someone’s performance of the duties listed on their job description.

    I do think that at some point there will be a backlash. One baby step (albeit not a perfect one) in the right direction was a move by the DOL recently to restrict the ways employers handle anything that falls under their supplemental insurance coverage (which is where you’ll find the wellness programs, typically). You can read about that here, if you’re interested: http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=68702188. Many employers may not yet be aware of this, or how it could impact programs they are currently running. While it isn’t law, I am hopeful that it will cause employers to at least start paying more attention to the potential consequences of these programs.

    My biggest objection to all of this, as an HR professional, is that I think these competitions and programs are fundamentally disrespectful of people. For a profession that otherwise loves to trumpet how wonderful diversity is and how we should foster it, we are hypocritical in our general position that overweight workers are a problem that needs to be fixed – as if it’s any of our business. Here’s what I care about: whether or not you’re doing the job we hired you to do. If you are, any problem I otherwise have with you is just that: MY problem.

    (Sorry for such a long comment - can you tell I have issues with this?!)

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 7:49 pm

11. 11 On January 31st, 2008, Nicole said:

    My husband’s company is doing this for the second year in a row. It’s such a crock. Last year the guy who won literally starved himself for two weeks before the final weigh-in so that he could get the cash for a planned trip to Disney World. No joke. That’s super-healthy, guys!

    I have no problem with companies making wellness opportunities possible to their employees, but why (again) must it always be tied with weight?!? Make it The Biggest Exerciser or the Most Voluminous Vegetable Eater or something. Anything that everyone in the company can be involved with without having to subject themselves to behavior that almost always results in the absolute opposite of health.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 8:07 pm

12. 12 On January 31st, 2008, Sage said:

    I work for a big university. The only thing they do campus wide is a sponsored drive to get people to exercise more, which is the only reason I get involved. They focus on logging movement rather than anything else, and you get free access to the gyms (which are free for students, but employees and alumni have to pay for;) plus they do some promo drawings and events and the like.

    Some departments, perhaps some of the individual colleges, do WW classes, I think, but I’m not sure.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 8:20 pm

13. 13 On January 31st, 2008, Becky said:

    Make it The Biggest Exerciser or the Most Voluminous Vegetable Eater or something.

    You know, I suggested something like that to somebody who was in favour of these Biggest Loser type things and she said: “But what if somebody ate a bunch of vegetables but also ate like 4 Big Macs?” *sighs*

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 8:23 pm

14. 14 On January 31st, 2008, Tina said:

    Wow. ‘Tis the season, I guess. My current employer sent out a round of Weight Watchers propaganda last week and started a “Biggest Loser” type incentive program this week. The company president will be weighing all participants personally (as if the implied shame of being “overweight” ain’t enough). Personally, I think the Biggest Loser has already been determined, and the qualifications have nothing to do with weight.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 8:44 pm

15. 15 On January 31st, 2008, Rachel said:

    Tina: bwahahaha, you crack me up.

    A few months ago, the company sent out an email asking folks to take an “anonymous” survey, which measured amongst other things, our BMI. The carrot was a $25 gift card. I emailed the safety committee lady in HR and expressed my concerns with the faultiness of BMI and I pointedly asked her if the company was thinking of adopting punitive measures for people with higher BMIs. She denied it, and said she completely understood the problems with using BMI, but somehow I don’t think rewarding people with lower BMIs and punishing employees with higher BMIs is far off.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 9:02 pm

16. 16 On January 31st, 2008, littlem said:

    “How do you respond to these kinds of workforce pressures?”

    By making this suggestion - almost verbatim:

    “But instead of using the numbers on our scale as a rubric defining improved health, we ought to instead gauge such improvements by our lowered cholesterol and blood pressure levels, improved glucose test results, increased fitness levels and by how good we feel - both physically and mentally.”

    It’s not going to do a lot of good in an environment overly fixated on fatphobia. But it CAN do a lot of good in a more open-minded environment where you have at least one influential person open to having their awareness changed.

    Sometimes more people are with you than you think; they’re just afraid to speak up first.

    And if you don’t at least make an attempt to stop the sheeple lunacy in its tracks you get gasping ignorance like this:

    http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-fat-people-allowed-only-slim-will-be.html

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 9:10 pm

17. 17 On January 31st, 2008, HeatherRadish said:

    I’ve worked for a couple of small engineering firms that have had weight-loss competitions…usually teams of four or five, so if you went out for pizza with your family you let other people down, too. *rolls eyes* 12-15 weeks, weekly weigh-ins, no free gym access or anything. Cash prizes, plus as we all know thinner people are better people, or something.

    I’ve ignored them–partly because I think that’s stupid as hell (15 years ago my mother used to offer to have “diet competitions” where I’d get money for clothes if I lost more than she did over a certain period…and she’d get pissed when I wasn’t interested), and partly because as the only woman in the office I was feeling awkward enough without the pressure of the guys watching to make sure I wasn’t sneaking chocolate during my period.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 9:26 pm

18. 18 On January 31st, 2008, HeatherRadish said:

    Oh, addendenum: At my first job, one of my friends would go OFF at lunches about how offering employees cash to lose weight was unfair and wrong, because he was pretty close to his optimal weight anyway, so even if he wanted to drop five pounds, no one would have him on a team, because it was ONLY five pounds, so he was ineligible to compete for the prizes, so the company was treating him differently than other employees and not based on his work.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 9:34 pm

19. 19 On January 31st, 2008, stefanie said:

    My husband’s company is doing something similar, but it doesn’t involve actual weight loss (instead they chart # of times/week of exercise, some elaborate point system based on food and type of food eaten, etc.)

    I’m waiting for one of these companies to get sued for triggering someone’s eating disorder, and having to pay for the hospitalization, and damages as well.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 9:51 pm

20. 20 On January 31st, 2008, AnnieMcPhee said:

    The company I’m working for now has had informal competitions like that in the past.

    What I don’t get is this - what if someone only “needs” to lose 10 pounds? While another is 100 lbs “overweight.” Shouldn’t it go by who has gone the furthest distance (percentage-wise) towards their actual goal? And that really leaves underweight or “normal” weight people out regardless, doesn’t it?

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 9:52 pm

21. 21 On January 31st, 2008, cynth said:

    Where I work they have a “wellness” program. This program covers all sorts of things; from scales in the rest rooms to group competitions that encourage walking and of course… weight loss!

    They have WW meetings at lunchtime. Apparently you get paid if you can lose X amount of pounds within a certain time frame and keep it off for X amount of time. I overheard some women talking in the rest room one day.

    Though they have tried “light pressure” on me in the past to join in, my supervisor knows I am not interested.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 10:16 pm

22. 22 On January 31st, 2008, Carrie said:

    I started by blog because of a work-related diet program as I embarked on recovery from anorexia. I went so mental, I had to quit to save my mind. Go to my archives and look at Jan-March of 2007: it’s all there.

    I would have loved for someone to strip totally naked for one of the weigh-ins, however. And I wish I would have been the one to do it, just for shock value.

    This world is in-freaking-sane.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 10:21 pm

23. 23 On January 31st, 2008, Devi said:

    I have to say that my company is pretty great when it comes to health programs. As far as I’m concerned, they’re spot on with their approach. If an employee chooses to join a local gym, they are reimbursed a significant portion of their membership fees. The is no pressure to join a gym - employees are simply made aware (usually during orientation) that the option exists.

    A few time a year the company engages in “healthy challenges”. These are usually things like walking a certain number of steps a day, going for the occasional group walk, trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, or getting more sleep. The challenges have never (at least in the year I’ve been with the company) been tied to weight or BMI.

    Fruit and vegetable trays show up in the break-room but there are days when there are pizza parties.

    They’ve achieved a great balance and I’m quite proud of them (seems like a strange thing to say of one’s employer). Of course, I’m in Canada, so we don’t have the added pressure of HMOs.

    posted on January 31st, 2008 at 11:40 pm

24. 24 On February 1st, 2008, Gina said:

    My company isn’t pushy about it, but they have had a “biggest loser” type thing, which my boss usually participates in. But no one has ever pressured me to do anything. They also had a walking program, which seemed ok to me.

    The one thing I do like is that my company offers free salad at lunch from the Greek restaurant down the street. It’s nice, especially when I forget my lunch.

    The other thing is that no one really pressures anyone about food, especially since the reason we got a ice cream machine is because the CEO is an ice cream feind.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 2:05 am

25. 25 On February 1st, 2008, Lindsay said:

    My office is down the hall from a nutrition and weight loss management center in the local private college I’m employed at. I’ve never felt the pressure to use it, I’m totally happy with my body, but the people that work there are constantly complaining about how they look.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 9:43 am

26. 26 On February 1st, 2008, Rachel said:

    I would have loved for someone to strip totally naked for one of the weigh-ins, however.

    Yeah, because what woman you know weighs herself with her clothes and shoes on? Outside, you know, the doctor’s office.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 10:06 am

27. 27 On February 1st, 2008, Ready2Shrink said:

    My department sponsors a weight-loss contest. I have watched for months (they do it every quarter) as people wrestle over losing the same 5 pounds. I’ll be honest if I wasn’t embarassed to get on the scale I would join just to take all their money.

    Yeah it’s weird cause I watch these people feet away from me hopping on the scale when I am sitting here (someone that really needs to lose weight) and I am not a part of it.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 11:14 am

28. 28 On February 1st, 2008, Miss Minx said:

    Wow. Between this, and today’s post about the restaurant bill, I’m at a bit of a loss for words.

    I’m a grad student, so I haven’t actually got a workplace, but my friend who works in insurance has a boss who went on a bit of a health-bender, and they must all do an entire-office pilates class at lunchtime, at least once a week. That said, he doesn’t rag on what the staff is eating or not eating, but who wants to get all sweaty mid-day? Not to mention that there isn’t a whole lot of choice involved, either.

    Up here in Canada, the war on fat isn’t quite so heated (yet), likely because of the universal health care. Mostly the pressure on our system is aging baby boomers.

    Further, even the most cursory Google search will bring up this blog written by the very lovely Sandy Szwarc - an RN, she reviewed the findings of the study ‘fat employees cost more’ and refutes them here:

    http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/04/seeing-only-fat.html

    I have just now become a devotee of her site - she writes well, and has the medical credentials that journalists (especially the ones who wrote incendiary articles about the study to begin with) are lacking.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am

29. 29 On February 1st, 2008, Kim Hawkins said:

    I work for a large healthcare system in Houston, Texas - and our program pays us $10 a pound (yes that’s right) for losing… but you have to lose the first 5% of your total body weight first for free. The neat thing about it though is that if you keep the weight off - they’ll pay you $5 for every pound you’ve kept off the next year.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 2:35 pm

30. 30 On February 1st, 2008, Angie said:

    I just discovered the fatosphere. I read the NYT article and have been reading the various blogs to see what it is about. I am blown away and in awe of everyone here.

    I’m commenting now because I just got back from an information meeting for WW at the workplace. I had agreed to come to the meeting about 3 weeks ago and felt obligated to go hear what they had to say. But, because of everything I have read here over the past few days, I had already decided that it was NOT something I wanted to do.

    The lady leading the meeting said she had been on weight watchers for 20 years. 20 years!! I don’t want to be a part of a diet that I will have to be on for 20 years just so I comform to society’s view of what I should look like. I’m a happy person. I’m fat. I’m cool with it. I just want to be a more active person and eat more healthfully (is that a word?). I think I can do that without paying people money every week to tell me my ideal weight is between 115 and 141 (ha!).

    Anyway, this has probably been one long ramble, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone here, because if I hadn’t had the information provided here and on the other blogs associated with FA, I probably would have gone ahead with it. And felt bad about it. So, THANK YOU!!

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 3:59 pm

31. 31 On February 1st, 2008, Autumn May said:

    I think that’s an awesome opportunity for overweight people who would like to weigh less. There are a ton of people at my workplace who would benefit from the amount of pressure it takes off the spine, let alone other good things that can and sometimes does equal weight loss.

    *shrug* It’s optional, it’s obviously not for you.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 4:36 pm

32. 32 On February 1st, 2008, Charlynn said:

    I wrote about my company’s “wellness program” when it started last year. It’s such a crock! This year, not only was everybody in the company encouraged to participate, but readers were, too (I work for a newspaper). It was called “The Get Fit Club,” with the logo designed to look like it was from the movie “Fight Club.” Gag me. So not only are we staffers unhealthy and risking higher insurance premiums with our fat asses, our readers are, too. We’re still running special promos with “healthy” tips on eating and exercise. [sulk]

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 7:32 pm

33. 33 On February 1st, 2008, Heather BartleItt said:

    Dieting and weightloss has become so commonplace in our society that nobody thinks twice about expecting folks to want to join in with something like the fat pot of gold competitions at work.

    I work at home, so I don’t deal with this sort of thing, but my husband was recently asked to join one of these little competitions at work and he simply declined. It ended up that they couldn’t do it anyway because ultimately it was considered gambling, so against the rules.

    What gets me is when I’ve been ill and somebody who doesn’t know me well tells me I look good because I lost weight. I WAS SICK!

    

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 10:26 pm

34. 34 On February 1st, 2008, Fat Girl said:

    I should also add that in addition to the broken equipment in our employee gym, we also have a large number of very unhealthy people working there. I’m not just talking in terms of weight (lots of overweight people but that’s pretty much a given). It’s the type of place you can work if you have fairly serious health problems and they offer employee insurance that’s fairly expensive but not as bad as other places in the area. For all they talk about “wellness” on the company level they don’t really seem into it at the local level. Then again, I don’t know what the profiles of any of their other centers look like.

    posted on February 1st, 2008 at 11:42 pm

35. 35 On February 2nd, 2008, Other Sally said:

    THE FUCK?

    What if someone’s already thin, but say, also has self-esteem issues? Are they encouraging this person to drop way more weight than is healthy just to “keep up”?

    (Not to mention that losing-as-much-as-you-can within a set time period is unhealthy at any weight…)

    posted on February 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 am

36. 36 On February 2nd, 2008, Amy said:

    My current work desperately wants to start a wellness program. I promptly printed out the Wallstreet Journal article. Some of the stuff they’ve started, I can understand, namely healthier snacks in the kitchen, rather than junk food. The rest makes me nervous. They know I’m opinionated and stubborn enough, though, that I can’t be wooed into participating. I’m really hoping they just give up on it (it’s a small place — there are only six of us), so hopefully people will just be too busy to deal with starting the program proper.

    The previous place I worked offered, from my understanding, some kind of gym membership reimbursement, but I think it had to be in conjunction with anger management, smoking cessation, etc. (They had phenomenal mental-health care.) That’s what I want more than anything in my current place of employment. There are a mental-health issues afloat (mine included) that don’t really seem to have the opportunity to get addressed. That really seems like a logical place to start any kind of wellness program — cause nothing else can really change if you can’t live inside your own head.

    Aaaaand, like everyone else, I’ll just jump off the soapbox now.

    posted on February 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm

37. 37 On February 2nd, 2008, Rachel said:

    Why is it “wellness” has come to be synonymous with weight-loss? It’s as if weight-loss as come to define our entire perception of what constitutes good health, regardless if it actually results in improved health.

    posted on February 2nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm

38. 38 On February 2nd, 2008, Charlynn said:

    “Why is it “wellness” has come to be synonymous with weight-loss? It’s as if weight-loss as come to define our entire perception of what constitutes good health, regardless if it actually results in improved health.”

    Yes, exactly. That’s where so many of these “wellness” programs go wrong.

    posted on February 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 pm

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