"Benefits" Fair- smoothie scam?

So today at my campus we had an annual HR-hosted benefits fair. You know the kind- all sorts of voluntary benefit vendors (i.e. investment firms, vision insurance providers, etc. etc.), credit unions affiliated with higher education, etc. etc.. The main section of the fair was actually a helpful resource for a new employee such as myself, as I had the opportunity to speak to representatives from my new health insurance provider and ask the sorts of questions that a new member might have.

I then ventured to the upstairs area of the fair where they advertised 'health screenings' and flu shots. Well, I'm not much of a shot/blood person (an understatement...) so I slid right by anything with needles, but was intrigued with the idea of health screenings that did not involve bodily fluids!

First up was a lung capacity test. I basically blew into something that looked like a breathalyzer (for the record, I've never actually been breathalyzed) and it somehow was supposed to measure my lung capacity. My reading placed me in the average/low range (not ideal- high is good in this case)- but no big shocker since the analyst's comments and follow up asked a lot of questions about weather or not I am an athlete (no), and related things pertaining to exercise which made it pretty apparent that the way to get a high/good rating was to be in tip-top cardiovascular shape (I'm not). Okay, I accepted that no problem.

Next up I was told that I'd have my body fat analyzed. I was imagining those awful pincher things, but instead was instructed to hold a metal device out in front of me that would send some low-level shock wave up my arm. Okay- I was game and glad to know that they are no longer subjecting people to the pincher things too! This was painless, discreet (no lifting shirts to grab flab...) and quick. My reading indicated that my body fat % was in the average range for a woman of my age (27.8%) and I took her word for it.

At the next booth I sensed right away that something was different. I needed to wait in line a few minutes (not a problem), and one of the staff members wearing an official looking shirt with some sciencey sounding name on it started chatting with me. Since this booth was advertised as being about bone density she started asking me questions about calcium consumption. I shared that I eat a vegan diet at home and that I get my calcium through less traditional sources than the Standard American Diet (SAD). She gave me an odd look, but continued to tout the benefits of dairy. I smiled politely and waited my turn in line. When my turn came I was instructed to stand on a strange looking scale-like machine. Without much (any?) explanation I was also asked to grab two pulley handles from the machine and to stand still. Okay. About 90 seconds later I was told that I was 'done'. The woman (also in the same science-sounding logoed polo shirt) poked at a few buttons on what appeared to be a reader (still no explanation to me of what this thing was even doing...) and then got a somewhat worried/concerned look on her face (picture pursed lips and scrunched eyebrows). Not knowing that the booth down the row had given me a body fat % reading just minutes earlier she informs me that my body fat % is of concern, my bone mass is too low and my muscle mass could use improvement. Okay... none of this is necessarily shocking information to me (particularly regarding the need to increase my muscle mass)-- but the next part is where the concern lies. She then informs me that her suggestion is that I loose "about 20 pounds". Now, I'll add here that I am not at my all time lightest weight here today, but I am well within a healthy weight range, have a totally healthy BMI, and would, in fact, have a BMI that would be .2 lbs. short of being 'underweight' (courtesy of the cdc.gov website) if I did indeed loose 20 lbs. In short, my weight is not the issue here. Still, I decide that I'm going to politely nod along and hear what else she has to say. The nodding must have had the effect that she though that I was now interested in learning how to loose 20 lbs... because next she explains the sciency sounding name of the company she represents. The sciencey-sounding company is indeed a supplement company that 'specializes in meal replacement smoothies'. Immediately red flags are flying in my mind... but it gets worse.

She then proceeds to tell me that most of their 'clients' use a smoothie to replace breakfast, but that for 'people like you, who need to loose weight' that it would be a good idea to replace both breakfast and lunch with their smoothie. I resist the urge to tell this woman that I actually know a thing or two about weight loss, and am completely and utterly in opposition to her approach. I play the part of a potentially interested 'client' to see where this is going. I pick up the sample jar of a vanilla powder and see that the smoothie mix itself has only 90 calories/serving. When I mention this she says, "Yes! Only 90 calories--- and although the instructions say to mix with milk (adding calories), you can loose weight faster if you mix the powder with water instead!". So let me get this straight. She is suggesting to me that a good approach to loose 20 lbs. would be to replace breakfast and lunch with a 90 calorie powder mixed with water- thus resulting in only 180 calories consumed until a late afternoon snack or dinner? Yep- she confirmed that she did indeed think that this was a good way to go. I debate (again) in my mind if I should 'reveal' myself as a Weight Watchers leader and debunk her totally asinine approach, but decide against it (after all, I'm at work-- and not my WW work-- there are others in line, and frankly I'm not sure that it would do much good). So I smile politely again, decline her sample (which, by the way, has dairy in the powder- so circling back to my initial concern wouldn't be a product that I'd use at home anyways...), and move on.

So where does that leave me? I've decided that I'm going to write a brief and friendly note to the HR staff who organized this event, thank them for hosting it, show my appreciation for the opportunity to speak to some of the resources in attendance, and concisely note that I'm hopeful that they will reevaluate the role/fit of the particular "screening" company that did the "bone density test". I'm the type who's not going to sit back and ignore what is a significant problem--- but I also don't want to cause a huge stink. It did leave me wondering... if it weren't me, someone with a relatively rationale approach to weight maintenance/loss, would I have fallen for her propaganda? Yikes! Maybe HR would be interested to see the productivity of staff who are surviving on 180 calories the entire work day...

Blogging Benefits

Helllooooo... anyone out there? I am guessing not- short of my #1 blogging fan, my Aunt K (thanks for the reminder, K!). I neglected this blog... oh... about a year ago (eeek!). At the time my full time job was keeping me busy (a bit of an understatement... maybe 'keeping me wildly attempting to stay afloat while neglecting many elements of my personal well being' would be a more accurate descriptor-?), and life was just too hectic to blog. I was considering my blog as a tool to communicate with my Weight Watchers members, and hadn't really considered the blog as a tool for myself.

Fast forward to today- November already (yikes)! I've changed full time jobs after being with the same institution for 6 years. Change is good. Change is hard. However, in this case, it is truly for the best (despite the challenges that being a 'newbie' brings...). I've had some time to breathe, reflect, and consider my life- not just my work life- but really my life (and no, those two things aren't one in the same...). In the summer I resigned from my regular WW leader role because at the time I was still working crazy hours and was finding myself needing to find substitutes too often for my meetings-- not ideal for my members. Since then, I've remained on the staff roster and am available to sub meetings myself when the needs presents itself and I'm available. The best of both worlds if you ask me!

When I stopped my regular meetings I figured I'd stop the blog too (although really I had been remiss in my posting for some time even at that point...). I figured if I wasn't leading a meeting and didn't have member 'followers' what's the point? Again- the focus was on others.

As I've had that time to reflect, I've realized that blogging can be beneficial for me- Braelin- the member, the person- not necessarily the leader. Although I've never been a diary/traditional journal writer, I did enjoy blogging while I was at it. So, I'm back to the blogging- this time for me. Granted, I expect the topics and themes to still be focused on weight maintenance/loss- but I'm writing for me this time (and my Aunt K, and anyone else who cares to read-- I'm not kidding myself-- blogging is inherently a public forum). The benefits that I hope to realize include:

• A 'space' to ramble... (err... I mean, 'reflect'...) on my own successes, challenges, and goals in regards to my own weight maintenance. I've always be an "auditory processor" (translation: I think out loud and talking through things helps me form my ideas)- so writing can have the same effect. It just may take me a few pages or posts to make my point. Hey- if I'm doing this for myself, that's a-okay!
• A place to hold onto my thoughts and keep them for future reflection. I am a nostalgic person. There's nothing that I love more than reading old letters that I have in boxes in my basement. I like a reminder of who I was from reading letters, old school papers, and the like. Now most people might not immediately link reading traditional letters (think curled up paper, creased notes from 6th grade, cool handwriting, etc.) with the web-log (blog)- but the way I see it, blogging is a more streamlined way of capturing the memories, and perspective from the past. Traditional letter writing is still something that I enjoy, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy electronic communication too! I totally hope that I'm reading this very post years down the line much in the same way I read old letters and notes.

Really, that's it for now- the benefits of blogging are for me this time. Simple and straightforward. I may still 'speak' to an external audience (just b/c I think that's more fun to write sometimes)- but my purpose behind the posts won't be about providing information to others. If there's a secondary benefit of that- great! If not, hopefully the blog will benefit me in the ways that I've outlined.