Look who’s back!
Posted June 8, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Well, me yeah, but…it’s Susan Powter!
If you’re a long-time dieter like me, you may well have remembered the buzz cut Susan and her Stop the Insanity program, a book and video series that focused on exercise and a low-fat diet as the key to weight loss.
Back now after an long absence (she says she took time off to have and raise a third child), Susan is sporting funky Christina Aguilera-like blond dreadlocks and is bringing Stop the Insanity back, this time with an infomercial selling the revised plan and a membership-based website (warning epileptics: this site may induce seizures as there are a ridiculous number of text crawls and other moving images).
The new Stop the Insanity looks like it hasn’t changed much, with low-fat diet and exercise the key. The ABC/GMA article notes that:
The truth, Powter says, is that she “worked [my] butt off,” literally — and that is what overweight people must do to make significant change.
I don’t think so. But your mileage may vary. If you like your drill sergeant to be a size 2 with dreads, Susan may be for you!
Me, I’d like to see Susan in a steel cage death match with The Biggest Loser’s Jillian :).
June 9th, 2006 at 10:58 am
i seem to remember my mom having her ’stop the insanity’ book when i was young… bald back then, wasn’t she? i also seem to remember her being very obnoxious, too.
i’d like to see her in a steel cage death match with richard simmons… now THAT would be hilarious.
June 9th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Susan comes from the louder and more exciting must be more motivating. Works for some. Personally, I prefer quiet, contemplation and gentle encouragement. Different strokes! Glad you’re back. How was the vac?
June 9th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
It’s so funny that just a couple of weeks ago I thought about her out of the complete blue and googled her. And then when I was home sick yesterday, I was reading magazine–one of the fashion rags–and there was a whole article on her. She’s an all-out lesbian now and hardcore feminist and anti-agribusiness. Way cooler than I ever thought she was.
Still won’t buy her new DVD’s, though.
June 12th, 2006 at 8:08 am
I credit Powter’s plan with causing me to gain 40 pounds - her low fat diet was EXTREMELY high in empty carbs, combined with advice such as “don’t bother drinking a lot of water, it doesn’t do anything beneficial.” She has no medical or scientific knowledge/background of weight loss or fitness, and not even anecdotal or personal experience - she was “outed” as being a fraud who never was overweight; her whole story was a con. I’m not judging her orientation or politics; they are irrelevant to whether her advice was good - it wasn’t.
So yeah, definitely I won’t be buying her new stuff.