Are meal replacements that claim to help you lose weight without doing anything a waste of time?

Among contemporary young people, the topics that are most likely to arouse everyone's desire to communicate, besides sharing daily nonsense, are overtime, weight loss and baldness.

No matter how socially phobic you are, or how you just want to stay focused on your work, when people around you start talking about these topics, even if you don't join in immediately, you will prick up your ears and listen to what everyone has to say.

Not to mention overtime, 996 is the working period that every worker hates. Some are even worse off, having to work 007, being on call 24 hours a day, and not being able to ignore messages sent by leaders in the middle of the night.

Apart from the white-collar elites who earn money to pay off their mortgages by working from week to week, most ordinary office workers just want to lie at home and rest on Saturdays and Sundays.

Of course, no matter whether they earn 50,000 yuan a month or 2 yuan an hour, all workers have mastered all kinds of skills and used the rules of slacking off to the fullest extent, just to find a hint of happiness in exploitation.

After all, if you work, the money is what you deserve; if you slack off at work, you will feel like you are making money.

However, this combination comes at a price. Weight loss and baldness are both side effects of the 996 work schedule:

Crazy revengeful staying up late, going to bed later and later, because only in the dead of night, the roar of the fans from the PS4 and computer console can prove that this is my own time;

Reading novels and watching videos, a puddle of water has formed under the drink on the table, bubbles bounce around on the can, and with two spicy strips, my stomach will soon be in a state of rebellion;

Staying up late, working overtime, repeating over and over again, as we age, our metabolism gradually slows down, and it is inevitable that we gain weight. The young men and women who were once in their prime have been worn down by life, and their chins have been worn away;

The increasingly abundant secretion of male hormones made everyone look like a fallen British aristocrat, with sparse hair on the head and secretly crying in their hearts.

No matter how many black sesame pills you take, you won’t get back your lost hair. The only way to make up for it slightly is hair transplantation. But an obese body can be changed from being bloated to being thin through a variety of weight loss methods.

Most people have their own body anxieties: legs not strong enough, waist not thin enough, abdominal muscles not obvious enough, trapezius muscles not going down...

Those who are too thin want to gain muscle, those who are too fat want to lose weight without pain, or those who are particularly dissatisfied with a certain part of their body, often learn how to “lose xx in 5 minutes” and want to go to a beauty salon for a set of circumcision.

The TV series "Yunnan Worm Valley", which just ended its broadcast not long ago, has been long awaited by countless viewers. Although its reputation has not collapsed, it has not fully met the audience's expectations.

Apart from some plots that were cut into pieces because they could not be broadcast, and too many emotional scenes compared to previous films, the most talked-about thing is the slightly fat body of Pan Yueming, who plays the protagonist Hu Bayi.

Some people joked that tomb robbers like this would get stuck in the cave, some said that Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang were hard to tell apart when standing together, and some even remembered that Pan Yueming, who was still a handsome young man back then, once said to the camera, "Actors must pay attention to body management."

Although obesity is not a disadvantage for him, compared with female stars who are extremely sensitive about their weight, male actors tend to not care about their body shape.

("Two fat guys walking side by side, how can you tell which one is Bayi")

Some people don't care, while others follow the trend.

Countless celebrities have become popular on major social platforms and frequently appeared on hot searches with their tips for losing weight and keeping fit:

Ying Er who only eats one grain of Lao Gan Ma every day to lose weight, Liu Shishi who has not eaten staple food for many years, or Deng Chao who loses weight quickly by eating salt;

Ouyang Nana has been on a show, and she made a "rice-free fried rice" with cauliflower instead of rice, claiming it to be a weight loss tool. However, Wu Crow, who had eaten it once, didn't think it had anything to do with fried rice, and his cheeks were so tired that he couldn't stand it. However, there are still many light food takeaways that use this as a signboard, selling it at a high price and making money everywhere;

Later, Guan Xiaotong posted a Weibo post about eating a vegetable sandwich prepared by her mother, and also had hot and sour soup to satisfy her cravings. This really set off a wave and earned her a wave of goodwill. Unfortunately, she played a good hand badly because she was boycotted by netizens who disliked her promotion of plant meat dumplings, and she no longer shared about weight loss.

Losing weight is a bonus for celebrities and also a business opportunity for meal replacements.

A few days ago, Zhihu sent mooncake gift boxes to many answerers, which turned some people into jet fighters, and thank you for the invitation turned into laxatives, which became a hot search on Weibo, prompting Zhihu and the mooncake manufacturer COFCO to apologize.

The reason for diarrhea is that COFCO added maltitol to this low-sugar mooncake, but did not consider the threshold issue, causing some people with lactose intolerance to vomit profusely.

The addition of sugar substitutes is a reflection of the rapid development of the meal replacement industry in the country.

In the past one or two years, people have been eating well and have begun to pursue higher standards for health. Weight loss and meal replacement products, which were originally only popular in WeChat business, have been pushed by capital and have officially become a hot track.

The product, which was originally developed by programmers to "save time and ensure nutrition", suddenly became the best choice for weight loss.

Under the concept of "three parts exercise, seven parts diet", meal replacements have been sought after by countless lazy people, from milk shakes to cereals to meal replacement balls, and have become popular across the entire Internet.

WeChat business brands have officially entered the battle, and major giants are also scrambling to make layouts:

COFCO has launched biscuits that can replace meals for weight loss; Keep, which originated from fitness, has launched a series of light meals; Master Kong and Want Want have both developed healthy snacks; and zero-sugar, zero-calorie beverages are filling every container...

Countless celebrities and internet celebrities endorse it. Anyone who publicly claims to have successfully lost weight can receive promotion and endorsement for this type of product:

Zhao Lusi, who has been losing weight for many years, became the spokesperson for Junlebao's 0 sugar and 0 fat beverage; Zhang Xincheng, who lost 20 pounds for filming, got the endorsement of the Internet celebrity oatmeal drink; Zhang Shaohan, who has always been skinny, also endorsed many meal replacement products...

Those celebrities who once endorsed various slimming teas have now turned to meal replacements and light meals.

Among the many celebrities, the one who has fully reaped the benefits of weight loss is Yin Zheng, who became famous in the first half of the year because of his weight loss.

He became famous for his dish "Yin Zheng Stewed Dish" by live-streaming his meals on Xiaohongshu. Because he is down-to-earth, he has attracted the attention of countless netizens and has become an object of imitation for many people.

Along with the bonuses that came with his popularity, his videos have evolved from the simple three meals a day at the beginning to a variety of weight loss meal replacement products.

According to incomplete statistics, there are no less than 10 promotions of these low-fat brands on Yin Zheng’s homepage, and many of them have been pushed to the information flow of major social platforms, bringing in countless profits.

His popularity has also expanded to areas such as variety shows and big-brand promotions.

However, at the "Weibo Movie Night" in June, a few photos from the event shattered Yin Zheng's image. In the photos, he looked wrinkled, slightly fat, and obviously very haggard, completely different from the one on Xiaohongshu.

Netizens widely discussed his ineffective weight loss, and many people called him "Professor Snape", who no longer looked like Yuan Hua in their memories.

It's not just the weight loss stars who have failed, but also the weight loss products.

A month ago, it was revealed that the energy value of the internet-famous whole-wheat bread Pastoralism was 40% higher than the label on the packaging, causing consumers to call themselves deceived.

Many people said that it was no wonder that they gained weight after two months of fitness, while others expressed disappointment that they would have eaten something better if they had known this would happen.

The Taobao anchor and Tian Yuanzhuiyi who promoted the product both apologized, but it also sparked a discussion about "whether weight loss and meal replacement products are a waste of money" and whether internet celebrities need to be responsible for the products they recommend.

Despite ongoing discussions like these, sales of meal replacement products continue to rise.

According to statistics, in 2021, the sales of meal replacements and light food products increased by 290% year-on-year, the number of meal replacement consumers increased by 78% in three years, and the per capita annual consumption amount has exceeded 3,000 yuan.

For the general public, when it comes to losing weight, those who have money can support it with money, and those who don’t can support it with their presence:

Some people are serious about losing weight and quietly taking action, bringing their own healthy meals every day, working diligently, and going to lift weights after get off work;

Some people just can't exercise. They either buy a gym membership on a whim, but don't exercise for two days; or they buy a bunch of meal replacements, but they start to rebound after two days.

There are also those who keep saying they want to lose weight and get in shape, but in fact they are lazy. They never sit when they can lie down, and never stand when they can sit. They often eat a stimulating takeaway in the dead of night, and then look at the number on the scale to deceive themselves that they can lose some weight after going to the toilet.

Nine out of ten people lost weight.

However, in addition to the word "laziness", another major obstacle that prevents ordinary people from losing weight is the Internet celebrities who rely on fitness and fat loss to attract traffic.

From gyms to open spaces in residential areas, internet celebrities have raised the threshold for keeping fit to a high-end field that only the middle class can enter.

In the gym, it has become a must to compete with the person next to you: who is faster, who has bigger muscles, who is stronger, who has more tricks...

The level of the entire gym was directly raised to the level of Olympic gymnastics competition by these people, which made countless newbies cry when they heard about it and made those who saw it feel sad.

An ordinary bicycle pedaling turned into the fastest leg-breaking secret in history:

No matter how fast you run on the treadmill, you can never be as eye-catching as someone walking upside down:

Ordinary plank support and push-ups can no longer meet basic needs. Only a 1080° Thomas spin on the spot can show your uniqueness:

What's worse, some of them even put on a show of men on top of men, which makes people wonder about their real purpose of coming to the gym:

Of course, not all gyms are so terrible. After all, most people are exhausted before they can even reach this level.

However, the undercurrent of comparison still showed through everyone's eyes:

The number on the treadmill next to me was "10", so I silently increased it to "12" for myself;

That guy just lifted a 10kg dumbbell, I have to lift twice as much as him;

Whether it's squats or deadlifts, there are always people watching your situation;

You may be stretching your legs easily one second, but the next second you may find your friend next to you doing the splits.

If you don’t have enough hard power, you can make up for it with money.

Not everyone can become a powerful dragon, but in this era, getting a set of equipment like Zhao Wenzhuo is definitely a piece of cake.

The same goes for the gym; as long as it is well-equipped, it can be intimidating.

It's easy to tell whose shorts are shorter, whose socks are longer, whose knee pads are more expensive, and whose underwear looks more professional.

Even your gym bag and water cup must be more dazzling and colorful than others to become the coolest guy in the entire gym.

The gym and the Shura field may be only separated by a towel.

Many people cannot stand this unhealthy trend of comparison and choose to avoid the gym and exercise at home.

However, in the Internet age, people living in information cocoons can still receive various information related to weight loss and exercise, which stimulates everyone's nerves.

From weight loss methods to weight loss equipment, none of them are within the expectations of ordinary people like us.

Some people lose 3 kilograms in one night, while others lose 10 kilograms in three days. This scene of people scrambling to see who can defecate the most is something many people dare not even imagine.

Everything about fitness equipment is even more amazing.

In the past decade or so, running, skipping rope and other exercises have been the simplest and most basic things.

However, nowadays, the involution of fitness influencers has extended their devilish hands into every simple exercise.

Rope skipping, which is suitable for all ages, has become a highly acclaimed "most effective whole-body weight loss exercise" and is very popular because it sounds very down-to-earth.

However, in the world of fitness bloggers, if you want to get started, it is definitely not enough to have just one rope, you need at least two, one with a rope and one without.

Mothers absolutely cannot understand how they are supposed to jump rope without even the rope. However, the ropeless jump rope is regarded as the truth of skipping rope at home and is an entry-level product.

Because cordless skipping is convenient and does not take up space, you don't have to worry about getting bruised by the rope while skipping, nor do you have to worry about accidentally hitting your favorite glass cups and coffee tables. It is suitable for beginners.

But rope skipping is also very important, because the degree of exercise without rope can never be compared with that with rope, because rope skipping can better exercise the coordination of the human body.

(It seems like it’s okay to not hold anything in your hands?)

So, the crow, who once thought that skipping rope with a counting function was very advanced, was shocked by the various skipping ropes and was speechless:

Various materials complement each other, and the textured cowhide helps you create a low-key and charming rope skipping journey;

Lightweight plastic makes skipping more comfortable and effortless;

The steel wire material can highlight the superb skills, otherwise you can only become Lu Yiping who is embarrassed in the rain;

Counting is also the most basic operation, and it can also measure heart rate and calories consumed. If it can be connected to a mobile phone, it will be the aristocrat among ropes. With the luminous function, you can become an acrobatic star in the dark.

In addition to the necessary ropes, the rest of the tools are dazzling:

A skipping rope mat is used to isolate the neighbors downstairs and ease the already unclose neighborhood relationship;

A pair of sports shoes and a pair of knee pads to prevent the knees from being worn out when skipping rope, so that you can go to the streets to forage for food;

A foam roller to relax sore muscles and avoid losing weight;

an anti-sagging mask to tighten the skin and prevent sagging in the face;

Compression socks, gloves... all kinds of things, each one seems to be "very necessary", of course, being able to jump rope well is a prerequisite.

Having said that, compared with those weight loss methods that rely on starving yourself, any amount of fitness equipment seems to be reasonable.

In order to lose weight, having diarrhea is a common practice; occasionally eating some meal replacement products is not a big problem as long as your health is guaranteed.

But being impatient and relying on extreme hunger to lose weight is not a long-term solution.

The so-called intermittent fasting has been popular for a long time; various grapefruit weight loss methods and ketogenic weight loss methods are common; there are still many people who rely on apples and cucumbers to lose weight; some people even begin to search for various "fasting" methods in order to reach their ideal numbers faster.

For a moment, it is hard to tell whether one is on a contemporary social network or in a Taoist temple from hundreds of years ago.

No matter how many people warn you that this method is very harmful to your health, many people have shared their experiences of overeating after losing weight, hoping to draw everyone's attention.

However, those who are eager for quick results still flock to it, and are obsessed with the fantasy of rapid weight loss every minute, and cannot be awakened at all.

How many people are disappointed with their children and blame them for having nothing to do after eating, and then start torturing themselves soon after eating.

People would rather they follow internet celebrities and bloggers to buy cheap products and believe that tying rubber bands on their hands can help them lose weight, rather than watching them hurt their bodies like this.

At this moment, Crow couldn't help but think of the hardcore fitness grandpas and aunts in the park:

Some of them are so good at iron head skills that they can withstand concrete blocks, trees, or iron railings of fitness equipment.

Some of them have extraordinary Qinggong skills, comparable to the Green-winged Bat King Wei Yixiao, who can hang himself on a rope and sway in the wind;

Some can defy gravity, but no one can figure out why some people can violate Newton's laws.

Of course, most of these methods are not healthy, and some can be said to be very dangerous.

But from these sports, we can also experience the tremendous vitality of the uncles and aunts.

However, most of us working people will never reach this level when we reach that age.

Especially for those who are deeply trapped in "appearance anxiety" and are eager to achieve quick results in weight loss and fitness, the degree of damage to their body cannot be underestimated.

Say no to involution in fitness, starting with each individual.

Finally, I wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

One mooncake contains 400 calories, which is equivalent to 4 bowls of rice. You need to jog for 1 hour, about 6 kilometers.

References:

Vista: The most "rustic" weight loss exercise has also been picked up by Internet celebrities

Trough value: China's most introverted fitness venue is in the park

20 Club: Fat loss is permanent, but Yin Zheng is always changing