# The Cosmopolitan "weight loss plan" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 13, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377 "2017-04-13T13:59:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/1 "2017-04-13T13:59:34Z")
Cosmopolitan magazine presents a cancer-survivor’s story as an article about weight loss. fail^∞ ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/2 "2017-04-13T14:05:50Z")
Would this be the article in question? [A Serious Health Scare Helped Me Love My Body More Than Ever](http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a9254944/simone-harbinson-no-exercise/) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/3 "2017-04-13T14:11:47Z")
hmmmm, I’m pretty sure this was the intended link: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VWgwJfbeCeU/hqdefault.jpg "Butterfield DIET") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWgwJfbeCeU) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/4 "2017-04-13T14:25:20Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Would this be the article in question? [A Serious Health Scare Helped Me Love My Body More Than Ever](http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a9254944/simone-harbinson-no-exercise/) Yes - they changed the title after the social media backlash. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/5 "2017-04-13T14:29:55Z")
Next month: Better for Losing Those Love Handles: Meth Diet or AIDS Diet? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/6 "2017-04-13T14:39:34Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Next month: Better for Losing Those Love Handles: Meth Diet or AIDS Diet? Meth Diet: Because abs are made in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/7 "2017-04-13T16:21:29Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yes - they changed the title after the social media backlash. What was the original title? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/8 "2017-04-13T16:41:40Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > What was the original title? It’s not quite clear whether the title of the article itself was changed. What really got people up in arms was a tweet that the Cosmopolitan Twitter account used to advertise the article. The tweet said: > [@](#): > > How This Woman Lost 44 Pounds Without ANY Exercise This [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/12/dear-cosmopolitan-magazine-cancer-is-not-a-diet-plan/) piece discusses the issue. Maybe the folks at Cosmo thought they’d try to take some of the heat off United Airlines. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/9 "2017-04-13T17:24:30Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Maybe the folks at Cosmo thought they’d try to take some of the heat off United Airlines. 🙂 I am so glad Sean Spicer spared us details of the Treblinka diet. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/10 "2017-04-13T17:37:33Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > I am so glad Sean Spicer spared us details of the Treblinka diet. Is that one of those Holocaust Centers?😉 This is so ludicrous I find it hard to believe it’s real. What could the editor possibly be thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/11 "2017-04-13T17:58:48Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Is that one of those Holocaust Centers?😉 > > This is so ludicrous I find it hard to believe it’s real. What could the editor possibly be thinking? Holocaust Center? It’s down there past the highway ramp, next to the Pinochet Petting Zoo. You can’t miss it. 😃 I’m guessing the editor believes women don’t think at all except for cogitating on how to look faaabulous. If the editor’s a woman, that’s probably all she thinks about. Good speller though. ---
**Author:** ![Mom-of-Andrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@Mom-of-Andrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mom-of-Andrew)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/12 "2017-04-13T18:16:55Z")
Hmmmmm… I lost 41 pounds on the Divorce Diet TM. I wonder if Cosmo would pay for my story? (My doctor spoke to me sternly and advised eating ice cream. I’ve gained 5lbs back so far. Go me!) ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/13 "2017-04-13T19:12:14Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Maybe the folks at Cosmo thought they’d try to take some of the heat off United Airlines. 🙂 Oofta. It looks to me like the mother of all tone deaf jokes, but that one’s gonna hurt. I don’t think I know of anyone who lost their job for a bad joke. I take that back. I canned a guy a couple years ago for making racist comments to an interviewee while I was giving a tour. I’ve never been so happy walking someone out the door. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/14 "2017-04-13T19:30:46Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Next month: Better for Losing Those Love Handles: Meth Diet or AIDS Diet? Back in the '80s during a wave of publicity about HIV, there was a radio ad for a now defunct weight-loss product that proclaimed “Lose all the weight you want with AYDS!” :eek::smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/15 "2017-04-13T19:41:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Back in the '80s during a wave of publicity about HIV, there was a radio ad for a now defunct weight-loss product that proclaimed “Lose all the weight you want with AYDS!” :eek::smack: God I get tired of hearing this on the internet. It makes it sound like there was once a weight loss product that named itself after a devastating disease. The product came first, and was around for years before AIDS became a word. Cosmo isn’t the first to make a note of some kind of extreme diet. I think Solzhenitsyn did it somewhere. Just an allusion, not a recommendation. I’m thinking it was Cancer Ward but it might have been Gulag Archipelago. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/16 "2017-04-13T20:10:42Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > God I get tired of hearing this on the internet. It makes it sound like there was once a weight loss product that named itself after a devastating disease. The product came first, and was around for years before AIDS became a word. Yes, I know. I heard it on-air before the Internet was a thing. Even better, the ad came on right after a news broadcast that features a story on expanding AIDS cases. It was a classic black humor moment. Don’t screw with my treasured memories. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/17 "2017-04-14T08:29:15Z")
I lost 30 lbs. through pancreatitis and liver failure. I don’t think that rates a magazine story though. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/18 "2017-04-14T13:16:08Z")
I read the story > **[A Serious Health Scare Helped Me Love My Body More Than Ever](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a9254944/simone-harbinson-no-exercise/)** > > Despite several life-threatening setbacks, she's happier than ever at her healthiest weight yet. It is being misrepresented. It is about an overweight woman that suffered a lot of health problems, most from complications to a surgery for carcinoid cancer. I will note that I know someone with this disease and the small slow growing tumors produce serotonin and hormones and can cause mood disorders, to put it mildly. So she went through a lot and was diagnosed with PTSD from all the agonies she went through and she ate a lot and got even fatter. Then she discovered this ONLINE MIRACLE DIET that slimmed her down and changed her life. And she wants to SHARE THIS GIFT by giving you a discount on this awesome diet plan. So, yes, I actually found this article offensive but for totally different reasons. Her cancer didn’t cause her to lose weight, her cancer and the resulting complications made her fat. And she slimmed down due to this click bait diet and you can, too. I’m offended because it is a blantant advertisement for a sketchy product disguised as journalism and isn’t labeled as such, because cancer and cancer survivor. I guess ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cosmopolitan-weight-loss-plan/784377/19 "2017-04-14T14:03:13Z")
My dad lost 135 lbs on the Leukemia Diet™ … the plan to die for …