Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — In the never ending search for weight loss and being thin, many Saudi women have begun creating and participating in online forums where they comfortably and safely discuss diet, weight loss, fitness, and health issues. It is also a place where women learn from one another's experiences, are inspired by one another's achievements, and keep up-to-date on new information in the fascinating world of nutrition. They have developed a social support network and an internet weight loss community in which they will not be judged, scrutinized, or criticized for their long battles with weight gain. “I have been overweight for a while and every time I start a diet my family is highly skeptical and it is as if they are expecting me to fail. As my last resort, I have recently made diet partners online in a local chat room for women only, and when I mess up, they encourage me to stick to my diet and exercise rather than criticize or mock me. The entire atmosphere is a positive and motivating one,” said Farhana Khalidi. Some of the online weight loss forums have listed a number of conditions before accepting members, such as being serious about wanting to lose weight, discipline, honesty when reporting every detail of the daily food intake, and agreeing to adhere to an exercise and diet regimen. Narjis Noor gained over twenty kilograms during her last pregnancy and she is still struggling to shed the extra weight one year after she had her baby girl. “I am tired of being overweight and hearing negative comments from my social circle. Every time I go shopping for myself I come home feeling depressed because it is so difficult to find clothes that fit me. I have no means of transportation to go to the gym every day and in the past I lacked the willpower to follow a strict diet,” said Noor. Noor then stumbled upon a Jeddah-based weight loss online forum by coincidence and it became the solution to her weight problems, thus saving her life physically and emotionally. This particular forum has promised a modest cash prize for the top three women who lose the most weight in the coming four months. The feeling of belonging to a team and that you are not alone with a small dose of healthy competition make excellent ingredients for positive results. The functioning of the online forums are easy –– every member is required to fill out a food diary each day, which will help her identify unhealthy and bad food choices that interfere with weight loss. The web site also has tools to count calories so that the women can make sure that they did not go overboard their daily caloric needs. Most forums provide healthy, low-fat recipes with pictures and videos as well. Another service the web site offers is giving instructions on exercises that can be easily done at home and will burn calories and tone the body. Nutritionist Rabab Badwi acknowledges the benefits but also warns of the disadvantages of enrolling in online forums and discussion rooms as a route to weight loss. “First of all, I oppose the use of the word diet. Blindly following a printed diet is not the right way to lose weight. Losing weight the healthy way involves a bit of nutritional education and counseling, changing lifestyle habits and cooking methods, and following a food plan – not a diet,” said Badwi. Badwi explained that it is a grave mistake to pass on a diet from woman to the next, warning that the online weight loss groups can sometimes give wrong advice. Each person is different and has specific individual nutritional needs. A balanced food plan must be designed by a collaboration of the qualified nutritionist and the patient. “I have seen countless twenty-five year old patients who came to my office and were successful at losing weight, but their skin looks dry, scaly, and pale, and they suffer from hair loss, fatigue, depression, sagging skin, constipation, and in some cases iron-deficiency, anemia and osteoporosis. All of these health problems are side-effects of an unhealthy and excessively rigid weight loss diet, and these problems could have been avoided if following the correct food plan,” said Badwi.
