We called it “The Ad Game”.

My younger brother and sister and I invented it while watching a weight loss show on TV. (There were quite a few of those kinds of shows during the early 2000’s, and I don’t actually remember which one it was that we were watching).

During the commercial breaks of the show, we would run one at a time, up and down the length of the living room. After five lengths, it was the next person’s turn. Whoever was left running when the show came back on lost the game.

It was a fun game, and we got quite strategic with it, going slow to try to catch the next person out, etc. But the reasons behind it were darker.

I can’t speak for my siblings, but I was starting to feel a bit scared. The people on the show were so big, and they had to do so much exercise to lose weight, and basically starve themselves. It did not look like a pleasant experience.

And there was this lingering fear that I was sitting there watching. Just sitting. Often eating ice cream. What did it matter that my age was barely into double digits, shouldn’t I be exercising, too? If I didn’t, surely I would be a contestant on the show in a few year’s time…

Thus, The Ad Game was born.

I love exercise and I’m competitive as all hell, so I have absolutely nothing against The Ad Game. But I was playing it for the wrong reasons entirely. And really that came down to the messaging I was receiving from the TV show and the wider environment surrounding me.

My parents dieting to lose weight. The little remarks my friends and family would make about wanting to be slimmer. The ads for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. The talk of foods high in fat making you fat. It seemed like every book and movie and TV show had some kind of reference to weight in it. The whole shebang of the early 2000’s, in other words…

I was reflecting on this one night recently when I whipped up an Instagram reel (short-form video) about it. It’s currently doing the rounds on social with over 3 million views… Because I think it resonates with people.

Because, when you think about it, did you have those kinds of influences on you growing up? Did you watch the weight loss TV shows? Did you have people in your life who were trying to lose weight on unsustainable diets, only to have it backfire and make them bigger? (Coincidentally, as almost all the winners of those TV shows have gone on to do).

I do ask my clients about this, in a roundabout way. I don’t lie them on the couch and ask them about their childhoods, far from it! But if they tell me they want to lose weight I ask them why. That simple question sometimes opens up a bigger discussion on where their beliefs come from.

So here’s a question for you: when you look back at your influences during your formative years, do you think weight loss rhetoric affected you? And how? Does it continue to affect you? Does it creep into your work? There’s no right or wrong here, but it’s one hell of a self-reflective exercise.

To be clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight. But we should be asking why. Because there is a big difference between wanting to be fitter to keep up with the kids, and wanting to be slim because you think your self-worth is intricately tied up with your weight.

Always ask why.