As early as possible, we were highly influenced by the mass media when it comes to how we perceive ourselves. Moreover, the mass media dictates the paradigm of what is beautiful to society and what is not.

When it comes to weight loss and weight management, the media plays an important role in influencing people on the way they make opinions and choices. Often times, we are bombarded with images of slim bodies strutting out in the beach and somehow, deep in the recesses of our minds, we think that it would be nice if we can look just like them. The result—we often take in crash courses on how to lose weight fast. Simply put, the idea on weight loss is an easy prey for the mass media.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of the mass media is the rapid rise of eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia and compulsive eating. Along with these ads are scantily clad women often seen in TV.

For people to lose weight fast, they often turn to becoming anorexic and bulimic. These are people who try to starve themselves in order to manage their weight while some binge eat and then vomit all of the contents from their stomach after an hour (bulimia). These are psychological disorders but people often regard them as an effective weight management plan which is entirely false.

The result, of course, is rapid weight loss. However, in reality, this is something that people should celebrate on. Although starving oneself can be an effective way to lose weight fast, it is still nonetheless unhealthy to continue doing it.

It is true that the media plays a very important role in the way people see themselves. The question now is that whether the media should practice responsible broadcasting or should the viewers be responsible enough to detect if what they see in TV is reality or not.