What is "legit" though? I've yet to see an FDA approved weight loss product whereas wheelchairs do have to get FDA approval.

A treadmill is an example of a legit weight loss product.

>Here's a rule of thumb: exercise very hard for one hour (swimming, running, or racquetball) and you'll lose about one ounce of fat. Light exercise for an hour (gardening, baseball, or golf) will lose you a third of an ounce. Want to lose a pound of fat? You can work it off by hiking to the top of a 2,500-story building. Or by running 60 miles.

https://muller.lbl.gov/TRessays/22-ThePhysicsDiet.htm

Caloric restriction is the way to lose weight. If that knowledge is not enough, and a book doesn't fix the problem, the solution is likely a regiment, program, club, routine, or subscription. Enter Weight Watchers. https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/weight-watchers-diet https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-weight-loss-diets

If paying money to a service to help you count calories does the trick, it is the answer. Food consumption routines and subscriptions should be allowed, because despite being profitable businesses, they also are beneficial to society. It may or may not be hard for WW to deliver its message around this ban. I would hope that Pinterest has somewhat flexible rules, and makes good judgement calls when something is close. I personally would err on the side of allowing WW to advertise, without letting it be a slippery slope back to snake oil.

Ads in question are most likely not about treadmill but high-margin supplements / meal substitutes with dubious results.

"for use in addition to a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity"

So really it's not doing much other than reducing how hungry someone feels.

Want to lose weight? It's easy. Go keto. For people that are fat, like myself, cutting carbs will, by nature, cut calories and a higher fat/protein diet will make you feel more full and eat less calories.

The problem is a lot of people like myself want to lose weight while still eating fast food and sitting down all day. No pill/injection will change that.

or get a meal plan that pre-portions your meals. My partner and I struggled to do keto, we lasted like 3 months. The results were impressive, but not sustainable for us.

We've started a pre-packaged meal plan. Meals are normally good (only had a couple we didn't like) but we are down a combined 75+ pounds and still doing the pre-packaged meals since we get a decent selection. Now, we do get a TON of chicken, and that is a struggle, but it's a trade off.

As to your last point, agree. There's no magic pill that will let you lose weight without fundamental changes

Yeah longer term I don't think Keto is sustainable without eating a LOT of fat. I don't get people that are twigs going on it. But if you need to burn fat away theres almost no better way.

Oh interesting. Being pedantic here but I'm guessing there's a strong distinction between "weight regulation" and "weight loss" in the regulatory context though?

There are people and products that promote eating in ways that cause weight loss. Calorie reduction via various methods.

Eg ads for low calorie cookbooks, things to sis keto diets, low calorie products like ice cream, etc

Are weight loss products "medical devices?"

A better analogy would be if wheelchair companies were causing people to be ashamed of using their legs and preying on a societal hatred of "walking people" and making everyone feel like they need a wheelchair to be accepted in society at all.

If weight loss things were FDA approved, effective, and didn't carry the weight of a society that tells people that being overweight (or even just feeling overweight) makes you less respected as a human being, then I'd totally agree with you that they shouldn't be banned outright. But unfortunately with how we currently look at weight loss it's not as simple.

Weight loss is something you should go speak to a trainier or a nutritionist about.

There is no shortcut or product. It’s calories in, calories out based on your resting metabolism + activity. Do not eat processed foods.

Unprocessed whole foods, lots of fiber and micronutrients.

There is no one best specific diet for everyone. There is no one best specific exercise regime. You figure it out from trial and error.

We don’t need ads for this stuff.

How do you know about this? And how do you expect people who don't currently know this to learn about it?

Ads are a way to get someone with a product (which can include knowledge products like cico and diets) to be and to spread the word about those products.

> How else would I learn about products that could help me lose weight?

Is this a legit question? Use a search engine or ask your doctor/pharmacist. You don't need ads for it.

Are you serious? There is no need for advertising or marketing departments for any product? If you invented a new, legit weight loss product why shouldn't you be able to advertise it?

Correct - the world would be substantially improved with no advertising whatsoever. If your product is good it will spread through word-of-mouth and through professional opinions, e.g. recommendations by clinicians.

And then you as a consumer would have to pay for professional opinions and clinicians. Not for prescription medications, but ordinary products. Bad idea. A better way is to learn about a product through advertisement, and then you can read online reviews to see if the product works as advertised.

Why do you need ads for this? I don't remember the last time I bought something because of an ad. You don't need to pay for professional opinions on everything. I wanted to buy a pair of headphones recently, and so I just scouted the various headphone discussion forums on the internet (head-fi, r/headphones etc) and there was a lot of high quality information and opinions and I was able to make an informed purchase while paying nothing extra. It is very rare that I'm looking for a product and I can't find recommendations this way, and even if that happens I can ask my friends. The best part is that they probably don't gain anything from you buying some product, and that increases my level of confidence on the veracity of their reviews and recommendations.

At this point I've pretty much trained myself to zone out when I see an ad because it is probably peddling some mediocre crap.

> Ads for legit weight loss products ...

There are none. Or, at least, there are few that the number is indiscernable from zero.

> Ads for legit weight loss products should be allowed

Sorry, why? Pinterest is a privately owned company, they are absolutely entitled to decide who they want to let advertise on their own website. Who are you to tell them what content "should" be displayed to their users?

Don't see a lot of ads for broccoli online

They don't work. That's the problem.

If they are banning because these ads are fraudulent then absolutely that makes sense. But if they are banning it because they are "fat shaming" then that makes no sense.

Weight loss companies are hardly the only industry that advertises non-functional products, right?

What's your point? Ban all the deceitful garbage.

I don’t disagree but it seems less like they’re taking a blanket approach like that and more like they’re targeting this industry for other reasons.