Public weight loss has its ups, downs

Some people thrive on making their weight-loss goals common knowledge.

"They think it will help to keep them on the straight and narrow," says Dr. Arthur Frank, medical director of George Washington University's weight-management program.

Take Kirstie Alley. Losing an impressive 71 pounds isn't enough for the actress: She recently announced she plans to shed 15 more pounds by November to wear a bikini on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Alley is, of course, just the latest in a long list of celebrities willing to share their struggles to lose weight with the world -- and who sometimes are paid handsomely to do so. Others who have publicly chronicled their waistline wars include comedian Whoopi Goldberg, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, "Today" show weatherman Al Roker and Winfrey.

Where Alley differs, however, is in "going public" before she achieves her goal -- a move that many weight-loss experts consider risky. Yet it's also one taken by a growing number of private citizens, including contestants on "The Biggest Loser" reality television show and Steve "Fat Man Walking" Vaught, who vowed to walk across America to lose weight (although he didn't achieve his goal).

Even the young are getting into the act: MTV's reality show "Made: Prom King" chronicled the efforts of an obese teen trying to lose enough weight to snag his high school crown. And every January, companies entice employees to enter weight-loss competitions that pit one department or plant against another to see who can shed the most pounds.

Frank of George Washington University advises against going public. "It's better not to get other people involved unless they have to know," he says.

That's because there's a natural inclination to "start monitoring, watching and making judgments," Frank says. "Everyone suddenly becomes a weight-loss expert and tells you what you should be doing."

Sometimes the good intentions can backfire, turning well-meaning support into humiliation. Frank recalls one patient who announced her weight-loss intentions at her office. Her colleagues encouraged her, even posting a public chart to track her progress. "That was fine," Franks says, "until a bunch of complications came into her life. The weight loss started to level off and then creep up. That's when I asked her, 'Who is going to take that chart off the wall?' It's the kind of thing that gets people into trouble."