The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
This is an off-shoot of the post where the woman was asking what questions she should ask Bob And Julian in an upcoming interview she has with them (in ask trainer, I think)
Anyway, I have watched Biggest Loser myself for a couple of years, and while it is motivating, honestly I think the show frustrates me more than anything else.
I'll list why
1st. They NEVER seem to talk about the importance of diet!!! This is huge. Unless something has radically changed since the last episodes that I watched, they give almost no time to dietary changes. Everyone knows that 90% of losing weight is what you eat, yet they seem to go out of their way not to bring it up (in any meaningful way)
2nd They encourage unrealistic expectations. I know that it wouldn't be as excited to watch heavy people lose 3/4 of a pound a week, but I wish there was some type of balance to the approach.
3rd Sometimes it looks like an infomercial. Remember the 'extra gum challenges?', where with every answer it was 'and you could chew on one piece of flavorful, awesome extra gum for only 5 calories and save 150 calories, just by doing that' puh-leese
Okay, I will shut up, and I'm not trying to 'down' it specifically but I do think it's a shame. This show is going to attract viewers that are in a similar situation and look to it for motivation. It seems the producers could take that responsibility a little more seriously and make a real effort to educate their viewers as well as entertaining them.
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I never watched it until just a few weeks ago when I watched half a season online. Once I started I couldn't stop, I was so intrigued, and freaked out at the same time.
I was shocked at what they did to these bodies.
And at the end they had them walk (or run) a marathon, that's totally crazy.
I read some stuff online about the women using "meds" of some sort to help (thyroid meds) and once I started to read that I closed the page and said enough is enough...this isn't what I'm interested in.
I don't know what I think, maybe I'll watch it next season from the start, maybe not, I rather watch a good SciFi show.
Annette, you just hit upon the reason anyone watches this show. All reality shows have a hook that involves placing people in stressful situations to interact with each other. The fitness aspect is just the front for what is basically just another "Big Brother" concept.
This is an off-shoot of the post where the woman was asking what questions she should ask Bob And Julian in an upcoming interview she has with them (in ask trainer, I think)
Anyway, I have watched Biggest Loser myself for a couple of years, and while it is motivating, honestly I think the show frustrates me more than anything else.
I'll list why
1st. They NEVER seem to talk about the importance of diet!!! This is huge. Unless something has radically changed since the last episodes that I watched, they give almost no time to dietary changes. Everyone knows that 90% of losing weight is what you eat, yet they seem to go out of their way not to bring it up (in any meaningful way)
I agree. And when they do show something about diet it's usually limited to eat X product that is one of our sponsers (like Cheerios) or to tell them not to eat too much salt, or to show some sad piece of meat next to some bland vegetables. You don't have to eat sad meat and bland vegetables, lol! They did seem to do a little more with food last season, like they had the teams make pizzas, or had spots with some chef, etc... but they don't really STRESS the importance of diet. They make it seem like it's mostly getting to the gym for 10 hours a day.
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2nd They encourage unrealistic expectations.
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I know that it wouldn't be as excited to watch heavy people lose 3/4 of a pound a week, but I wish there was some type of balance to the approach.
Yeah, there are always people on the WW board who are sad that they ONLY lost 6 lbs their first week or something like that. I suspect BL is a source of many unrealistic expectations. I also wonder how healthy that rapid weight loss they (the contestants) have actually is and what the maintenance success is for former contestants.
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3rd Sometimes it looks like an infomercial.
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Remember the 'extra gum challenges?', where with every answer it was 'and you could chew on one piece of flavorful, awesome extra gum for only 5 calories and save 150 calories, just by doing that' puh-leese
LOL! Whenever one of them makes a silly little infomercial shot (like Bob telling his team to chew Extra), my husband jokes that Bob is going to have to go take a shower now, because he's got to feel so 'dirty'.
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Okay, I will shut up, and I'm not trying to 'down' it specifically but I do think it's a shame. This show is going to attract viewers that are in a similar situation and look to it for motivation. It seems the producers could take that responsibility a little more seriously and make a real effort to educate their viewers as well as entertaining them.
I have the same complaints as you, but I still watch. I do think it's a good motivation. What I've noticed is that sometimes people don't think they can do it (lose weight) until they see someone 'like' themselves do it. Since BL has a variety of people, it's not to hard to find someone 'like you' to be inspired by. Hopefully people will realize that it's going to be unrealistic to expect results like that in the real world. Hopefully...
Yeah, there are always people on the WW board who are sad that they ONLY lost 6 lbs their first week or something like that. I suspect BL is a source of many unrealistic expectations. I also wonder how healthy that rapid weight loss they (the contestants) have actually is and what the maintenance success is for former contestants.
I used to see a lot of that on the weight loss board I sometimes post on. I've also seen that only comment with 1 or 2 pounds, like it's not enough. They also ran an unofficial/official BL competition whenever the show is on. I noticed that a lot of the long term participants all would gain a little weight during the break, then drop huge numbers at the start, then lose nothing for a long time. I don't know if any of them ever really lost any real weight. I'm talking mainly about the women that used to run it. They would compete to see how many minutes everyone would exercise and I suspect they just plain burned out before it was over.
I admit I don't like the show. I thought I would find it inspiring, but I don't. I also don't like that when they're all at their top weights the women weigh in two piece outfits, the men without their shirts. It feels like they're saying 'ooo look at the fat! How disgusting!' Of course later on, when drooping skin might night be such a good thing to show they all get to wear their t-shirts.
I've always felt it's like 'well they deserve this treatment since... well look at them'. A friend who still watches said she was completely turned off one season during a train the trainer session when Jillian made a comment like she didn't deserve the abuse they were giving her since she didn't weigh 300 pounds. The obvious impression was that the contestants did.
ETA - I know that I've probably even whined sometimes about individual week's losses, but I do try and avoid it. I remind myself that I've found a better way to live that is taking me (reasonably) steadily towards my goal.
1st. They NEVER seem to talk about the importance of diet!!! This is huge. Unless something has radically changed since the last episodes that I watched, they give almost no time to dietary changes. Everyone knows that 90% of losing weight is what you eat, yet they seem to go out of their way not to bring it up (in any meaningful way)
Yeah they rarely talk about it but on the other hand, the basics of a healthy diet have been harped on since the rapid rise in obesity started 60 years ago. They don't need to cover it, the info is available everywhere. They can't give away too much info, gotta entice people to lay down $20 a month for their website subscription and diet books, right?
Is it really more complicated than this Jack Lalanne clip?
2nd They encourage unrealistic expectations. I know that it wouldn't be as excited to watch heavy people lose 3/4 of a pound a week, but I wish there was some type of balance to the approach.
Obese people are obese, not stupid. They're not sitting at home watching this show thinking that they can honestly drop 10lbs every week exercising like they do on the show. More likely they're either already self-defeated or making every excuse they can find to not do anything at all, "yeah, but this excuse..." yeah but that excuse.." I can't because...". They're already fully aware their bodies will not let them put in the volume and/or intensity the trainers use on the show. If, by some miracle, this show manages to motivate those people to get some more activity than usual, it's all good, and if they're motivated enough to at least try pushing a little beyond their comfort zone, it's even better.
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3rd Sometimes it looks like an infomercial. Remember the 'extra gum challenges?', where with every answer it was 'and you could chew on one piece of flavorful, awesome extra gum for only 5 calories and save 150 calories, just by doing that' puh-leese
LOL. Yeah, you can "feel" the commercials coming from a mile away. They always start off with two contestants milling about in the kitchen hovering near the fridge. Cue Bob or Jillian to enter the room. Cue the cheesy background music... ACTION!
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Mike Pipes
Massive fat loss survivor and aspiring trainer in training
Obese people are obese, not stupid. They're not sitting at home watching this show thinking that they can honestly drop 10lbs every week exercising like they do on the show. More likely they're either already self-defeated or making every excuse they can find to not do anything at all, "yeah, but this excuse..." yeah but that excuse.." I can't because...". They're already fully aware their bodies will not let them put in the volume and/or intensity the trainers use on the show. If, by some miracle, this show manages to motivate those people to get some more activity than usual, it's all good, and if they're motivated enough to at least try pushing a little beyond their comfort zone, it's even better.
I agree to some extent. I mean, I was an obese person myself, for many years, and I know that I'm not stupid. However, on the WW newbie board you will see _every day_ people complaining that they only lost x lbs the first week (Often with the loss being more than 2 lbs). Of course, I don't know that BL is what skewed their perceptions, but for whatever reason they are dissappointed with a reasonable loss. I think the idea is that, 'Now I'm doing something. I worked really hard and watched what I was eating. I exercised way more than I did last week. Why did I not see a bigger loss?" This posts are often titled "Dissappointed", "Frustrated", or "What am I doing wrong?". It's not that I think the posters are stupid, just that somewhere they have gotten the idea that once they start doing something, paying attention; the weight is just going to start falling off. At some level I'm sure they know that to lose 10 lbs a week is something that would be extremely difficult in real life, but there does seem to be some sort of disconnect between what they know is realistic and what they hope to see.
I agree to some extent. I mean, I was an obese person myself, for many years, and I know that I'm not stupid. However, on the WW newbie board you will see _every day_ people complaining that they only lost x lbs the first week (Often with the loss being more than 2 lbs). Of course, I don't know that BL is what skewed their perceptions, but for whatever reason they are dissappointed with a reasonable loss. I think the idea is that, 'Now I'm doing something. I worked really hard and watched what I was eating. I exercised way more than I did last week. Why did I not see a bigger loss?" This posts are often titled "Dissappointed", "Frustrated", or "What am I doing wrong?". It's not that I think the posters are stupid, just that somewhere they have gotten the idea that once they start doing something, paying attention; the weight is just going to start falling off. At some level I'm sure they know that to lose 10 lbs a week is something that would be extremely difficult in real life, but there does seem to be some sort of disconnect between what they know is realistic and what they hope to see.
Yeah, people are always going to have unreasonable expectations but I don't think it can be pinned down to a reality TV show.
At some level, viewers KNOW the contestants have every possible advantage going for them while they're on the show - no distractions, no life, doctors keeping tabs, a whole team of trainers not just the two whack-nuts we see on TV, PT's and cortizone injections on hand, a house with no junkfood, paychecks from the show so even income isn't a problem while they're away from their jobs - an environment that's the absolute most conducive to taking care of themselves. Even with those advantages, they still manage to show even the best laid plans are not always infallable.
I was stoked to lose 3lbs per week when I had 100+lbs to lose and I wish it was as easy to lose it now as it was back then - and I still have a good 30lbs to drop.
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Mike Pipes
Massive fat loss survivor and aspiring trainer in training
and (c) no matter how many people think it's inspiring we still have an ever increasing percentage of the population overweight and/or obese.
(unless I'm wrong, but I think in the last 5 years the numbers have gone up, not down)
Oh yeah. Every single year another study comes out saying that as a society, we've gotten fatter. Honestly I'm not even sure a TV show based on healthy, safe fat loss would change things.
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What frustrates me about The Biggest Loser
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