Dr. Phil Weight Loss Challenge

[gobbla]

The last couple of days I've been watching Dr. Phil's weight loss challenge and it really brings to light some things that I knew but never really thought about in depth to any degree.

The people are all overweight...some are noticibly more morbid than others but all of whom are in the realm of danger to their health.

Being healthy isn't rocket science IMO...losing weight isn't rocket science. But for whatever reason the people have failed. 90% of the failure is mental...at least that's Dr. Phil's perspective and it's hard to argue that...at least it's hard for me to. Having an overweight wife, mother, and several family members alot of what's being said and talked about really hit home for me.

The majority of the discussion is based on food being a crutch or an excuse for whatever mental state that the people are in. It's a self fullfilling proficy of sorts. While I've been heavier than I would have liked in the past I've never been to that point but having been a smoker for 5 years most of what was said I can relate to, to a large degree. Addiction, self loathing, re-enforcing a negative self image to the point to where you hate yourself and what you've done to yourself but not having the control\self responsibility to do anything about it.

The show really gave me a huge deal of pity for these people. While responsibility ultimatly falls on your own shoulders, the things that they've dealt with and lived with all of their lives you can really understand how they've gotten to that point.

[Q.]

So, do you think Dr. Phil is actually trying to help others or trying to help his pocketbook? Sorry, but I just got the feeling early on that he found a new angle and is playing it for all it's worth. I remember seeing him on television when he was early in this campaign - maybe around the time his book came out - and I seem to remember some pretty large members of his family so I don't doubt that he's intimately familiar with the problem but I did question his motivation. Maybe I'm just too cynical.

[RaceDriver]

I have questionable feelings about doctor phil. But it would seem in the process of his possibly alternative agenda of self promotion he is helping people. I feel pity for fat people as well, Idid'nt used to. But they really get treated differently and sometimes they get stuck in a cycle of bad habits and choices. My mom is'nt what I would call fat, but she thinks so. She really works out hard and watches her diet in a way that puts me far to shame. She is smaller, but it is hard for her and she has experienced that even the matter of losing 10 pounds or so to put her into a size 9 from whatever she was in before makes a difference in how people treat her. I think most of us treat fat people differently and it just compounds some of the issues larger people have.

[gobbla]

Oh, don't get me wrong...deffinatly not tooting Dr. Phil's horn. I lost 75% of my respect for him after he told a mother of 4 with an un-employed husband that it was her responsibility to give her mother (who drove a jag, owned her own condo, got her nails done every tuesday, hair done every thursday, went out to eat every saturday) money every month. I'm all about supporting your parents but damn...the lady was really struggling to make ends meet and her mom was deffinatly not.

He's obviously in it for the money is pimping his book...BUT...the people themselves in the show are real and what he's telling them is real, how they react to what's happening and their personal problems that led them to the point they all are all pretty well as honest as you're going to get.

I don't know if any of you guys have ever really been addicted to anything...I have an addictive personality myself (alcohol, women, gambling, cigerettes, violent tendancy's, and even excersise) and the words and actions that the people were saying were really a reflection to some of the struggles that I've been thru and have witnessed others close to me go thru on one level or another.

Some of the things that really struck me.

-They went out grocery shopping...and bought good stuff and bad stuff. Some of the people tossed out the bad stuff and some people FREAKED OUT. Comments like "It takes a stronger person to walk by without eating it than to not walk by it", "I can eat just one", "a calorie is a calorie it doesn't matter where it comes from". All of those comments are pretty much true...BUT they're coming from 200-400lbs people...let's be honest. You CAN'T walk by it, you CAN'T eat just one, you CAN'T monitor your calorie intake or you wouldn't be there in the first place.

-They had a catered meal, Salmon over black beans w\ spinach, a salad and misc other stuff. Some of the people were REALLY bitching about it. It was a healthy tasty meal...but that's not what some people wanted and were un-willing to do what it takes to get where they wanted to be.

-They had an excersise benchmark test. They were walking around a tennis court doing a "powerwalking" type thing and one girls heart rate got up to over 230. The girl was going to die...literally...but she BEGGED to go on, she wanted to succeed so bad and was so proud of herself to be making a gods honest effort to succeed and was in a controlled enough environment to succeed that she wanted nothing else but to continue. That's heart.

Addiction is a horrible, horrible thing and you are the only one that can stop it. You are the only one that keeps you in that rut of self-loathing that you're willing to self destruct yourself.

The failure and success of these people is really touching to me. It's really easy to relate to the pain and self denile that's portaid. You could relate it to anything in your own world and know wether it's going to lead to success or failure. Stupid little things could all end up in one sentance "that's what a fat\skinny\alcoholic\whatever person would do\say". Ok so it's a run on sentance...think of it as a "choose your own adventure".

[Q.]

I appreciate your comments, gobbla! I think we see it the same way but I especially appreciated your perspective.