The Biggest Loser creates unrealistic expectations!

bethannien

I used to be one of millions who watched TBL and considered it a weight loss inspiration. These incredibly heavy contestants were figuring their crap out and losing incredible amounts of weight. They were becoming athletes! What could be wrong with that? But I realized that it had given me a strange attitude about all things related to weight loss.

I stopped eating bananas for a while despite their virtues because a contestant said you shouldn't eat such a high calorie fruit. When I got on the scale for my weekly weigh in and saw a loss of less than 3 or 4 pounds, I was disappointed. If I wasn't about to puke at the end of a work out, I beat myself up for not working hard enough. And the whole time, I was striving for the end because I knew I couldn't live like that forever. Predictably, I gained all 60 pounds I had lost, plus 10.

The Biggest Loser isn't to blame for my failure to stay fit. I am. But, it definitely helps create expectations that are just too high. The methods used on that show are unsustainable in a normal life. Not to mention the way it demonizes contestants who are "lazy" like when a big guy only loses 5 lbs in a week. The way Bob or Jillian look disappointed when a girl gets up and only drops 1 pound. It's just playing into our need to have what we want right now.

There isn't a magic pill to get skinny overnight. It takes hard work and dedication and, often times, it can take years to reach a goal weight. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as you do the work.

MizMimi111

So true!

I put off starting a healthier lifestyle because I knew I couldn't work out like that or get those type of results. Even though I knew it wasn't realistic I convinced myself to not even try if I couldn't do it that way.

Finally, I got smart and have started to make changes that I can sustain long term.

moni_tb_192

Definitely, and not only do they create unrealistic expectations; it also makes you want to reach unhealthy goals, like dropping +5lbs in a week.

I remember I did some research on how TBL winners had done after the show, and I was shocked by finding out that the first season winner had regained 32lbs in five days after the show. People in this show stop thinking about their health and only worry about the money... This guy starved himself and won, no wonder he gained all that back!
http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/ryan-benson-biggest-loser-follow-up/

Anyway, I think that everyone who's interested in getting healthier should keep in mind that losing weight isn't the most important thing of all. If you start building muscle, you'll weigh a bit more... measuring and taking photos is another good way of keeping track of your progress; and of course, let's not forget about eating right! Crazy 1200cals/day diets with excessive amounts of exercise are just plain unhealthy

bethannien

When you're only losing weight for monetary gain, you lose sight of the real point, which is to get healthy.

Plus, the trainers act like they're psychiatrists....

donald149

Just watch the follow up shows. Nearly all of them gain back the weight and more!

walleyclan1

I have only seen 2 people that gained back any significant amount of weight on the last follow-up

AJ_G

Don't model your weight loss after a show about morbidly obese people losing weight. You lose weight in proportion to your body weight, for example, it is best not to lose more than 1% of your body weight per week, if you're losing more than that, it's a bad thing. If you're 400 or 500 pounds, then yes, losing 4 or 5 pounds a week might be normal. If you're not morbidly obese, don't be disappointed that you're not losing as much weight per week, be happy that you don't have as much weight to lose...

4themoney

oh it's horribly unrealistic and some of their info is down right wrong! lots of advertising in there too.

from what i have learned, they do massive dehydrating before weigh ins, especially the last weigh in, which apparently is never actually live!

most of the contestants gain back 10 + lbs immediately after the finale. kai from one of the early seasons is finally outside her contract date and has been speaking openly about the "reality" of it all.

that said, the show has saved lives! many lives i'm sure!!!!

MrGonzo05

What's unrealistic? Just lock yourself on a ranch where you have no contact with the outside world. Then impose severely restricted caloric intake, do extreme volumes of low intensity cardio, and have personal trainers. Then make the week 10 days, and dehydrate yourself before each weigh in.

Oh, and don't forget to compete with other ranchers once a week. And to cry a lot.

Yep. Realistic.

1802go

Thank you this I needed to hear.. thank you

cici418

You're right....realistically speaking....if we all removed ourselves from our temptations and environments, with no quick stop to the store for whatever craving you can't shrug off and personal trainers, with nothing to do but go for a walk when you get bored...

SHoooooooot....I would have reached my goal weight a LOOOONG time ago! LOL

guessrs

This show was an eye opener for me. I always thought that fat people are just that fat and that encouraged me to stay fat. Here, I saw people who sweated, who made own salads etc and lost weight in front of my eyes. I kept thinking there is no way they'll get to have a thin waist, that's only for those who are that way, sure enough, they kept losing till they had a thin waist. It made me think, what if I ate better? What if I began to exercise? Could I look better? It sowed a little seed for me that I could start living healthier that's all.

ingeh

the one thing I dont like about the show is when someone loses 5lbs (which is loads even if you are heavy to start) they act like they gained a pound and its terrible. A loss is a loss, I kno its a contest to lose the most weight but its not a good thing to aspire to, working out 5 hrs a day and losing 10lbs a week. No wonder people get down on "only" losing 1lb a week.

alisonlynn1976

I do think it creates unrealistic expectations for how much weight to lose per time for a sustainable result, but that said, I admit that I sometimes push myself through my workouts by telling myself that if the contestants on The Biggest Loser keep going until they puke, surely I can keep going if I'm not even to the point of puking.

Railr0aderTony

sherry666

Personally, I like to watch the show while I exercise. Seeing these 300lbs + people busting their *kitten* until they literally can't do anymore motivates me to stop being a whiney ***** and suck it up, haha. I do agree that they tend to focus more on the fact that it's a contest and less on the fact that it's really about losing weight and getting healthy. Yea, they probably dehydrate before weigh-ins (which I don't agree with) so their actual weight is probably more than they show, but they still lose a ****-ton of weight in the long run, which to me is amazing. Hopefully they are educated on how to live a sustainable, healthy lifestyle after the show.

seltzermint555

I have never seen that TV show, and I never will!

vanillacoffee

I agree. It's occasionally good motivation, but I have to admit- after reaching plateaus, it didnt help when I would compare, and be like "SOME PEOPLE CAN LOSE A HUNDRED POUNDS IN A SUMMER AND I CANT GET PAST THESE FIVE" and then I'd have to talk myself out of it and realize how unrealistic that is.

If there is one thing I have learned- slow & steady wins the race.

neandermagnon

it's good in that it shows people that it's possible to get fit and healthy, no matter where you start

but there's not much else good about it. Healthy sustainable fat loss is 1-2lb a week, maybe 3lb a week if you have well over 100lb to lose in the first place. And it's far better to focus on long term maintenance and what's sustainable in the long run, seeing as 95% of diets fail because people can't stick to them... than it is to try to lose as much as you can in a short time. what counts is keeping the fat away for life, not how quickly you lost it. That's what I don't like about any weight loss programme that emphasises losing a lot in a short time, rather than keeping it off for life.

dazzer1975

Those losing weight on those shows have it easier than most. Not easy per se, losing weight takes a lot of work whoever you are.

BUT put me in a situation where I am provided with nutritionists, personal trainers, fully stocked free gyms, fully stocked freezers and fridges with the food the nutritionist recommended for me, a full medical assessment and constant check ups, along with all the monitoring, group support in person and motivation of being in front of millions of people every week for the weigh in, and I think every single one of us would find it relatively easier.

So yer, don't use those shows as the benchmark for your own journey, whoever you are, you don't have that level of complete, intense and focused attention on that one goal in your life

jlahorn

TO be fair, the trainers frequently tell contestants ( and therefore the audience) that what they're doing on the ranch isn't practical for most people nor sustainable in the long run. That's the entire point of "at home week". It's not like they try to pretend the situation is normal.

rjmudlax13

Those shows are ridiculous. Remember that the main goal of a TV show is to make money through selling ad space based on ratings. The higher the ratings the more money they can get for ads. So, what sells? Drama. They have to make everything into a suspenseful drama. If they showed a person losing 1-2 lbs a week while going about it in a normal way, it would be boring. They want them to lose massive amounts of weight is short amount of time. They want them doing workouts that make them puke and pass out and cry. Add in a side sob story, a couple of fights and a touch of comedy and people will be glued.

I agree. It is completely unrealistic and unsustainable. It should not be used as a source of motivation IMO.

shannashannabobana

I firmly believe whatever you do, you have to be able to do forever. And if weight comes off more slowly, your body (and mind for that matter) has a better chance of keeping it off and recognizing that as the new normal.

I have watched a few seasons here and there of the BL, but it's not a good example for normal folks, IMO.

nielsenjack

Before Jillian Michaels decided to ride that gravy train, she was willing to tell the public that it was a "weight loss olympics" and that the methods employed were likely not sustainable for the majority of contestants on the show. The tension was quite palpable during those early seasons, and was one of the factors that made the show more believable. I lost interest when Jillian Michaels doffed the no-nonsense attitude of a personal trainer and donned the bronze skin and wind-blown hair of a fashion model.

The whole misnomer of "Reality" TV is that you're watching lives unfold, unscripted. In fact, video clips are arranged out of chronological order to maximize drama; many of the biggest moments are scripted. You'll never hear a crescendo of timpani before you step on the scale, just like you'll never hear a crash of cymbals when the scale register's weight loss or descending notes from a cup-muted trumpet when you've gained.

Getting healthy should be like writing a novel or eating an elephant: one page at a time/one bite at a time--i.e. one pound at a time. In the day-to-day of reclaiming your health, you'll never have one of those made-for-TV moments where you step on the scale and see double-digits or break down and cry in front of you trainer in a moment of personal growth that ultimately leads to record-breaking fat-loss. You do all of the stuff that's too boring on-camera, like counting your calories and logging your time spent exercising.

In the end, this isn't a reality show, it's your life. That pound of weight loss registers, and the only soundtrack is the hiss of the word "Yes!" as you whisper it in self-affirmation; the scale registers all gains in silence, other than that voice in your head, reminding you that it's probably just water weight. But the real moments of drama can be better than the made for TV moments: they come when you try on that dress you wore four years ago on a date with your fiancee, and it fits; they come when you spend a day doing the things you did when you where 18, and you're still going at 11:00 PM. Weight loss is not a destination itself, but part of a much longer journey.

Enjoy it.

emmalouc93

When you're only losing weight for monetary gain, you lose sight of the real point, which is to get healthy.

So true!!! I only recently started to watch some of the old seasons, and I am driving my boyfriend mad every time we watch it, because if someone loses 8lbs and starts crying I'm just sitting there shouting at the TV like how can you be disappointed????

It isn't healthy to lose the amount of weight they are made to lose weekly, and I know it is a competition, but the point as you said IS to lose weight the proper way, no just abuse your body, lose a load of weight and then not know how to go back to normal when you leave.

I think the trainers do somewhat misguide them, I love Jillin, but at the same time, no good trainer would be disappointed at 8lbs a week or so.

A great show and good motiavtion, but when it comes to weigh ins and some other parts, like calorie contests which involve eating to win points etc, I just start to remember that it is never going to really help people because that wouldn't be as 'entertaining' (even though most of us would prefer that!).

They never EVER take practical things into account, such as if you have sore muscles, you are BOUND to have some water weight which will affect your result etc

They don't teach them how to really change as much as they force them to work out 24/7 in order to win a prize.

The voting does my head in too, it is always unfair and done on game-playing, rather than who actually deserves to stay or go. (Read, Elizabeth in season 10, it really annoyed me to watch her throw opportunities away weekly, and deserving people got sent home)

bethannien

Before Jillian Michaels decided to ride that gravy train, she was willing to tell the public that it was a "weight loss olympics" and that the methods employed were likely not sustainable for the majority of contestants on the show. The tension was quite palpable during those early seasons, and was one of the factors that made the show more believable. I lost interest when Jillian Michaels doffed the no-nonsense attitude of a personal trainer and donned the bronze skin and wind-blown hair of a fashion model.

She's a total fraud. She peddles snake oil with the worst of them now. She plays a lot of lip service to the idea that there's no magic pill until you see her commercial for her weight loss supplements that will help you lose weight fast.

Jennloella

I think it's the viewers that twist it into unrealistic expectations. The show doesn't keep it a secret that the contestants workout for most of the day, have access to personal trainers, doctors, and therapists. Their diet is controlled, their groceries bought for them and a nutritionist teaching them what to cook and when. The problems come in when people watching just see the numbers go down and ignore the part where these people are putting as much time into their weight loss as the rest of us put into a full time job.

Angeloftheshore

Well the difference lies in the fact that they are monitored daily by a doctor, we are not. So it isn't unrealistic when you consider you are at home and not on a show that is monitoring health so you don't drop dead on them. They also have daily access to trainers. So it's only unrealistic if you let it be. Of course your results are not going to be like theirs, you are not on the show. The show is designed for quick well monitored weight loss, not our at home slow and steady pace. They are not comparable.

lolapedia88

Just watch the follow up shows. Nearly all of them gain back the weight and more!

Only one or two have eve gained it back p

Mr_Bad_Example

The Biggest Loser is the biggest load of crap on television.

A&E used to have a show called "Heavy" that was actually good and showed realistic weight loss for people who were extremely overweight. But since it wasn't sensational enough, it didn't last beyond one season, sadly.

pkw58

Honestly, TBL gives a lot of people hope . I had a client where i had a cube near about 50 calll center people, many vry obese..they were all trying to get on the show. It inspired them.. They started walking at lunch and changed the monthly birthday cake to weekly fruit.

They were an awesome bunch.