The Biggest Loser, the worst show on TV
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I like Jillian's exercise videos, but I have to say that the show itself annoys me- when someone loses 'only 5lb' in a week, it makes me wanna throw the tv out of the window. Anywhere else, that would be a HUGE and admirable loss! God, if I lost 'only' 5lb a week for 3 weeks I would be past my bloody goal!
Also. Regarding dehydrating to the point of pissing blood? *shudder*
One of the trainers from the UK version was fired for getting her contestants to eat apples and seeds for a week. She killed herself relatively recently and I wondered if it was anything to do with the stress. Saying that I don't think the UK ones go as hardcore? They don't seem to lose as much money.
And finally. Some of the contestants on that show are such *kitten* that I want them to GAIN weight.0 -
I have to admit that I'm guilty of liking the show, well, I used to. My wife and I used to watch it every week until this past season. Then it seemed like most of each episode was about the contestants fighting amongst each other and I'm not a fan of that at all. Found myself changing the channel when it happened and eventually quit watching altogether. I do like when they show them working out and I love seeing the transformations but now that I've found MFP I get to see way more pics of transformations from all the members who have succeeded!
The other issue I had was that the show seemed like they were challenged to find fatter people each season. I personally would love to see a show like BL but with contestants who have less than 100lbs to lose so that they start overweight and when they are done they are fit with their shirts off and not needing a tight girdle to look slim. Anyone else out there wanting to see a show like that? What if they did 4 weeks at the ranch to educate and train them on how to eat and work out and then let them go home to do it themselves? Then they could come back after 2 months at home to see how they're doing and weigh in again. They can address any issues and teach them some more stuff. Then they go home for another 3 months before the final weigh in.0 -
Though I'm not a big fan of the "game show/reality show" aspect of The Biggest Loser, I have to say that it is because of the show that I got my *kitten* in gear and started down my path to a healthy lifestyle. Back in 2007/2008, I watched the show and took notes through 2 seasons of the show, picking up tips on how to eat and exercise. I was the most unmotivated person there is an knew nothing about health, working out and weight loss before watching the show. A slightly shy and introverted person, I was too shy to go out and ask for help. So, from the tips and lessons and examples I picked up from the show, I gained a great interest in becoming healthy and fit for life. I began researching more and more and worked up a diet and exercise program all of my own which helped me to lose 145 lbs from March 2008-Feb 2009. Granted, I did fail come Christmas 2009 and gained most all of the weight back, but that was due to not being as fully educated as I thought I was. Since March 2012, I've lost 117 lbs, again using the plan that I created for myself that all started from what I learned watching the Biggest Loser. I have since also learned that this is not a diet, but a lifestyle. That is something I had not learned the first time around.
With that said, for someone like me that did not know where to start and was afraid to just get out there and ask, the show provided a great inspiration to me to learn and to keep pushing forward and taught me that by breaking out of the box, so to speak, I could achieve the results that I wanted. Looking past the game show part, I think the show is a great inspiration and motivation to get someone started.0 -
Hate the show. Love the show. Doesn't matter. Nobody is forcing anybody to watch it. I have a problem with the notion that these people are failures because they didn't do it at home. Frankly it is irresponsible. Everyone is a failure before they are a success. Unless you are privileged person who gets things handed to you. Those who have never been significantly overweight have plenty to add to this site. However, it is ignorant to speak on something you have no idea about. I have failed at losing weight for about 20 yrs but I am succeeding now and I will continue to be healthy for the rest of my life. I will succeed because I have failed miserably in the past. So none of ya'll have the right to judge the biggest loser contestants or any overweight person who struggles with losing weigh. Speak not on what you do not know.0
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Here's a trick for you. Do an engine search for "Biggest Loser gained weight back." You'd be amazed how many hits you get with it.
I'm so glad I DON'T watch the show because IMHO, it's the most faulty version of motivation I've ever seen. I've transformed my life in less than a year, but not enough to warrant being on Biggest Loser.
What forced me to change my life was getting diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I've gone from 181 the day I was diagnosed in January down to 135 today. It's taken me nearly 11 full months to do this, and I have NO intention of gaining that weight back, either! I don't need the Biggest Loser for motivation, when diabetes did it for me already!
I will always remember this one episode where Alison Sweeney said, "If everyone loses ## pounds this week, NO ONE will get eliminated." The problem was, with 38 minutes left in the episode, I already knew that wasn't going to happen. I'd rather be real than watch a show that makes some of the most unrealistic goals I've ever seen.0 -
Here's a trick for you. Do an engine search for "Biggest Loser gained weight back." You'd be amazed how many hits you get with it.
I'm so glad I DON'T watch the show because IMHO, it's the most faulty version of motivation I've ever seen. I've transformed my life in less than a year, but not enough to warrant being on Biggest Loser.
What forced me to change my life was getting diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I've gone from 181 the day I was diagnosed in January down to 135 today. It's taken me nearly 11 full months to do this, and I have NO intention of gaining that weight back, either! I don't need the Biggest Loser for motivation, when diabetes did it for me already!
I will always remember this one episode where Alison Sweeney said, "If everyone loses ## pounds this week, NO ONE will get eliminated." The problem was, with 38 minutes left in the episode, I already knew that wasn't going to happen. I'd rather be real than watch a show that makes some of the most unrealistic goals I've ever seen.
That is great that you had motivation from a different source but there are plenty of people who were motivated from the biggest loser. The average person who loses at home deals with gaining it back. Plenty of them do it. Why should biggest loser contestants be any different??? The show will never be able to eliminate the struggles that come naturally for those who lose the weight . The success rate is probably no different than the success rate of most diets that consist of eating right and an exercise program.0 -
Good for them for getting healthier and I hope they keep the weight off.
Most of them don't keep the weight off. Keeping the weight off is a life time commitment to the lifestyle you lived while losing the weight, with SOME modification, a FEW more calories, a FEW minutes less at the gym. It is completely unrealistic for a person to live the Biggest Loser "life style" for the rest of their lives, even with a few minor modifications. Going from "I work out 8-9 hours a day while crying and eating nothing and puking even that back up because I work out until I feel like dying" to a more healthy diet/schedule is a drastic change. Most of them leave the show believing that what they learned on Biggest Loser IS a healthy lifestyle, and they probably feel like big losers when they realize that they can't live that lifestyle forever.
Live the lifestyle you are willing to live for the rest of your life while you are losing weight. It's about lifestyle change, not about a few pounds on a scale.0 -
I actually used to LOVE the Biggest Loser--not sure how "realistic" it was, but it showed me that ANY ONE can lose weight without surgery regardless of how heavy. Nothing against surgery but love to know you have options. My personal fav is actually EXTREME MAKEOVER - WEIGHT LOSS EDITION
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People are sheep. TV is the shepherd.”
― Jess C. Scott, Literary Heroin (Gluttony): A Twilight Parody
Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television.
Woody Allen
When you're young, you look at television and think, there's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want.
Steve Jobs
The nuclear generator of brain sludge is television.
Dave Barry
“Truth is often hard to swallow, so we rest in comfortable lies and delusions.”
– Dorothy Anne Seese, Freelance political writer
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." -- Howard Zinn, historian and author0 -
Fantastic quotes. People are too easily offended these days. Thanks OP for putting this up. Those of you crying... put the Wii remote down and go to a gym.0
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Let's face it. Reality show are anything but.0
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Bump, so my wife can read this.0
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I do not watch much tv but I just think it's amazing how much weight these people lose. Who cares why they're doing it or why they didn't do it before? Good for them for getting healthier and I hope they keep the weight off.
Wrong. They dehydrate before every weigh in, work out in as much clothing as possible when the cameras are off, and after the finale, almost all of the contestants gain 10-20 pounds in water weight because they weighed in SO dehydrated. Season 1 winner dehydrated to the point where he pissed blood for the final weigh in.
Yeah, show us that.... We need to see real plateaus, real struggle, real breakthroughs.
This last season, there was a week where most of the black team didn't lose or gained weight for the week so they could vote off the returning do it from home chick.. I thought how could they have eaten when the place isn't packed with ****ty food? The answer, they simply didn't dehydrate themselves for their weigh in.
What the $&^*(^&*%
....how would you possibly know about this pissing blood and such??? seriously....I am curious?? Do you watch the show? You clearly follow it - but for what reason, work? Honestly, super curious...
If you do a couple google searches for "The Truth Biggest Loser" you will find the season 1 winner's blog, blurbs here and there about why Caroline Rhea left the show, Season 3's Kai Hibbard, and many many more stories out there that have slipped by the NBC censors.
I loved the show, and tried to emulate them. They were losing SO much weight each week, and I knew that I couldn't duplicate their success, I knew they were working out 6-8 hours a day - But I didn't know they got around the dehydrating issue. As you lose fat your body holds onto more water until it whooshes, it's called dieter's edema.
There's a reason why the trainer from season 3 never came back or the two new trainers from season 11 never came back. When someone sees what goes on behind the scenes...
I really thought there was something wrong with me, If the guys there could lose ten pounds a week, SURELY I could lose ONE.. but a week isn't a week, they weigh every ten days, two weeks. Sometimes its shorter.. They dehydrate to get around water retention, They eat no more than a thousand calories a day, most of it rabbit food.
I mean you can find all this info doing a google search, I'm just a guy from his home wondering why it's not working!
"Let's see, insert peg A into slot B and-OH SCREW IT JUST PRESS BUTTONS!!"
Wow! I watched the first few seasons, knowing it was totally unrealistic for the general folk, however, I had no idea about the behind the scenes. Pretty scary!0 -
Bump0
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I watched the past season without Jillian; only Bob and Dolvett. I was.. kinda stunned at how it was so fricken dramatic. Nothing but cat fights and the team members purposely doing things to get someone they didn't like voted off. I was kind of curious to watch one more time since Jillian will be back, but.. your points make so much sense that I might just save myself the dvr space.0
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The Biggest Loser TV show is what helped keep me in denial and stay fat. Me at my heaviest was still smaller than the smallest on the show so I would say that I'm not fat.0
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Good for them for getting healthier and I hope they keep the weight off.
Most of them don't keep the weight off. Keeping the weight off is a life time commitment to the lifestyle you lived while losing the weight, with SOME modification, a FEW more calories, a FEW minutes less at the gym. It is completely unrealistic for a person to live the Biggest Loser "life style" for the rest of their lives, even with a few minor modifications. Going from "I work out 8-9 hours a day while crying and eating nothing and puking even that back up because I work out until I feel like dying" to a more healthy diet/schedule is a drastic change. Most of them leave the show believing that what they learned on Biggest Loser IS a healthy lifestyle, and they probably feel like big losers when they realize that they can't live that lifestyle forever.
Live the lifestyle you are willing to live for the rest of your life while you are losing weight. It's about lifestyle change, not about a few pounds on a scale.
That's it, right here! I've made a lifetime commitment to keeping this weight off, and I plan to keep it real with my simple plan:
1. Watch WHAT I eat.
2. Watch HOW MUCH I eat.
3. Drink LOTS of water.
4. Exercise MORE.0 -
It is terrible how the contestants are treated and now they want to have children on their show0
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So none of ya'll have the right to judge the biggest loser contestants or any overweight person who struggles with losing weigh. Speak not on what you do not know.
Follow your own advice, because you utterly and completely missed the point of the thread.
Nobody here is judging or "hating" the contestants. No - rather it's disgust with the methods that the trainers and/or producers have used to make good television while putting the contestants at unnecessary risk. Seriously - read the interview with Kai Hibbard and then try telling anyone that what the producers/trainers have been doing is acceptable.0 -
In the end the show is just another crappy reality show, and should be viewed as such. It has no real world relevance and best to be avoided.
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I agree with the last sentence and find the rest of the commentary unnecessary. I've seen the show once or twice and didn't veiw it as anything other than cheap entertainment. I didn't know it was trying to be any more than that.0 -
I'm really curious about how morbidly obese people are able to work out for 8 hours a day. I had a job that required me to hike fifteen miles a day (an eight hour day) two or three times a week. I found that pretty taxing, and I was in triathalon competing shape at the time. I don't think I could do that seven days a week. Even backpacking, I can only do ten+ mile days for 2-3 days before I am hurting pretty badly.0
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I still watch TBL. I don't like how they bully the contestants, but I do wonder if half of it is just for ratings and show. If they were going there and just working out and not giving attitude, it wouldn't be a show enough.
That being said - it DID motivate me to get moving more... however, it also made me eat less. I was on Jillian's own plan of 1300 a day, and my exercise was burning about 6-700 (taking the kids to school and then the 30 Day Shred). Not to mention the allotment at the weekend.
I lost the weight (not all of it), but didn't feel fit or healthy... and then put it back on when I started to eat properly again.
There was a reunion on the show and the winner was on it (the UK one)... he runs every day, and can't eat normally anymore.
He looked thin.. not fit. I don't think it's good for them to promote that sort of living.
But again - it has the disclaimer that it's for entertainment purposes only, and people should follow the advice of doctors and such before trying anything like that at home. It's a good gateway to getting people doing something at least.0 -
Follow your own advice, because you utterly and completely missed the point of the thread.So none of ya'll have the right to judge the biggest loser contestants or any overweight person who struggles with losing weigh. Speak not on what you do not know.
Nobody here is judging or "hating" the contestants. No - rather it's disgust with the methods that the trainers and/or producers have used to make good television while putting the contestants at unnecessary risk. Seriously - read the interview with Kai Hibbard and then try telling anyone that what the producers/trainers have been doing is acceptable.
Thank you! I've lost my weight by just changing what I've done in my life. I've made those changes into habits, and they'll stick with me for the rest of my life.
I have never had to rely on TBL for motivation at all. There is no way I could ever work out for 8 hours a day, especially since I have a job that's exactly 8 hours long. I'll just stick to what I'm doing and be happy with it.
Now, if I were to run into someone who really is struggling to lose weight, I would give 'em some encouragement by saying, "I've been there, friend. It can be done, but it's up to you."0 -
I do agree with you somewhat when it comes to the Biggest Loser, BUT if it has changed 1 persons life or saved a persons life that that's all the reason we need to support a show.0
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I do agree with you somewhat when it comes to the Biggest Loser, BUT if it has changed 1 persons life or saved a persons life that that's all the reason we need to support a show.
But at what cost? out of the hundreds of contestants now who have been on the show, if just 1/100th of them develop an eating disorder or some kind of unhealthy complex, was the shows motivation of "even one person" enough to justify their destructive and haphazard ways of training and getting results?
I still stand by hating the show because of the dehydration issue. Show us people who work out sure, but have them weigh in while fully hydrated - what am I saying, a reality show that shows "reality" on tv.. hah! what a laugh.
/soapbox0 -
Never watched either...
One creates unrealistic expectations via made for TV drama, and the other creates unrealistic expectations via photoshop, airbrushing, and surgical interventions.
Either way don't believe what you see on TV.0 -
Hate to point out the obvious, but a lot of people going to weight watchers meetings dehydrate before going to weigh in. My mom quits drinking anything like noon the day before her weigh in day.
Dehydration for weight loss is nothing new nor anything special to Biggest Loser.0 -
Agreed...I actually like the show, in part, for the same reasons....quite frankly though, I prefer the Australian version to the US version though I love the US trainers. I've read their books and think there is some really valuable information. I, however, am happy if I have small weight losses, and realize that this is a TV show in the main. The show does promote a number of things I agree with like "Feed America" or whatever it's called (I'm Canadian so it doesn't affect us here) and it does bring to the limelight the problem of obesity. It shows us "at home" that we don't have any excuses. I find that quite motivational, and while I wish I could lose weight at the rate these people do, I also know I'm doing really well without being there and doing it without the advantage of doing it full time.I like it, but I take different things from it that others might. I see a bunch of people working out every week that are much heavier and in poorer health than I am and it makes me feel like I have no excuse not to exercise. The show also got me onto Jillian's videos, which are such are great find to me. I'm never going to join a gym. It's not me. I will do her videos at home and become stronger as I lose weight. I usually hear Jillian say things that are positive.
I don't care if someone else thinks this is the worst show on TV and I agree with several things in the Center for Health Media & Policy quote... but it's naive to not recognize that it's a TV show... produced by a business... that might want to make a profit. If the show was put together by PBS, then the gripe would be more justified. There are far worse reality shows on TV with absolutely no redeeming qualities, IMO.
But come on, people, it's a reality show, just like American Idol, et al.0 -
I hate this show so much. If they really cared for people show them how to eat and excercise properly. Instead they have them ridicolous competitions and have them vote each other off. It's a circus.0
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Agreed! Producers put that $250,000 in front of those contestants, and they're willing to KILL themselves into shape just for that money. I think it was last season (correct me if I'm wrong) when almost all the contestants were about to walk off the show. I've never gotten into this show, and there's no way I'll start now.I hate this show so much. If they really cared for people show them how to eat and excercise properly. Instead they have them ridicolous competitions and have them vote each other off. It's a circus.
Like I've been saying, diabetes motivated me to lose weight, and it's taken me nearly a year to lose 45 pounds because I'd rather do it right than do it quick. I wouldn't want to be on TBL for all the money in the world! I'm already happy where I am now, and I have no intention of going back to being the bigger woman I had been. Besides, 192 pounds (back in 2010) would not be enough to qualify.0
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