Biggest Loser

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christchick7
christchick7 Posts: 533 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is probably old news to most of you. I just started watching TBL for the first time this season. Enjoying the teens and find them
inspiring!!! I feel really sorry for Jillian's team since they are down to only two members; I don't know how they are supposed to come
back from that. I like Jillian, Bob and Dolvett and wish they would do an edition for disabled people. Failing that, I wish Chris Powell from Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition would do one. I LOVE that show...What kinds of things should I expect from TBL as
the season goes on? What do all of you think of TBL?

Replies

  • Clarissia_Nicole
    Clarissia_Nicole Posts: 79 Member
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    I love the show! If it weren't for the show and the contestants, I don't know if I ever would have had the motivation to start this journey.
  • HotDolphinMama
    HotDolphinMama Posts: 82 Member
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    Love this concept - but hate this show!!! Watching people exercise till they vomit gets me discouraged. Maybe I am just not programmed right - and i am definitely lazy!!! - but I wouldn't want to experience what they do. No thank you!!!!! It would be fabulous to have the type of rapid weight loss that they experience as they transform their bodies - but I would not want to go thru the physical distress that they experience. Additionally, while no one should be attempting any type of substantial weight loss/exercise program without some MD feedback - they have access to this on a 24/7 basis while at the facility. Most of us don't have this luxury, and shouldn't push ourselves as hard as they do on the show without an md standing by.
    Also, this show sets up false expectations sometimes - I have a son who was watching it - he knew I was in KY on my weight loss journey & told me on the phone that there was no reason I couldn't be down a 100 more pounds by next Christmas based on my current weight loss history, the show results, etc. But unless I went to fat camp & did what they do on the show - that just isn't reasonable for me!!!! So - now instead of him being proud of me & encouraging - he thinks I am slacking because I can't do it as fast as the participants on tv. Thanks alot Biggest loser.
    So - no, I am not a fan of the show for people that don't know how it really works. I enjoy watching the transformations, but this is my rant!!! LOL
    P.S. No need for anyone to tell me how wrong I am or how I need to look at it differently, etc. It's just a show - I know I sound bitter - but it's not a great loss to not watch it. It's time better spent with a book - or on the elliptical. LOL
  • Megamus55
    Megamus55 Posts: 38
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    I can understand why people love TBL, I can relate with many on the show myself, but I can't help but think the show does even more damage than it does good. What they protray on the show is not reality. What they do on the show is not the way to get healthy. you do not need to go through military style training sesions and obscenly restrictive diets to get healthy. I fear that everyday people watching the show see that they regularly losed 10+ lbs a week on the show and then when they decide to get out and be active and eat well themselves they compare against that standard. 10+lbs in not realistic but people who don't know would likely feel like a failure with their 2 lbs weightloss. no one should ever feel like a failure for eating well and moving more.

    Here are a few facts about the show.

    What they do on the show damages the contestants Basal Metabolic Rate by decreasing it by around 500 cals. what this means is that while a normal person might eat 1500 cals to maintain their weight, a biggest loser contestant would have to eat only 1000 (i just used numbers to demonstrate) essentially these people have to eliminate an entire meal from their life everyday compared to a similar person their weight eating healthy. this is why there is reports coming from many contestants themselves that upwards of 80-90% of all participants have gained back all if not more of their weight.

    The show sets people up to fail

    6 hr of intense exercise is not sustainable, 750 cal diets are not sustainable, and the focus on weight rather than the health behaviors that are so much more important also serves to perpetuate weight bias. in reality the number on the scale means nothing. it tells you nothing about your health, it tells you nothing about you as a person, its a number that gets compared against charts designed for population use and not individual use. There are far more important things in regards to your health than weight and I really wish the show would stop pushing weight as the only thing that makes a person healthy.
  • ClementineGeorg
    ClementineGeorg Posts: 505 Member
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    I would not say that the Biggest Loser is a favorite show.

    But... One of my inspiration for weight loss was a BL contentant. He did not managed to lose all the weight. He said that it is sad to be still obesse after losing more than 120 lbs. But he was still 120 lbs lighter and that was better.

    I was always afraid of starting lossing weight because I was afraid I will never lose all. But at that point I realised that even if I lose only half of it or only 10 lbs... this is still better than not losing any of my gain.
  • nashsheri33
    nashsheri33 Posts: 225 Member
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    i also like that show. i've watched it for a couple of years now. don't worry, jillian's team will be ok. they will soon switch the teams around. they have always done that in the past. they have also sent the contestants home for a week to see how they do, brought an eliminated contestant back, made the teams do without their trainer for a week, throw food challenges at them (i think that's what they will do this week) to see how they do when tempted, bring in that handsome chef to educate them (i think his name is curtis stone), have the nutritionist (can't remember her name) take them out to eat and maybe to the grocery store, and all manner of twists and turns. at the end they usually eliminate the teams and it's every contestant for himself.
    this is the first year they have had kids and i'm glad they aren't weighing them in front of millions of people. one year they visited a former contestant who gained all the weight back.
    you really get attached to the contestants. you have your favorites, and some you hate. but i think the network edits the filming so that you only see the good side of one person, or the bad side of another.
    at the end of the show, they will have eliminated all but 3 or 4 people, and then it's a popularity contest. america votes one person out, and of the remaining 2 or 3, the one who lost the most is the Biggest Loser. there is also a prize for the the eliminated contestant who loses the most at home. i guess that's called the at-home contest? i don't remember.

    they might have old episodes of past seasons on nbc.com.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    For all the whining and complaining everyone seems to do here about how it's negative, I find that it is an extremely uplifting and motivating show. But, I'm more of a big picture person. To me, it doesn't matter that some of their advice, I disagree with. That isn't important to me. The idea that they are training these people and teaching them how to eat is fantastic. What the negative people miss about the show, is that these contestants are dangerously obese. The camp uses their time to get them out of the dangerously obese category. Once in a more safe place, they send them home and teach them how to incorporate their new found knowledge of food and exercise into real life at home, with friends and family. I mean, why are people negative. I don't know of a program in the world that does a better job at trying to transition people from a life of certain death, into a life of proper nutrition and exercise.

    So, I think it's great. I love watching the show.munfortunately, it's on right at the time I typically go to the gym, so I usually miss it. Lol.
  • bringnsparkleback
    bringnsparkleback Posts: 18 Member
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    I enjoy watching the show and find it inspiring. However my partner feels its depressing, so I have to wait until he is gone from the house and then watch it off of TiVo. Bugs the crap outta me!
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    What they do on the show damages the contestants Basal Metabolic Rate by decreasing it by around 500 cals. what this means is that while a normal person might eat 1500 cals to maintain their weight, a biggest loser contestant would have to eat only 1000 (i just used numbers to demonstrate) essentially these people have to eliminate an entire meal from their life everyday compared to a similar person their weight eating healthy. this is why there is reports coming from many contestants themselves that upwards of 80-90% of all participants have gained back all if not more of their weight.

    The show sets people up to fail

    6 hr of intense exercise is not sustainable, 750 cal diets are not sustainable, and the focus on weight rather than the health behaviors that are so much more important also serves to perpetuate weight bias. in reality the number on the scale means nothing. it tells you nothing about your health, it tells you nothing about you as a person, its a number that gets compared against charts designed for population use and not individual use. There are far more important things in regards to your health than weight and I really wish the show would stop pushing weight as the only thing that makes a person healthy.

    Last I knew, NONE of the contestants had gained all the weight back (evidently that isn't true, but it certainly isn't 80% - the data is hard to find, as it isn't good enough for NBC nor bad enough for the naysayers). Most have gained at least 25 lbs, largely due to the fact that they were dehydrated at their final weigh in.

    Furthermore, the show does focus on weight, but have episodes that talk about changing blood chemistry and body composition for each contestant.

    The contestants train like professional athletes, that is not feasible for most people, but many of the contestants are still active.

    Hate on the show all you want, it certainly has issues, but get your facts straight.
  • Megamus55
    Megamus55 Posts: 38
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    What they do on the show damages the contestants Basal Metabolic Rate by decreasing it by around 500 cals. what this means is that while a normal person might eat 1500 cals to maintain their weight, a biggest loser contestant would have to eat only 1000 (i just used numbers to demonstrate) essentially these people have to eliminate an entire meal from their life everyday compared to a similar person their weight eating healthy. this is why there is reports coming from many contestants themselves that upwards of 80-90% of all participants have gained back all if not more of their weight.

    The show sets people up to fail

    6 hr of intense exercise is not sustainable, 750 cal diets are not sustainable, and the focus on weight rather than the health behaviors that are so much more important also serves to perpetuate weight bias. in reality the number on the scale means nothing. it tells you nothing about your health, it tells you nothing about you as a person, its a number that gets compared against charts designed for population use and not individual use. There are far more important things in regards to your health than weight and I really wish the show would stop pushing weight as the only thing that makes a person healthy.

    Last I knew, NONE of the contestants had gained all the weight back (evidently that isn't true, but it certainly isn't 80% - the data is hard to find, as it isn't good enough for NBC nor bad enough for the naysayers). Most have gained at least 25 lbs, largely due to the fact that they were dehydrated at their final weigh in.

    Furthermore, the show does focus on weight, but have episodes that talk about changing blood chemistry and body composition for each contestant.

    The contestants train like professional athletes, that is not feasible for most people, but many of the contestants are still active.

    Hate on the show all you want, it certainly has issues, but get your facts straight.

    Sorry I do have my facts straight, The contestants have a private socail network where they are all very close, reports from several of these contestants are what I reported, direct from their mouth. You wonder why they only show few of the former contestants?

    I dont want to start a flame war with die hard fans, I have watched the show in the past, i relate to many of the contestants, but with the knowledge I now have gained through a PhD in the obesity field, i see the show for what it really is and I wish others to take off their blinders as well. If it is motivational for you then by all means use it, but like i said I fear for thoes who take the show too literally and feel like failures when they cannot do what the contestants do, and then to know that the contestants almost certainly gain the weight back because they are set up to fail and are given literally no follow-up assistance after the show.

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