Thoughts on the biggest loser?

They pick overweight people who have never exercised or even walked. Ones who have never tried. Makes for a better show when they cry and barf. :ohwell:

If any of us who have worked out before and are use to it, tried out, they would never pick us, cos we would be too boring! :laugh:

This year they have an Olympic weightlifter and a former competitive swimmer. It's not the first time they've had a top athlete on the show.

No one is made to do anything. It's a competition where people are trying to win a lot of money. It's not a health camp, and barely any (no?) reality shows provide follow up support to their contestants. The BL doesn't owe the contestants long lasting weight loss any more than the Bachelor owes them couples therapy. The failure rates for many who lose weight over the long-term are not great, so it's not like the contestants on the BL are unusual in gaining weight back.

I wouldn't do it, but I can't think of any reality show I would do. People are making choices, and they are doing it for their own self-serving purposes. I don't find it humiliating, but that's because I see it as a game show/competition, not a documentary.

Kai was so unhappy she dropped out the second week-oh no, she didn't. She competed until the bitter end and won a prize. She participated in alliances and game playing. (People do drop out, and I respect them for realizing something isn't for them. It's not for everyone.)

Bunch of losers if you ask me! Literally

bullying? lol everything is bullying these days. a lot of these contestants are on deaths door. anything that can get them motivated is a good thing.

^^so true! Also, I love your picture lol

^^Agreed^^

The whiners, complainers, and liars on the show motivated me to actually DO something about my weight, so I wouldn't be one of them. I LOVE the show. I even considered paying to be on the ranch. My husband was not ok with that. LOL. The last 2 seasons haven't been all that great, though...and I do overlook the product promotions. Key lime pie flavored gum, with artificial sweetener, is NOT going to curb my sweet tooth. I'm also not in complete agreement about the low cal/low fat approach. Eating MORE fat helped me lose weight, because I stopped being ravenously hungry while dieting. Other than that, I love it.

I watch it with the same trainwreck mentality that i watch most reality shows.


We made it usefull though. Every time there's a product placement, everyone has to do 15 burpees.

It's weight loss competition featuring adults that chose to go through with it for a chance to win money. It's a "reality" show that people can chose to watch or not watch. I find it more interesting than The Bachelor or Survivor so I watch it.

Do I expect to have the same results outside of the ranch in my life? No. Do I think that the kind of weight loss they promote is for everyone? No. Is it for some people? Yes. Does it make me cringe, scream, think "WTF?" sometimes? Yes. Do other shows have the same effect? Yes. Do I think there are worse shows on TV? You bet.

Again were talking about people that made a choice to do this. No one put a gun to their head and said, "Audition for this show. Continue on with this show." These people had a choice and they chose this. Going into something like this you should expect the unexpected. Most things in life aren't as they seem and this should be thought of with the same regard. In the end it's a TV show and it's about money for everyone involved.

And that's what I think of The Biggest Loser.

Well put also...

It's unrealistic, misleading and possibly dangerous...and I never miss an episode!

I used to watch it with a bowl of ice cream in hand...

I enjoyed it actually.

I like watching clips of the workouts and the challenges. I wish someone would be tough on me like that. I hate all the emotional stuff though. I'm not a touchy feely type of person.

I saw a promo for this season where everyone was wearing shirts with their weight on them, and that's why I don't watch it. I think focusing that much on weight loss and not on health is a huge disconnect, and reinforces the idea that a lower weight always equals better health.

I don't bellieve there is any bullying on the show.. Encouragement yes.
Lets be honest, if you don't looose any weight, guess who is going home.

I love it! Its so motivating and i just love seeing people lose weight... That show usually makes me cry lol. They might not be losing it the best way, but they are learning how to be more healthy than they were!

really...

http://www.bodylovewellness.com/2010/06/09/kai-hibbard-biggest-loser-finalist-part-1-of-3/

Like everything else it's best taken with a grain of salt. I watch it, don't know that enjoy is the right word, at the very least I am intrigued. The ONLY time I wanted to be a contestant was when Anna Kournikova, just because she's hot.

It motivated me to get off my *kitten*. But I also use my brain as a free thinker and know I'm not going to lose weight the way they do because it is unhealthy and I don't have 150 pounds to lose.

As long as people take it for what it is and are able to sort out the good from the garbage I don't see the big deal.

And to those posting the links to Kai Hubbard's "interview," just stop. That is ONE persons version of a 15 season long show. She didn't win, she's bitter.

I like it for the "before and afters". That's all.

I was about to make a new thread asking this very thing, and searched first instead. I had never seen this show, heard of it? Yes. Seen it? No. Not until this season. I haven't seen any "bullying" but it has really confused me. I mean, what I have seen time and time again on this board is losing more than 2 lbs a week isn't the best thing, or the safest. Then I watch this show and see them lost I think up to 20lbs on one ep. HOW can they lose so much in one week?? Sometimes its only 3lbs but many times its been 6+. How are those results reached, and how is it safe?

At first it motivated me, and now, it borders on motivation and depressing, because it is so hard just to lose 1lb, let alone 20lbs.

That's exactly why I have a problem with it. Firstly, the big losses you see are not in just one week, a "week" on the show is actually quite a bit longer than a week, plus contestants are encouraged to do unhealthy things like dehydrating for the weigh in, so they see the big scale weight losses. And a lot of that will be water, not fat. You can see big losses in scale weight by deliberately depleting yourself of glycogen and dehydrating yourself, but it'll be mainly water and the amount of actual fat you lose will be no more than someone who lost 1-2lb the healthy way.

Focus on losing fat, pure fat, nothing but fat, and that changes the whole game. What's a 6lb weight loss worth, if 4lb of it is water? If you go about it the healthy way, i.e. sensible deficit, exercise, sustainable lifestyle changes, you might see only 1lb a week weight loss, maybe even less than that, but if what you're losing is pure fat and it's not going to come back because you can maintain the lifestyle that's making you lose fat slowly, then does it really matter that it's only 0.5-1lb on the scale each week?