BIGGEST LOSER TRUTH - FROM CONTESTANT

I always knew that show was bogus in the fact that they are not using legit and safe methods for loosing weight, it's a TV show and ratings are all that matters.

Some of the experiences that Kai details in the first part of the article sound an awful lot like boot camp when I was in the Army. Isolation from mail, phone, no contact with the outside world and TONS of exercise.

We ran EVERYWHERE, exercise was how you started your day, and throughout the day you were constantly punished with exercise. I slipped in a puddle of my own sweat working so hard once, smashed my head on a tile floor and just kept going, because you had to. All the while the Drill Sergeant rolled around in a wheeled chair drinking a nice big orange soda, taunting us with it.

But our Drill Sergeants also made sure we were eating the right things and hydrating constantly, to the point where you hated water.

It makes sense in that environment, but for a TV show and the unsafe way they did everything just plain sucks.

I lost about 45lbs (or so, can't remember exactly) in about 2 months and left there at about 165lbs at 5'11", wearing a size 29-30 pants.

People might hate me for this, but I don't see anything "wrong" with what was done. People should not be subjected to what those contestants are being subjected to, BUT they are contestants on a game show. It goes with the territory. People should be clear that the show is about entertainment and profit and not about being nice to people. If people want extreme results, they need exposure to the extreme. Football players going to football camp go through ****. People who join the military are berated and made to feel inadequate to get them to perform. It happens in so many instances where someone has to hit rockbottom before they recognize that they need to do something for themselves. Just getting on a gameshow will not make someone lose weight.

As for the show not wanting anything to do with Eric once he won....why would they? I don't remember the last time I watched Price is Right where Bob Barker called old showcase winners up to see how they were enjoying their new washing machines.

Is it nice that TBL treats its contestants like garbage? Nope. But they aren't treating non-contestants like that. These people signed waivers and contracts and if they didn't want what was being dished out, any of them would be free to leave whenever they chose to.

The problem I have with the show (and I haven't read the article yet) isn't that these people are being treated this way because in way yes they signed up for it. My problem is that the show implies that what they're doing is a normal, healthy way to lose weight. It makes people feel bad for losing weight at the recommended pace because hey these people on the show are losing 15 pounds a week! Add in all the product endorsements and commercials throughout it - hey eat these cereal bars, go to Subway for lunch, try this for a great low cal drink - and it makes it seem like all you have to do is exercise and eat these things and you can lose 15 pounds a week too! It's just not true. Nothing about it is true. Even if you sequestered yourself on a ranch and worked out all day every day with personal trainers and medics surrounding you and managed to lose 15 pounds a week, it still wouldn't be a healthy way to do it.