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Fat/Fit shows

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rpkg62
rpkg62 Posts: 44 Member
What's your opinion on shows like Biggest Loser, My 600lbs Life, Super Sized vs Super Skinny?

Does it help motivate you? Is it discouraging? Neither? Super curious what other people think of these shows :)
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  • bobshuckleberry
    bobshuckleberry Posts: 281 Member
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    I used to find them motivating until it was revealed that most of them gain it all back and sometimes more. Losing that much weight in that amount of time is not sustainable. It is not physically healthy and it cannot do much good for your psyche when you can't keep the results.
    I have seen the one where the man works with people one on one and takes the weight loss over a year, which is still quick. However they are doing it while conducting the rest of their lives, not isolated at a camp.
  • Penthesilea514
    Penthesilea514 Posts: 1,189 Member
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    It is a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it can be motivating to see someone who maybe has the same issues as I work very hard to lose the weight but on the other hand, it does seem almost cruel that the shows helps them lose weight unsustainably and then let them fall back after the show leaves them. So I don't really watch these shows anymore.
  • MissPauling
    MissPauling Posts: 33 Member
    edited May 2017
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    I don't find them motivating because I'm not that big, never been, never will be, so I can't relate.

    The Kardashian show would have been more interesting here (that revenge body bs), sadly it's so focused on the Kardashian woman and lots of blah and boring styling bs I don't really care for and don't need to see people applying make up to other people's faces for 5 minutes, and to me it seems they don't really get in shape, only a bit.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    The show Heavy hit me hard because the trainers didn't always act like a$$es, treating the clients like whiny losers. The show followed up on the clients after leaving the compound to see if they were still following the program.
  • BurlzGettingFit
    BurlzGettingFit Posts: 115 Member
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    rpk62 wrote: »
    What's your opinion on shows like Biggest Loser, My 600lbs Life, Super Sized vs Super Skinny?

    Does it help motivate you? Is it discouraging? Neither? Super curious what other people think of these shows :)

    I love them all! I typically watch My 600 lb Life while at the gym. I love Whitney and her family from My Big Fat Fabulous Life, I do think she is fabulous! I have no problem with any of those shows, it's not as though the shows are being done without the participants permission.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    rpk62 wrote: »
    What's your opinion on shows like Biggest Loser, My 600lbs Life, Super Sized vs Super Skinny?

    Does it help motivate you? Is it discouraging? Neither? Super curious what other people think of these shows :)

    I think shows like the Biggest Loser are horrible...if you read what many of the contestants talk about after the fact, it's really horrible...not to mention it is in no way "reality"...but it's a "reality show" so a lot of people think it is and the people who try to mimic that are idiots.

    I've never seen 600 Lb life so can't comment...but my guess is that I wouldn't like it...never heard of Super Sized vs Super Skinny, but I wouldn't want to be either one of those things.
  • rpkg62
    rpkg62 Posts: 44 Member
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    Thanks for the input! Sometimes I enjoy these shows, but they are pretty unrealistic. I use to feel really discouraged, watching all the people lose weight so fast! Now that I have started to keep a steady slow pace of weight loss, it's hit me how unhealthy unrealistic these shows are. I still enjoy them though.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Neither for me. I just don't care for them because reality shows aren't entertaining to me (which is all they are, entertainment, no need to read too much into them).
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    I've never seen one.
  • BurlzGettingFit
    BurlzGettingFit Posts: 115 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    Here's my stock answer:

    In my opinion, it's a modern-day freakshow. I don't mean that to be unkind to the people involved in it, but that's the purpose of the people who make and produce these kinds of reality TV.

    In today's freakshows you're not supposed to gape like yokels at the people on exhibit. That's so early 20th century. Instead you're supposed to be moved to pity, or outrage, or whatever emotion the producers wish to foster.

    In my opinion, of course.

    ^^This^^ So much this. It takes a serious national problem and turns it into a spectacle to gawk at and shore up the esteem of viewers but assuages their conscience by saying "Look, we're helping these folks lose weight by heaping abuse on them in an unrealistic situation and system that they'll be unable to maintain once they leave us."

    You can't place all the blame on the creators and producers though. Those people sign on and after how many years of the shows being on television now know what they're getting themselves into.
  • getupforchange
    getupforchange Posts: 86 Member
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    I used to watch BL mainly for Alison Sweeney, Bob and Jillian but I'm not too keen on the format of the show. The only show like it that I do like is Chris Powell's extreme weight loss, because it's done over a full year and people still have to work/go to school/take care of their kids while at it. It's obviously still "extreme" but I feel like Chris attempts to really deal with all aspects of the journey, the mental and the physical bit.