Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The Biggest Loser....Motivating??

I usually don't watch The Biggest Loser but since none of the shows I normally watch are on tonight I decided to watch. I know that some people find this show motivating but I just find it extremely sad and depressing. The fact that there is no shortage of potential contestants for this show and the fact that each season these contestants get bigger and bigger each season is very sad. It just illustrates the problem with obesity that is plaguing our society. If we, as a society, don't make some major changes when it comes to health and diet then they can run 100 versions of The Biggest Loser and still not capture all of the people that need the help.

I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with this show. Yes, these are people that are morbidly obese. If they don't lose weight they will most likely die from an obesity related disease. So I'm happy that they are getting professional help and that they are losing the weight. The problem I have is that most of these results are not feasible for a normal person. If you are at home and you have a job and other responsibilities then you are not going to be able to work for the amount of time that these contestants are working out. You won't have the incentive of winning a quarter of a million dollars to help motivate you to lose the weight. And we all know how powerful of a motivator money is for a person. I also question how healthy it is to lose 50% of your entire body weight in less than a year. I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor but it just doesn't seem right.

I just hope that the show does provide motivation for some people and helps push them to meet their goals. To me it is just a reminder of the ills of our society...

2 comments:

newcitygirl said...

SO TRUE! I can't even watch this show. I totally love Jillian Michaels, but this show is a disaster. I cannot tell you how many clients tell me they do their cardio while watching TBL because they find it motivating. I just think it gives them unrealistic expectations for their journey to get healthy. Sheesh, I could write a whole post on my own here. But, obviously, I won't, haha. Great post, though!

Tam said...

@newcitygirl: Thanks! The unrealistic expectations are the worst. The average person cannot and should not lose 15+ pounds in one week. I'm sure there are people that watch the show and when they don't get the same extreme results are instantly discouraged.