Two years ago my cousin asked me to join her and her husband in a "Biggest Loser Group" where you and your teammate/family and friends worked along with folks in the show to lose weight in your own lives/homes. Having been a lay student of dieting and weight loss since I was about 10 years old when my mother gave me one of her weight loss Rx pills--and also sometimes over my lifetime employing "psychologically clinically treatable methods"--I had to figure out a way to support the efforts of my cousin and her husband while saying "sorry, no thanks".
I've never watched an espisode of The Biggest Loser, however I did yesterday see clips of it for the first time on the t.v. screen at the bowling alley while there with my mom and kids. This article in today's New York Times explains my biggest reason why I have avoided The Biggest Loser:
Finally, and perhaps most unfortunately for viewers tuning in to the show for inspiration as they pursue their own diets, the most significant factor in the contestants’ big weight losses is probably the fact of participating on a reality show. The losers are all living in what one of the show’s producers, J. D. Roth, calls “a biodome” — a hothouse of emotional and physical intensity with no children to pick up at school, or bosses to please, or houses to clean. The only obligation, besides getting to hair and makeup, is losing weight.
What’s more, contestants on “The Biggest Loser” who work to shed pounds at home after being voted off the show, have an advantage over the viewer. Former contestants receive regular checkups from the show’s doctors and trainers and are also kept in check when strangers buttonhole them about their weight. Plus, stepping on that scale for “the live finale in front of millions keeps motivation strong,” Mr. Roth said.
For those still living on the show’s campus, female team members eat 1,100 to 1,500 calories a day, and male contestants eat 1,500 to 2,300 calories a day, with meals like salmon and wild rice. And everybody spends an hour or two on weight or resistance training, an hour on a high-intensity cardiovascular exercise, and up to three hours walking on the treadmill, using the elliptical trainer or riding a stationary bike. The low-intensity cardio exercise is left out when each diet week is edited to fit a 90-minute segment.
“Most of what goes on while a person is losing weight is incredibly boring,” Mr. Roth said. “It’s like watching paint dry.”
Yet contestants and trainers say it’s those dull hours of low-intensity activity that make the difference. For this season, 250,000 obese Americans sent audition tapes; only 18 made the show. “You watch it because you want to know the secret,” said Ms. Peters, who writes a blog about her attempt to drop 70 pounds. “But the reality is, you can’t. So why bother? Everybody in the real world seems to have the same consensus: nobody has that much time to dedicate to losing weight.”
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In short, reality t.v. presents a warped sense of reality! I wish we would all go back to being entertained by situation comedies on television. But then I'd be more tempted to go back to watching more t.v. instead of reading, listening to music, working on a hobby, helping people other in need--or God help me--even exercising!!
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