The Biggest Loser or The Cash Cow?

1st July 2008

The Biggest Loser or The Cash Cow?

posted in Fat Bias, Health/Nutrition, Pop Culture |

Wow! So, the husband and I watched Glenn Gers’ new film Disfigured last night. Glenn was kind enough to send me an advance copy to screen before the film’s July 29 release. I’ve been intrigued by it ever since I saw the trailer and the film did not disappoint. My review of the film, along with an interview with Gers, is forthcoming.

In formulating the interview questions for Glenn, I browsed through the press kit bios for the highly talented actors and actresses featured. Ryan C. Benson plays Bob, the love interest of the fat protagonist - here is his MySpace page. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Benson was also crowned the winner of the first season of The Biggest Loser in 2005. In just 12 weeks, Ryan lost 122 pounds from his 330-pound frame for a total weight loss of a staggering 37 percent. In short, Ryan lost about 10 pounds a week.

Perspective: Most doctors and nutrition and exercise organization recommend a weight loss of 1 - 2 pounds per week for a healthy and sustainable weight loss. Losing more weight than this is usually due to a loss in water or muscle mass, both of which can cause weight regain and is detrimental for one’s health.

Ryan Benson - The Biggest Loser and Disfigured

According to the NBC description for the show, The Biggest Loser “challenges and encourages overweight contestants to shed pounds in a safe and recommended manner through comprehensive diet and exercise as they compete for a grand prize of $250,000.” Emphasis mine. Yet here’s how Ryan explains his astonishing weight loss in an entry posted last February on his MySpace blog:

What I now know is that the show was just a quick fix for me. …I wanted to win so bad that the last ten days before the final weigh-in I didn’t eat one piece of solid food! If you’ve heard of “The Master Cleanse” that’s what I did. Its basically drinking lemonade made with water, fresh squeezed lemon juice, pure maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The rules of the show said we couldn’t use any weight-loss drugs, well I didn’t take any drugs, I just starved myself!

Twenty-four hours before the final weigh-in I stopped putting ANYTHING in my body, liquid or solid, then I started using some old high school wrestling tricks. I wore a rubber suit while jogging on the treadmill, and then spent a lot of time in the steam room. In the final 24 hours I probably dropped 10-13 lbs in just pure water weight. By the time of the final weigh-in I was peeing blood.

Was this healthy? Heck no! My wife wanted to kill me if I didn’t do it to myself first. But I was in a different place, I knew winning the show could put us in a better place financially and I was willing to do some crazy stuff. All this torture I put myself through has had no lasting effects on me (that I know of) and at the time it was sort of a fun adventure for me – but I am sure it reeked havoc on my system.

In the five days after the show was over I gained about 32 lbs. Not from eating, just from getting my system back to normal (mostly re-hydrating myself). So in five days I was back up to 240 – crazy!

Perspective: Even diet doctors don’t recommend the Master Cleanse diet. Writes self-described “celebrity diet doctor” Dr. Marc Lawrence: “Once the diet is over, you will quickly regain the weight and possibly more as your resting metabolism is slower due to the loss of metabolically active muscle lost during the fast.” And starvation and bloody urine? We don’t need a doctor to know that this is also vastly unhealthy and downright dangerous.

And Ryan isn’t alone. According to this Time magazine feature, other contestants also resorted to drastic and dangerous weight loss methods and then quickly regained some of the pounds they lost:

Matt Hoover, 31, a motivational speaker based in Seattle, had a 16-pound rebound within a day of winning Season 2. Last season’s runner-up, Kai Hibbard, 28, an aerobics instructor in Alaska who says she spent the night before her final weigh-in hopping in and out of a sauna for six hours, consumed only sugar-free Jell-O for several days and wolfed down asparagus, which is a natural diuretic. “It’s amazing the things you learn in a weight-loss competition,” she says.

The show purportedly discourages such behavior with the threat of penalties, but has not issued any violations yet. Apparently starvation, malnutrition, dehydration and bloody urine are all acceptable measures in the name of weight loss entertainment. In fact, one of the few participants to maintain their Biggest Loser weight loss is Kelly Minner, the first-season runner-up who went on to lose more weight after the show. How did she do it? Oh, by exercising up to four hours a day, six days a week.

Perspective: At the height of my eating disorder, I spent 2 hours at the gym each day, followed up by another hour of other physical activity. Kelly Minner exercises more today than I did when I was actively anorexic. Such a rigorous and extensive exercise regime is not realistic for the average person and even more unrealistic for those who juggle families and careers.

I’m sure The Biggest Loser and its team of nutritionists and drill sergeant fitness instructors do not recommend such disordered behaviors or actively promote them, but when you factor in a $250,000 cash prize, coupled with the national spotlight on you and your weight, all bets are off. Added to this is the fact that weight loss on the show is usually achieved through total exercise immersion in a strictly controlled environment and any such results are even more unrealistic. The average viewer, however, does not see the extreme and dangerous measures that go one behind the scenes — and I’m quite certain that NBC does not tout those contestants who lost big and then went on to regain the weight — and again, the public is left with a distorted sense of weight and weight loss.

So, exactly who is the Biggest Loser? The answer is simple: viewers.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Fat Bias, Health/Nutrition, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On July 1st, 2008, MrsDrC

said:

No matter how many times people have tried to tell me The Biggest Loser was a good show, or people only lost weight in a positive way…I NEVER bought into it. I have NEVER and hope to NOT EVER watch an episode of this fat phobic crap!

Another teaspoon at time. People have GOT to learn that thin does NOT equal healthy.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 11:34 am

2 On July 1st, 2008, Yorke

I have never watched that show. And these issues you’ve pointed out are why. My own husband was drinking the Biggest Loser Koolaid, even, until recently. And his attitude as a result proves to me that this show and it’s ilk are feeding the masses an unrealistic idea that people can just magically lose copious amounts of weight in short amounts of time with no consequences (as in the bloody urine!) and because the rest of us don’t do it, we’re bad and lazy. Forgive me, NBC and your following, but I’ve done enough harm and I don’t need your GD show to make me feel like I’m bad for stopping it.

Thank you for pointing out this example. I wish everyone understood this about that awful show.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 11:58 am

3 On July 1st, 2008, Marste

This is a great post, Rachel. I watched a few episodes of it one season (first? second? I’m not sure) and even with what they showed on TV I found it sort of horrifying. No thanks.

But it really does demonstrate to people that losing weight “isn’t hard” if you’re “dedicated enough.” I know more than a few people who were using the show as their personal trainers: eating the way the folks on the show were told to eat, exercising execessively (and obsessively) and in most cases, wondering why they weren’t losing as much weight as fast as the contestants on the show. (Well, duh: they were EATING.)

Sometimes I can’t decide if I’m more distressed or embarassed by what I see on TV.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 12:25 pm

4 On July 1st, 2008, devil

I’ve never seen this show…I haven’t had tv reception in my home for five years.

But, I went on the Master Cleanse nearly three years ago and it worked very well for me…WAIT…as a cleanse, NOT A DIET!! Sorry for the hollering, but I was horrified (when doing research about the MC) to find out that people were doing the MC just to lose weight. Very, very bad idea!

I hate hearing about diets so much. My eyes just glaze over and I go to my happy place (Fudgeville) whenever someone brings up that topic.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 1:16 pm

5 On July 1st, 2008, Chrissy

Oh my gosh, this is very distressing. I know tons of people who watch that show and live by it. But it makes complete sense to me that this stuff is happening behind the scenes, and it scares me. I forgot to realize exactly how much pressure there is on the contestants and how much people will do for so much money. All I have to say is THANK GOD Ryan got healthy again.

Ugh…I wish we’d stop caring about weight and focus on health! Sometimes it seems futile to get so mad about stuff like this. Grrr…

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 1:29 pm

6 On July 1st, 2008, Toni

I’ve only watched a couple of episodes of this show and the celebrity fit club one. From the little bit I’ve seen, I have to disagree with your comment, “I’m sure The Biggest Loser and its team of nutritionists and drill sergeant fitness instructors do not recommend such disordered behaviors or actively promote them…”

The exercise regimes I’ve seen on these shows - 3 or 4 hours in the gym 2 or 3 times a day. Absolutely no activity that’s not weight-loss oriented. They have to SAY that they don’t promote them, but there’s NO other way you can get people to lose 120+ pounds in 12 weeks.

My dad often holds these people up as examples of what could be done if I only worked at it. What I’ve had to point out to him, repeatedly, is that for the duration of this show, the participants had absolutely no obligations other than weight loss. No house cleaning, no child care, no JOB, no hobbies, no friendships to maintain, etc. Someone with a 8 hour work day, 2 hours of commuting, children to feed and put to bed, dogs to walk, etc., cannot find 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon to work out.

The few “public figures” who have lost lots of weight and kept it off - Jared from Subway, some of the Biggest Loser folks, have only been able to do so by making weight maintenance/loss their job. Becoming personal trainers, motivational speakers, spokespersons for their diet. Only by devoting their entire life to maintaining this lower weight, can they actually keep it up.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm

7 On July 1st, 2008, Twistie

I’ve only seen one episode of Biggest Loser and I have to say I felt slimed well before it was over. The simple fact that when people went on the scale, they weighed so much less than they had at the previous weigh-in was enough to tell me the program as recommended was dangerously unhealthy. Reading Mr. Benson’s comments horrifies, but entirely fails to surprise me.

The fact that people can’t figure out that if you spend eight hours a day on losing weight you’re going to lose weight rapidly while choosing to actually live a life won’t necessarily cause you to drop a single pound is the thing that scares me most.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 2:00 pm

8 On July 1st, 2008, Meowser

Even 1 or 2 pounds a week is not “sustainable” for most people for very long. It’s not just people on “fad” diets like Ryan’s who gain all the weight back; someone on a “sensible 1 or 2 pounds a week” diet plan might not suffer the physical sequelae he did with his radical diet plan, but they don’t lose all they want and keep it off any more consistently, either.

And even if you do manage, improbably, to lose all you want to, it might take a bit longer to gain the weight back if you’ve lost it “sensibly,” but it almost always comes back anyway. Even “sensible” diets involve loss of lean muscle mass, which impacts metabolism, and when you gain weight back, all of the re-gain is fat.

There are even some diet-book authors (Debra Waterhouse is one) who say it’s physically impossible for a woman to lose more than 2 pounds of fat in a month. Any more than that is probably muscle mass and water.

Shows like BL make me sick. Does someone actually have to DIE from all this crash dieting before they stop?

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm

9 On July 1st, 2008, Cyn

They made a Mexican version over here. It’s called “How much do you want to lose?”. I only had to see the first episode at my nan’s house and it was utterly pathetic. They showed the unhappiest fat people in the world. They were always in tears and their weight loss was impulsed by the tiniest and stupidest things. One girl wanted to lose weight to play the guitar! She also complained because her dad died because of teh fatz. They showed footage of his dad and he was terribly skinny and at the latest stages of diabetes. He died from diabetes complications, not because of teh fatz. A boy wanted to be a model. Another one wanted “to be able to swim again”. A girl wanted to be the best at hawaiian dancing. She was already awesome at it, and aren’t hawaiian dancers meant to be curvy? Some girl wanted to have a boyfriend (more specifically, lose her virginity), and another one, proudly from my hometown, wanted to lose weight because her abusive husband left her because she was fat. But she stated it was “just to challenge herself”. Yeah, right.
We were all astounded at how pathetic and stereotypical and depressive the whole show was. The people would even cry while running. They didn’t find any joy in physical activity, because physical activity was turned into a weapon of mass destruction (literally). And, of course, because they did nothing but running and eating celery.
The reason why my relatives were as shocked as me was, sadly, that “they were not that big”. And what if they were that big? Then they would deserve it?
It was also a bit funny that many of the final “goal weights” were extremely close to my current weight. My OB/Gyn from hell told me I needed to lose about five kilos, and fifteen kilos if I wanted to be pretty. What these people don’t know is that once they reach my weight (if they ever do) they will still be pressured to get smaller. And smaller. And smaller. Even Anne Hathaway has been told to lose it.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 2:48 pm

10 On July 1st, 2008, Liza

Meowser, it is physically possible, I know because I’ve done it. I’ve been losing weight (safely - under the guidance of my doctor) and with each weigh-in I get a body composition readout (in percent and in actual pounds), and while frequently I do lose water, I don’t think a month has gone by where I’ve lost less then 2 lbs of fat. I know this isn’t a forum for discussing weight loss, so that’s all I’ll say, but it would be interesting to see the research that backs that claim up.

It probably depends on where you start, though. I was more than 50% body fat when I started (probably closer to 60%, I don’t remember) so fat would come off of my body faster than someone who had a lot less fat.

Having said that, the Biggest Loser is horrible. Of course these people are going to lose weight - they’re in a controlled environment where they don’t choose what they eat (or when) and have regular mandatory rigorous exercise (in addition to being allowed their own workout time). Anyone would lose weight in that situation.

They gain it back because they don’t really learn how to make healthy choices. The food is given to them, and when they get home they are on their own. They may get some kind of guidance, probably in the form of the books/DVDs the general masses can buy. And when real life takes over and you can’t commit every waking moment to working out and have to make the best choice at Applebee’s without really knowing how, it’s like being fed to the wolves.

People should be taught how to eat nutritious foods (with the knowledge of which is lower calorie if they so choose) and exercise regularly (not so excessively that you can’t fit it into a typical busy adult’s life). If their body has weight to lose, it will come off on its own. Probably not at 10 pounds per week (good god) but safely and with the highest probability of long-term maintenance.

Health is more important than weight. Bottom line.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 2:56 pm

11 On July 1st, 2008, Stephanie

I have never seen this show but it sounds really frightening. Talk about advertising some scary methods of weight loss in the name of entertainment.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 3:02 pm

12 On July 1st, 2008, Bree

I have never watched The Biggest Loser, but I have seen Celebrity Fit Club, and it’s definitely not about weight loss for health, it’s about weight loss for a socially acceptable appearance. They are made to do fad diets and excessive, humiliating exercise, and if they don’t lose more than 5 lbs in a short amount of time, they are shamed by the judges. Wendy the Snapple Lady ended up on there for a second season because her first attempt wasn’t successful. Which does give some proof that these “experts” really don’t know what they’re talking about.

Toni also made a great point about having time to do all these things. It’s easy for people to scream about finding time to diet and exercise, but for a lot of people, finding the time to even squeeze in 30 minutes for even a walk around the block is hard. You would think chasing after children, going up and down steps, walking to and from bus stops, or housecleaning would count as exercise, but to many, unless you’re sweating it out in a gym for 2 or more hours, it’s nothing. If you’re moving in a gym or moving in your backyard, that should be good enough.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 3:04 pm

13 On July 1st, 2008, Rachel

They gain it back because they don’t really learn how to make healthy choices.

Well, it’s not always due to poor food choices, although that’s what many of us are led to believe. Simply put: If you fight your body, your body will eventually win. If you try to maintain a weight that isn’t healthy or natural for your ethnicity, size, shape, gender, etc… your body will fight like hell to return to a size that is healthy for it.

And what’s with the guy who regained 16 pounds in one day after the show? I mean, he can’t have made such poor food choices in the course of one day that would cause him to gain 16 pounds. If we follow the flawed calories in/calories burned measure that the show promotes, he’d have had to eat some 56,000 calories in that one day. I’ve heard of some crazy binges, but I don’t know if this is even physically possible unless you mainline pure butter or lard into your veins.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 3:12 pm

14 On July 1st, 2008, Charlotte

They way the people on those shows (Biggest Loser and Celebrity Fit Club) torture themselves in the name of looking socially acceptable is very frightening and sad.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm

15 On July 1st, 2008, La di Da

For the Australian Biggest Loser, because the first, second, and third placegetters have to sign publicity/public appearance contracts (doing stuff like cutting the ribbon at a new gym, etc), they have a personal trainer and dietician assigned to them for the length of the contract so at least theoretically they maintain enough weight loss to promote the show.

I’ve seen about two episodes and the whole thing is evil. Not only do you have the stupid weight loss program, but then there’s all the reality show manipulating and scheming and backstabbing, of course strongly encouraged by the producers. And one of the sadder things I’ve seen was one contestant who was voted off the fat camp, returned home for her son’s fourth birthday party (sappy music soundtrack), and of course the little kid was having a chocolate birthday cake. And the contestant had to say earnestly to this kid that “We don’t eat chocolate cake any more, it’s bad for you and makes you fat.” Like, NO cake ever again, ever. All the while looking at this kid-size piece of cake like it was the most desirable, tasty piece of dog shit they’d ever seen: revulsion and obsession at the same time. Truly awful.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 6:35 pm

16 On July 1st, 2008, Melissa

I caught one episode of the Australian Biggest Loser.
What I saw was people exercising (this was an episode towards the end) in excess of 4 hours a day, and eating no more than 1200 calories.
So if calories in and calories out was even close to the truth of weight then at the end of the day these people weren’t consuming any calories in the day.
The mere idea of exericising that much in a gym makes me nauseated!

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm

17 On July 1st, 2008, peggynature

Peeing blood and he doesn’t assume there’s any “lasting effects?”

Losing a lot of muscle mass quickly (e.g. through extreme weight loss tactics) can result in protein being lost through the kidneys and urine, which can damage the kidneys. Maybe permanently.

“It’s amazing the things you learn in a weight-loss competition,” she says. Yeah. It’s amazing how scarily similar those things are to what you learn on a pro-ana website, for example.

At the height of my crazed weight-loss obsession (known to everyone else as a “reasonable and healthy weight-loss diet”) I was also exercising 2-3 hours per day. Because I didn’t have a job, or school, or anything else in my life to do. I was constantly injured, constantly sick with respiratory infections, and it would have been absolutely impossible to sustain if I’d had any other sort of daily obligations. If you’re doing this kind of thing and you’re not a professional or aspiring athlete, it’s likely not healthy.

I am so glad I’ve never watched this show.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 7:45 pm

18 On July 1st, 2008, peggynature

Oh, also:

“And what’s with the guy who regained 16 pounds in one day after the show?”

You’re alread alluding to it, Rachel, but the answer here is dehydration. He was clearly dehydrated and put the water back on, once he started eating and drinking like a normal human being. That’s the only way weight can fluctuate so much in a single day.

And I don’t believe I need to remind everyone here that dehydration can kill someone pretty rapidly.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 7:58 pm

19 On July 1st, 2008, Kristen_the_isten

Shows like BL make me sick. Does someone actually have to DIE from all this crash dieting before they stop?

While it makes my soul ache for our culture, would it really surprise any of us if the answer was yes? I can, sadly, envision the shake-down. The media gets in a tizzy: Time magazine does a “oh-my-god-have-we-gone-too-far?” issue that doesn’t even scratch the surface and then the whole topic is dropped again the next time some celebutante goes out without panties…

I think that song “I hate the TV” pretty much sums my feelings up.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pm

20 On July 1st, 2008, withoutscene

Rachel,
I’d be really interested to hear whether you think this might be something I could show in my Intro to Women’s Studies class this fall.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 10:01 pm

21 On July 1st, 2008, littlem

“Sometimes I can’t decide if I’m more distressed or embarassed by what I see on TV.”

Marste, I’m not sure the Biggest Problem is even with what’s on the TV.

It’s with the people who are watching and believing what they see on TV and — if you’ll pardon the pun — swallowing it whole.

Didn’t someone say recently that there were kids in chat rooms asking whether bullets could actually be shot around corners, like in “Wanted”? Not that I’m not horrified at any parent who would let their child take in that ultraviolent movie alone?

Our society as a whole is not thinking critically. I read a lot of Orwell and Huxley as a precocious little brat, and I find myself wondering if it’ll ever stop and, if it doesn’t, what it’s ultimately going to lead to.

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 11:12 pm

22 On July 1st, 2008, littlem

“At the height of my crazed weight-loss obsession (known to everyone else as a “reasonable and healthy weight-loss diet”)”

Just shoot me.

Rachel, is there any way to break this story reaaaallly wiiiide that NBC, Faux Noise, and their counterparts wouldn’t be able to immediately suppress?

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 11:14 pm

23 On July 1st, 2008, littlem

“Even Anne Hathaway has been told to lose it.”

Um.

What???

posted on July 1st, 2008 at 11:19 pm

24 On July 2nd, 2008, Tia

hmm, am I the only person that liked watching the show?

The part that bothered me the most is how the contestants got up on the scale - it seemed so degrading to me. But as far as the rest of the show, how could it be so bad when everyone was exercising? Take away the drama and it demonstrated that if you exercise and eat healthy, you’ll lose weight. Of course it’s all so extreme - it’s television!

It’s not as if we, the public, knew about all of the “behind the scenes” stuff. How many reality shows have issues behind the scenes that none of the viewing public knows about? Are we all aghast and indignant because the subject matter is what this blog is about and we’re all very familiar with it(eating, fat, exercising etc).

You don’t see those negative behaviors on tv. Of course not. Personally, I think that the show’s message is basically a good one, and if one is motivated by it, what’s wrong with that?

What the contestants do on their own is their responsibility. For $250,000? Hell ya I might do something extreme myself. Heaven knows I’ve done it for nothing before.

My point is that by just watching the show, it does not promote what goes on behind the scenes. So as a viewer, it motivates me. So I exercise harder next time. So I take Jillian’s advice (one of the fitness trainers on the show) and do whatever she recommended on an episode of the show. So I now have a goal. I want defined pecs like her too, she’s in excellent condition (or at least appears to be).

Take away what this post was about as far as what happens afterwards, or what the contestants did outside of the show, and what you have left is a reality tv show that’s about a contest to lose weight by exercising and eating well.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 7:59 am

25 On July 2nd, 2008, pennylane

Part of the problem, Tia, is that you don’t see he behaviors that produce the results and thus people buy into the myth that anyone can be thin if they just work hard enough (and it will all be healthy!) And, importantly, we don’t see Ryan return to show his weight gain and thus we get a completely unrealistic view of what is humanly possible. Thus, those who fail to get the same results view themselves as failures and those of us who are fat are judged by those who see this show and think–you just need to eat healthy and exercise and anyone can be thin.

One element they conveniently leave out is that not only are these people doing physical activity 6-8 hours a day–they’re also sleeping 11-12 hours a day which allows this kind of activity. I know people who are pro or semi-pro athletes who say that to maintain their fitness regime they require massive amounts of sleep. Not exactly realistic for anyone with a job other than losing weight. At the height of my ED I was doing 4-6 hours of physical activity a day and I quite often found myself falling asleep any time I stopped moving my body (including passing out while photocopying at the library).

One element I find interesting is that as the process goes on they get to have more clothes at the weigh-in and by the finale they are fully clothed. I have always wondered if this is to cover up the loose skin that is almost inevitable with such massive and rapid weight loss.

Matt–the guy who gained 16 pounds–was a wrestler and knew all the tricks of losing/gaining rapidly with water weight/sodium intake. The rapid weight gain indicates that he was not only severely dehydrated but also was most definitely dramatically limiting sodium which is really dangerous-you can be dehydrated AND develop hyponatremia (electrolyte imbalance) meaning that drinking fluids will only further the problem. He almost definitely damaged his kidneys. A quarter of a million dollars will not buy you new kidneys.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 am

26 On July 2nd, 2008, Rachel

Pennylane said it better than I, so I will refer to her.

Withoutscene: I most definitely would recommend this film for any Intro to Women’s Studies classes. Of the 9 actors in the film, some 7 are women. It really highlights the parallels women of both extremes face, both fat women and those who have anorexia.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 am

27 On July 2nd, 2008, MrsDrC

There is this big myth that once you lose weight, staying at a “healthy” weight will be easy. You’ll be able to maintain your weight with ease because afterall the BMI says this is your ideal weight. When your body fights back, and weight is regained (plus some) it’s not because your body is fighting back, it’s because you didnt have the dedication, or will power. If working out 4 hours a day is what it would take for me to be “healthy” forget it. I’d rather be OMG TEH FATZ and actually spend time with my kids and husband.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 am

28 On July 2nd, 2008, Liza

They gain it back because they don’t really learn how to make healthy choices.

Well, it’s not always due to poor food choices, although that’s what many of us are led to believe. Simply put: If you fight your body, your body will eventually win. If you try to maintain a weight that isn’t healthy or natural for your ethnicity, size, shape, gender, etc… your body will fight like hell to return to a size that is healthy for it. [...]

Rereading what I said it makes me sound all pro-diet, you’re-fat-because-of-something-you-do, and that wasn’t what I meant.

Of course someone will lose weight in that controlled environment. And of course once they leave there and go back to their old ways they’ll completely revert and gain weight back.

What I should have said next was, if you want someone to have a snowball’s chance in hell of maintaining anything close to their “after” weight, they need to learn how to make different choices. By that I mean regular exercise they enjoy and can fit into their lives and eating healthy, nutritious meals and paying attention to their body. They will most likely gain some weight back, but if they went from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one, they will probably maintain something less than where they started, but more importantly they’ll be healthier in the long run.

Of course I didn’t mean the guy gained 16 pounds back in a day through food alone. I have a hard time believing even the trolliest of trolls would suggest that, let alone a wonderful person like me (*stupid grin*).

My point came out wrong, sorry for that. I was trying to promote education people about healthy lifestyle and it came out as fat-shaming and blaming.

I need to learn to reread before posting.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm

29 On July 2nd, 2008, Rachel

Hey Liza-

I know what you meant and I think its true for some people. I think the nation in general struggles with good nutrition and fitness, and I do believe that for some, diet and exercise (or lack thereof) do play a role in their weight. I credit my own healthier diet and lifestyle as the reason I’ve been able to maintain a weightloss of 100 pounds rather effortlessly. But I also think that, in many cases, it’s not all about the choices one makes or doesn’t make in terms of weight regain. Often times, people try to reach and maintain weights that aren’t healthy for them. If you have to exercise 4 hours a day, six days a week to maintain your weight loss, I think your body is trying to tell you something.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 4:43 pm

30 On July 2nd, 2008, Liza

So we were saying the same thing basically.

There’s definitely a point for everyone that their body just shouldn’t go past, and won’t stay at without crazy unhealthy gimmicks. From my small experience with BL it seems that the contestants were living sedentary lifestyles with poor dietary habits (or at least are edited to look that way) so an education in healthy living would be far more beneficial than a cayenne-lemon-honey cocktail thing, which, if not taught otherwise, some of them might regularly rely on as a quick fix if the weight starts to creep back. Which is more dangerous than being fat, as we all know.

I’m just really paranoid when I’m on FA blogs because I’ve said things that were essentially pro-healthy lifestyle and not anti-weight loss and they were misconstrued as being pro-insane diet. Not here; I actually don’t remember where…I think it’s happened in more than one place, lol.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm

31 On July 2nd, 2008, Sherie S

I never watched the show or Celebrity Fit Club because I find them too repulsive. What literally turns my stomach is that people are willing to go to extremes in public for social approval. I have been fat ever since birth and even though I could not articulate it as a child, I always thought it was a lot of nerve on society’s part to expect me to deny myself pleasure just for their approval. Lots of people don’t meet my approval in all sorts of categories. I don’t expect them to jump through hoops for me, why should I for them? Then again, I would never pledge a sorority or join a cult either. I guess one either sees the inherent indignity of it all, or one doesn’t. This is not to offend anyone, to each his own, live and let live, but Jillian is light years away from my own ideal of what a perfect female body is.

posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm

32 On July 3rd, 2008, Victoria C

Ah, I couldn’t wait to get home so I could respond to this post. Now that I’m here, I hope I don’t mess it up or make anyone mad. I also hope nothing I say is triggering about my emotional reaction.

I found The Biggest Loser and this blog and a number of other things in an ongoing quest to explain my body, and more importantly, to make it healthier in the healthiest way I could find, having participated in an abundance of dangerous weight loss methods in my life. However, I found TBL before I found out about body acceptance and Health at Every Size. The first thing I did when I found this site, in fact, was search to see if TBL had come up in discussion. Watching The Biggest Loser was an eye-opening and emotional journey for me. [Note before I launch on this: I found the Australian version, because Australian law allows for posting of episodes of Australian TV online without violating copyright - from the information I've been given, it's fair use. The consensus of comments I've read seems to be that the Australian version is more focused toward the actual physical and mental health aspect and the American version is more focused on drama and gameplay. Having watched three seasons of the Australian version and one season of the American one, the most recent to air, I can't swear I see that that's entirely the case, but it's what a lot of viewers think.]

I think I was somewhere sometime with a TV in 2004, as I didn’t have one at the time, and I saw a few minutes of part of one episode (American). I was thoroughly disgusted with two things: 1) the “fat” people who caught my eye looked, from faint and biased recollection, what sorority sisters might look like if they binged on too much pizza for a few months. That is to say, 35 lbs overweight, max. 2) the exercise they were doing seemed embarrassing and degrading, running on a public beach in clothes designed to frame their fat. As everyone knows, beaches are horror for self-hating fat people. I didn’t give the show another thought and only stumbled across it again when my exploration of how to help my body led me to it.

I was instantly hooked from the first episode of Aus Season 1. For the first time in my life, I was seeing fat people being presented as something other than a caricature that stuffs its face and acts funky, crazy, or otherwise 1-dimensional. For the first time in my life, I was seeing REAL fat on screen. Not a sorority girl with a pooch and perhaps a bit of inner-thigh fat she’d like to lose to look delightful in a bikini, but giant stomachs, chins, purple stretch marks, masses of cellulite, and all those other things that are covered with thick dark clothing, shrunken, and airbrushed out so no one viewing mainstream media has to realize they really exist, that there are human bodies - a lot of human bodies - that look like this. I also identified with the shame and self-abhorrence. And these fat people had real lives and people who loved them, something also absent from mainstream portrayals of the fat.

I was gobsmacked when I saw the exercise that a fat person is capable of doing. I remember someone commenting “I cried when Ruth ran 20km/hr.” So did I. I cried a lot while watching. Everything they’d been through, I could empathize or sympathize with. Something I’ve read over and over in comments regarding the show (not here; various other sites and blogs) is how degrading what the participants go through is. I can see how it can be interpreted that way, but I don’t believe it’s the purpose: It gives me something to identify with. I had no idea, never knew, that I could exercise while possessing an enormous stomach. I was seriously considering abdominoplasty before finding the show. I’d been given a doctor recommendation from a friend who’d had the procedure and told me it was the best thing she’d ever done. I thought I’d have to lose my enormous hanging stomach and perhaps that inner thigh fat before I’d be able to walk normally, let alone run.

As a result of watching the show, I joined 24 Hour Fitness. I was impressed with their emphasis on health and the human being side of fitness via the site 12millionlives.com, as opposed to Bally’s sexay hot bod Pussycat Dolls tie-in. (Having not seen the American version, I was unaware 24HF was actually the co-creator of the show until quite recently, nearly two months after joining.) It was during my first month there that I stumbled across Health At Every Size and body acceptance. Reading the FA community’s thoughts on TBL has helped me see the downsides, and I agree that the participants drive *themselves* to dangerous extremes in the quest for $$$. These methods are strictly not what the show teaches, which doesn’t even allow for any type of supplement, balance in diet is key, and where the trainers yell at them for restricting their calories too much (otherwise they find they can’t work out). I appreciate that I’ve learned to love myself for who I am, regardless of what my body looks like, but what The Biggest Loser taught me cannot possibly be diminished in any way. I can do things I never previously thought possible.

posted on July 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 am

33 On July 23rd, 2008, spacedcowgirl

I’m weeks behind here, but I did want to highlight Liza’s quotation about how “if their body has weight to lose, it will come off on its own.” This is so simple and beautiful and so true. WHY do people not see this?! Educate and encourage people to make healthy choices (and by that I don’t mean prescribed calories… I mean listening to your body on an individual basis and giving it the nourishment and nutrition it needs, with reasonable amounts of healthful activity and muscle- and bone-building activities–which should make you feel better, not exhausted, injured and drained as you would if you overexercise–added in) and their weight will end up where it ends up–up, down, or the same. I don’t see how it is not apparent to more people that this is the healthiest course of action whether you are fat, thin, or otherwise.

In other words, HAES FTW! But then you all knew that.

posted on July 23rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm

34 On October 7th, 2008, Too fat for fitness? Weigh in with your experiences » The-F-Word.org said:

[...] treated by people like the letter-writer. That Amy dropped the proverbial ball by recommending The Biggest Loser as a positive example of how “fulfilling it is to get control of your health through diet and [...]

posted on October 7th, 2008 at 8:00 am

35 On October 8th, 2008, My grudging respect for Jillian Michaels. . . | Creamy Nougat Lair said:

[...] gonna come clean. I think the Biggest Loser is a sham and I’m not a fan of BL trainer Jillian Michaels whose “empowerment” of others [...]

posted on October 8th, 2008 at 10:09 am

36 On October 9th, 2008, Fatadelic

I missed this post when you at the time you wrote it, but this is exactly why I hate the Biggest Loser; it pressures people to be unhealth in the pursuit of ‘health’ with the incentive of a large cash prize and possible enorsement contracts. Add the humiliation aspect and the punitive aspect and, well, it’s just a corker.

posted on October 9th, 2008 at 4:26 am