Millions tune in each week to watch contestants on The Biggest Loser transform their bodies through sweat, tears and motivation from their coaches and teammates. The climax of the show occurs when each contestant weighs in to determine if their weight loss is enough to keep them in the competition for another week. I have never been a fan of The Biggest Loser mostly because of its unrealistic environment for weight loss and style of personal training.
I’m sure shows like The Biggest Loser serve as a positive medium for individuals desiring to start their own weight loss program. The purpose of the show is to show viewers, “if we can do it, then you can do it too.” What I do want to point out is that these contestants on the show are not working 40 hours a week, taking kids to soccer practice, running errands and preparing meals for their families. They are living in a wellness safe haven where they have no other obligation other than to work out, eat healthy and learn more about healthy lifestyles. While all of these actions are quite attainable when working full-time and managing a family, one’s results may not be as drastic as the ones shown on TV. When following a healthier diet and more active lifestyle, one can typically expect to lose a half to 2 pounds per week. Some can experience as much as a 3-5 pound weight loss in one week. While contestants on The Biggest Loser may lose 7-15 lbs in one week, keep in mind that weight losses of this high value generally are not body fat losses, rather it is more due to a loss of water weight. Your body also has a much harder time adjusting its metabolism to dramatic weight losses. This is the reason people gain all of their weight back (and then some) after going on a short-term drastic diet that produces a rapid weight loss.
There are many styles of coaching and training. There’s the compassionate coach, the motivating coach and then there’s the screamers. Screaming at personal training clients does not necessarily get results in the real world, but it does increase ratings for NBC. The screaming has always turned me off about the trainers on The Biggest Loser. Simply because I would never use this method with my own clients and yet I could still help them get just as good of results. Some people need that military-enforcement style of coaching in order to get results, but again, it’s just not my style. Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels have certainly made a brand for themselves. Most people who watch the show associate Bob and Jillian as symbols of health. They endorse food products, home DVD workouts and even…fat-burning “supplements.”
While there are many good aspects of the show, my overall feelings towards it are not that positive…and a recent episode sealed the deal for me. I was flipping through the channels while I was cooking andstopped on The Biggest Loser when I saw the contestants were competing in a challenge for immunity for that week’s weigh-in. This challenge required contestants from each team to blindly pick a pumpkin to see if the immunity flag was hidden inside. If the immunity flag was recovered, then that team was safe from elimination that week. If a contestant did not choose the winning pumpkin, they were forced to eat whatever was inside the pumpkin, which included a myriad of chocolate candies and pies. I was absolutely flabbergasted that the show was requiring contestants to do this. One contestant cried out “I don’t even like pumpkin pie” yet he ate the entire piece for the sake of the game. Is this telling our viewers that we should eat something, even though we do not like it or even if we are not hungry?
As the game went on, contestants were giving testimonies regarding how hard their workouts were going to be in order to burn off all the extra calories. So now we are using exercise as a form of punishment for eating chocolate? I agree that there should be a balance of calories consumed versus calories burned, but using exercise as a form of punishment can quickly develop into negative thoughts and behaviors revolving around exercise in general. Growing up, no one ever wanted to do a suicide drill or burpees on their own, simply because these exercises were usually reserved as a form of punishment for not getting enough offensive rebounds, missed volleyball serves or missed free-throw shots. Bottom line is exercise should not be used as a form of punishment.
Shame on The Biggest Loser for sending negative health messages to viewers and for not fostering a positive healthy environment for your contestants. I do understand that most of the contestants walk away from the show in a much better state of health than they were when they started, but these results can certainly still be achieved without some of the ridiculous tasks put onto these participants.
