The Biggest Loser - Opinions?

[dinabean]

Well, as someone who is very, very, very overweight, my take is a little different. I don't think the problem is that these people don't "want" to take the long way. I think they are so desperate, confused, and overwhelmed with life that they truly need to get away from their life and hit the ranch for 12 weeks to transform themselves. The positives of this show:

(1) It shows fat people that it is possible to swim, bike, run, lift weights, and just generally exercise. That even if you are fat, you are capable of more than you realize with just a wee bit of tenacity. That has been very, very inspiring to me. That's part of what got me out there training for a triathlon. And I know I am not alone.
(2) Despite all of the product placements, they do more than pay lip service to teaching them to heat healthily. They bring in chefs, take them grocery shopping, teach them to count every calorie and really understand the diet end of things.
(3) They force them to work on their psychological issues that got them fat to begin with.
(4) They impress upon them that this has to be a life long thing to work. On the recent where are they now episode, one person said she was told she would have to work out 1-2 hours a day 5-6 days a week to maintain.

The negatives of this show:
(1) They do push them too hard. The one mile run on day one put two contestants in the hospital. That marathon route? It's *hilly*. And while they had been working out 4-6 hours a day, 7 days a week for 12 weeks prior to undertaking that, 8 weeks to marathon is really way overboard. My DH, who is training for a marathon right now, was pretty floored.
(2) The editing. :lol: Enough said.
(3) They force them to work on their psychological issues that got them fat to begin with in front of a TV camera for our entertainment.

I started working out regularly by doing the couch to 5K program for running back in September. At that time, I weighed 245 pounds. 3x a week for 35-50 min a day, for 9 weeks. Toward the end, I bought a bike, and try to ride at least once a week. I've added in spin classes on Sat. morning, and am working on upping the running to 4x a week. I am also trying to be more conscious about my eating. I've now run 2 5K races, can run 4 miles without stopping (at a VERY SLOW pace; it takes me an hour) and bike 5-8 miles at a time. I still can't do all the climbs in spin class. And I've lost 11 pounds. For me, I it's hard not to get frustrated that I don't see the numbers they do, but I just remind myself that I am also not working out 4-5 hours a day. For me, slow but steady will win it. My hopefully realistic goal is to be down under 220 by Christmas, and under 200 by my race on Mothers' Day. But before seeing that show and seeing some overweight friends of mine complete a sprint triathlon, I just didn't think I was capable of succeeding at exercise or being athletic, because I never have been. For getting me past that mental block, that show has been priceless.

[GLC1968]

For getting me past that mental block, that show has been priceless.

Exactly! Thank you for sharing your experience/feelings!

I know this is a hard sell to a forum where everyone here is already active to some degree....but as we all know, there is a HUGE segment of our population that would never even dream of exercising. Of them, many are obese. I can't tell you how many people I've met in my lifetime with the mentality of "I'll just diet to lose weight first and then once I get smaller, I'll start exercising" and then they never quite get to the point where they feel comfortable buying a bike, or going to the gym, or to even be seen running/walking on a public roadway or park becasue of their size. So they give up on the weight loss and as a result never got off the couch in the first place (so to speak)! What if we got all those people up moving FIRST??

I mean, speaking as myself, I've never been classified as obese. But I've certainly been overweight for a vast majority of my life. Now that I'm in my 40's, I don't give a rats *** what others think of me at the gym or out on the road...but when I was younger, I certainly did. I remember distinctly being only about 15 lbs overweight and not wanting to attend step aerobics classes in the 90's because I'd be the 'fat girl'. Seriously! Now multiply that by ten-fold for some of these people and just imagine being in their shoes. Had I seen the BL back then, I'd certainly have been inspired to get moving. Hell, I'm inspired by these people now and I'm already active!

Yes, walking a mile on day one was a stretch since they made a competition out of it and that made a bunch of them over-exert themselves. But did you notice Daniel on that day? He was the returning contestant from the previous season. He was still 150 lbs overweight and yet he ran that mile with relative ease. It's not about the weight - it's about the conditioning and that's a big point of the show.

I do think the 'marathon' is misleading. Except for Rudy - no one ran the whole thing (and we don't know that he did either - he averaged a 13 min mile so there could have been some walking). That's a bit different than someone who is training to run one for time (or a cut-off). And if you figure that they got off the couch and started working out 6 hours a day a full 12 weeks before the '60 days' started, that means they 'trained' for this event for 20 weeks. Honestly, that's not unrealistic. I know plenty of women who have trained to walk a marathon (for breast cancer, I believe) in 20 weeks.

What I don't like is how the show leaves a lot of these minor details out. Yes, it would get tedious to recount them, but by not doing so, it is misleading...no doubt about it.

[Tuckervill]

I disagree. For one thing we don't know the contestants personally; no way to know if they would take the long way to health given time, info and resources,

Then why haven't they already? Do you think if TBL didn't exist, that a large percentage of these contestants would do anything about their obesity? One or two, maybe. The rest of them would still be waiting for their kick in the ***.

Karen

[Trek420]

I don't know why not. There are quite a few on this board who used to be either dangerously/unhealthily out of shape, overweight or both and who have found/are finding a way to fitness through biking and all the other things we here do.

We might try asking: what was your wake up call?

[Tuckervill]

My wake up call came way way waaaaaay before I reached 300 lbs (206 is my high weight). In the time it takes to put on 200 extra lbs., you have probably considered and declined many many wake up calls. The percentage that take advantage of them at any given point in time is definitely not large enough to solve the obesity problem.

Karen

[divingbiker]

My highest weight was around 240. I've lost weight several times through the years, but the latest wake up call was when I was approaching 50. I lost 60 pounds, gained 40 of it back, and now have lost that 40 plus a few more. Still have about 20 to go at age 53.

Both of my parents died in their early fifties, and my sister is 55, obese, and has a pacemaker/defibrillator, so I'm doing what I can to fight my family history.

Plus it's fun to be able to do triathlons, half marathons, kayaking, and pretty much whatever else I want.

[katluvr]

Great job and keep it up Dinabean. Just keep moving...really that is what we all have to do!

I do think for many the message is that no matter how big you are it is not toooo late and you can get moving.

I just really got hung up on the marathon and that message.

You can bet I 'll be watching the finale. As much as I rant and parts of it drive me crazy, I do like to see the progress and love to see the end results. I do know they do a tremedous amount of work and do have to change their life to keep it off (even if they don't keep ALL of it off).

K