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The Biggest Loser: Bad for America?I must admit I am a huge Biggest Loser fan. My wife and I watch this show regularly and dvr it just to make sure we don’t miss anything. I love the drama this show provides and the in depth look into everyday peoples lives. The contestants on this show are receiving a once in a lifetime opportunity that most take tremendous advantage of. The ability to have losing weight as your job is a dream for a lot of Americans. These contestants get taught how to eat right and have excellent exercise instruction from Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper.
In the early years this show did a fantastic job of showing different forms of exercise and explaining nutrition. I have noticed in the last few seasons the show has moved more to the drama side, and has become way more commercialized, even having the contestants do cheesy commercials for progressive soup during the middle of the show.
With that said I still belive the show offers some good pieces of information especially about nutrition. However, The Biggest Loser does send some bad messages to their viewers. Below are some unrealistic expectations the show sets.
Time for exercise
The Biggest Loser shows its contestants doing different types of exercises for hours on end. This will make some believe you must have a tremendous amount of time available for exercise. This is not true. While exercising a hour a day will produce great results, the American Heart Association say 20 minutes of vigorous exercise a day will not only help you lose weight but decrease high blood pressure, lower risk of stroke, decrease anxiety and depression and have lasting health effects for years to come. Any exercise is good no matter how much time you have available.
Equipment
The show shows the contestants using different types of very expensive gym equipment. Some people don’t like working out in-front of everyone at the gym. They tend to reason, I can’t afford all the different types of home exercise equipment needed to get in shape. This is not the case at all. There are many types of exercise that cost nothing at all and show tremendous results. Body weight exercises, running, walking, swimming and others are great free ways to get in shape. There are also many very inexpensive types of home gym equipment that you can find very cheap on the internet. It doesn’t need to be expensive to work.
Unrealistic Weight Loss
The Biggest Loser shows contestants loosing up to twenty pounds a week. This is totally unrealistic for 99.99 percent of America. I have talked to people who get discouraged by losing “only” 3 pounds a week after watching the show. In reality, losing three pounds in one week is fantastic. Just think about it. If you lost three pounds a week for one year you would have lost one hundred and fifty six pounds. That is amazing. Set your weight loss goals to something realistic like one to two pounds a week.
Weekly Weight Checks
This show shows contestants being weighed weekly. While I understand this is a must for the show to work, others must know its not really a good thing to weigh yourself weekly. The scale lies. It can vary by pounds depending on the time of day and water intake for that day. I tell people to weigh themselves once every three weeks at the same time of day. Right when you wake up. This helps them to see results and keep motivated.
All in all The Biggest Loser is a fantastic show. That is exactly what it is.... A show. Keep watching it like I do but take it for what it is. Know that it sets unrealistic expectations and use it as motivation. The truth is you can lose as much weight as the shows contestants but probably just not as fast. Keep at it any you will get there eventually.
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