An In- Depth Review of Television’s Most Popular Reality Show. Tom Venuto. The Biggest Loser - - a reality show which is essentially a race to see who can lose weight the fastest - is one of the most popular reality shows in Television history. I've known about The Biggest Loser since it debuted in 2. I think of the program and of course, . So I sat through the entire two- hour 8th season premiere on September 1. Despite its worldwide popularity, The Biggest Loser is controversial and responses to the show are highly polarized. Most viewers seem to be either die- hard loyal fans who defend the show tooth and nail or critics who loathe the program to the point of disgust or outrage. Most fitness professionals and personal trainers dislike the show, mainly due to what they say is inappropriate training program design and extreme (teetering on dangerous) overtraining. The mixed reviews for the show aren't surprising because The Biggest Loser clearly has pros and cons. Having finally watched a full episode, it reinforced my previous belief that the cons outweigh the pros. But in any complete and objective review, it's only fair to show both sides, so here they are: Pros. The Power of Accountability. Accountability is one of the most powerful motivational forces. The producers of The Biggest Loser have set up the conditions and environment with so much accountability, it's impossible for contestants not to lose weight. This program uses all four levels of accountability which I have discussed in previous blogs: (1) accountability to self, (2) accountability to a partner, (3) accountability to a group, and (4) accountability to the public. The Spirit of Competition. The most impressive and dramatic body, health and fitness transformations I've ever seen have come as a result of competition.
Bariatric Surgery: Does The. The Biggest Loser is a long. Eat Less Move More’s Bigger Badass Brother – Fasting 22. The Biggest Loser: Challenge is a video game for Wii released on November 4, 2010 in North America and November 12, 2010 in Europe. Weight loss camp; Downsize Me! Operation Transformation; References This article. You can count me as one of them. I've competed in natural bodybuilding more than two dozen times. Why do I still do it after all these years? Because competition is motivating and competition brings out the best performances. I'm in shape all year round, but I've always hit my best shape - - PEAK condition - for competition. An organized event with rewards gives people a goal and helps them get moving and give it their best. Although there are downsides to the way the Biggest Loser competition is judged, a healthy competition is a good thing in my book. The drive of emotions. The producers of The Biggest Loser have done a meticulous job with contestant selection by finding individuals with touching life stories (as contrived as they may be, to encourage made- for TV drama ranging from romance to backstabbing). It's Television, so they need storylines and human interest and there's no shortage of that here. I'm sure many viewers have to break out the Kleenex - - it's a real tear jerker that pulls at the heart strings. If this program stirs up some emotions in viewers that stimulate them to get up off the couch and start a health and fitness program, then that's a good thing. People are not inspired to action with logic, they are driven to action with emotion and only later justify their decisions and actions with logic. Hope and inspiration. Having inspirational role models moves people from . However, as a model to simply provide inspiration, I see the value. With extreme role models this is all the more true. When a 6. 5 year old runs an ultramarathon, it makes a 2. Now I see it's not hopeless. That's television for you. But to think that spectacular results can be achieved without incredibly hard work is na. For above average results, it takes an above average effort. For mind blowing results, it takes a mind blowing effort. With effort and hard work, amazing transformations can happen. Cons. The biggest loser is judged on weight loss, not body composition. There is no doubt that contestants are losing huge amounts of fat - - far above the average, which is usually 1- 2 pounds per week. Even obese individuals rarely lose more than 3 pounds of pure fat per week consistently in a real world situation. The results on the show - - often 1. What many fans seem to ignore is that weight loss is not the same as fat loss. Body weight includes muscle, bones, internal organs, water, glycogen and don't forget the contents of the digestive tract. The weight loss on The Biggest Loser is deceiving. Much of the loss is water. The solution would be simple: judge the competition on body composition, not body weight. Body fat testing is admittedly prone to error, but with the big budget of this show, there's no reason they couldn't use gold standard testing methods such as hydrostatic weighing or DEXA scans. They used a Bod Pod in the last episode, but the contest wasn't judged on the results of those tests (it was more like, . Think about that one for a while. Rapid weight loss competition encourages physically dangerous practices The network, the trainers and other supporters of the show say they do not promote or endorse drugs or any unhealthy methods of weight loss. Official statements notwithstanding, the inherent nature of the show promotes dangerous behavior. Listen to what Biggest Loser season one winner Ryan Benson had to say on his myspace blog: ! 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 2. 4 hours I probably dropped 1. By the time of the final weigh- in I was peeing blood. Was this healthy? 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 3. Not from eating, just from getting my system back to normal (mostly re- hydrating myself). So in five days I was back up to 2. The greater the rewards and monetary incentives, the greater the willingness to cheat. One thing that is clear is that even non- drug manipulation of water and electrolyte balance is incredibly dangerous. Would you trade $2. The media often sensationalizes anabolic steroids as a big problem in sports and performance enhancement. What's been underplayed is another drug used by athletes to shed water and make weight classes - - diuretics. It's not the steroids, but the diuretics, combined with extreme dieting, which have resulted in more confirmed deaths, coronary events, kidney problems and emergency room visits. Benson wasn't alone. Kai Hibbard (season 3) answered a question about this on her my space blog: Q: I'm curious on just how much did you all dehydrate yourselves before the BIG WEIGH IN? A: I dehydrated off 1. BIG weigh in. I stopped eating solid food after eating only protein and asparagus (a diuretic) then I had two colonics and spent the night before the weigh in and out of a sauna. After my body had a chance to stabilize I spent all last year hovering between 1. I fight everyday to find some stability. It was NOT a go at your own pace type of thing, it was a RACE with a prize for the winner. One of them collapsed just short of the finish line, at first looking dehydrated and fatigued and then progressing into looking seriously ill, incoherent and unconscious. She was flown by medivac chopper to the hospital. The hospitalization was weaved into the drama of the episode, but alarmingly trivialized. It was not the first time. Contestants from previous seasons have also been admitted to the hospital and one suffered a stress fracture. Later during the workout, contestants were shown climbing a Jacob's ladder, pushing sleds, doing intense cardio and calisthenics, lifting weights and performing plyometrics. These did not look like beginner- level workouts and the form on some of the exercises was sloppy enough to make a professional strength and conditioning coach cringe. Before the show, the contestants took a stress test to screen out people who might be at risk for a heart attack, and no doubt, they all signed airtight liability releases. There was also a disclaimer on the screen for the viewing audience. But aside from that, there seemed to be a disturbing absence of proper risk warnings in light of the physical tasks they were asked to perform. There was also no mention that 4- 6 hours of training per day for weight loss is gross overtraining, almost certain to bring overuse injuries, and something that no one at home should EVER try to emulate, even if they could. Contestants have personal trainers, nutritionists, group support, accountability, a national audience, and the biggest carrot imaginable - - a prize of $2. The participants move out of their homes and onto The Biggest Loser . There are no kids to worry about, no work, no social obligations, no chores, nothing - - just working out and dieting. This is a totally artificial and controlled environment with no relevance to the average person. In the real world, people who work out 4- 6 hours a day for weight loss are not called inspirational and dedicated, they are called obsessive- compulsive or exercise anorexics. Shouldn't contestants (and viewers) be taught to exercise in a way that fits into a normal person's daily life, between work, family and social obligations? Achieving health and fitness as part of total life balance is probably one of the biggest missing pieces in the obesity crisis, yet you won't find solutions for that challenge on The Biggest Loser. Rough Cut Clip - Weigh In Distortion from Steve Yu on Vimeo. That's why I was shocked by her yelling profanities in the face of the contestants. She was dropping F- bomb after F- bomb.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |