I frequently have this beef with contestants. I cannot imagine the sense of abandonment that poor baby felt. No phone calls, no webcams to say, "Hi." Just one day both parents are gone, and you have a different routine, different rules and a different life. It just seems utterly unfair to do that to a child who is not old enough to master logical thought.
I thought I was alone in this. I was thinking that it wasn't fair to the baby to have to miss out on his parents for so long during such an important time in his life -- because of what they did to their bodies. I mean, like the rest of us, they could have stayed home and lost weight the old fashioned way -- which is harder -- and been there for their son. But instead, they kind of chose an easy and quick way out -- at the expense of their son. It's not like they were deployed to Iraq or something -- where we could understand the absence -- no matter how sad. They just wanted to lose weight on a famous show.
Yikes -- I guess I hit my own hot button on this one. I am really judgmental!
I have to say I see the point of view of how could you leave your baby. I know that leaving my 8 year old would be tough on me and he can at least understand why.
BUT ...
I also understand why they are doing this. They don't want there to come a time when the leave him permanently because they die because they are so overweight.
I finally decided that I (1) never want my son to look at me and see me as overweight, and (2) wanted to make sure that he was seeing me not a picture of me because I was dead due to my weight.
They see the end as justifying the means ... right or wrong in our opinion ... it is the choice they felt that had to make to be there to see their baby grow up.
I always feel this way when contestants have children, but this time it struck me harder because it is both parents, and the baby is so small he can't possibly understand. I could never do it myself. Imagine your baby bonding at such critical age with SOMEONE ELSE! That would tear me to shreds, I could not do it! Mine are 4 and 5.5 and still couldn't do it. I love every minute here with them and I would miss so much if I was gone for a few months.
I can't wait for tonight though! A nice 2 hour workout is going to feel so wonderful
well, I have to agree with what Kelly said. I think leaving the child for a couple of months to get their lives back is a much better alternative than dying and leaving him/her forever. It may seem like some famous show where you just go to lose weight, but to these people maybe they needed the extreme conditions to actually do it, if they could do it at home (which they all have tried and failed) I'm sure they would have. Maybe this show is their own personal form of GB surgury.
And who knows what environment he was left to, it could be grandparents or other family that has already been a huge influence in the baby's life and he is given constant stimulation and reminders of the parents. Kids are resilient I'd be willing to bet he'll be just fine if not better off to have healthy parents come back. If I could do it I would, it would be the hardest thing I'd ever done, I'd miss my kids so much it would hurt and I know they would miss me, but they'd get back a better, healthier mother. It could be a life or death decision. Just my O!
Nope, I couldn't do it either. It might be better if I lived in Ca and could visualize the kids being in the next town over or under 100 miles away - weather would be the same, I could get their fast in an emergency, etc. Being across the whole country and not even in the same time zone? Nope, no way, and mine are pretty old. Though some would argue it's actually harder to leave when they are older & more aware of your absence.
Oh, the brown team in the Hall of Shame....it was just heartbreaking. Two ice cream sodas a day? My kids wouldn't leave me alone long enough to eat that!
dangit, dangit, dangit! Why do I always stinkin' cry my eyes out when this show is on!?!? UGH! The hall of shame, hearing the brown team "we're killing ourselves".... I bawled!!! I know that feeling. My sentaments exactly!!! And then on the phone calls home as well....
Well, I didn't get to watch the show last week, so this is my first week watching it.
My favorite couple so far is the blue team (the strangers). She is already gorgeous, I can't even imagine her at a "healthy" weight.
Quick thoughts - it is nice to see these people only losing 1-2 pounds in a week - even though I know it must hurt them after working so hard - because that is what it is like in the real world!
Also - I CAN'T STAND the product placement! I can't believe they had the eliminated couple (Mallory and Curtis) doing a little ad for Subway in the middle of their story - how annoying!
Ugh!!! Don't know how it was elsewhere but they kept interrupting the show with the NH primary results!!! That & the zillion commercials (why didn't they cut away during them???) I got to see most of the show.
Feel bad for Neill's wife (white team). She tries so hard & he does not. Wonder if he's like that at home? They're only newlyweds but that will cause some tension if he's a slacker at home too.
Gotta love Bette Sue! What a character. My favorite team right now is the orange (mom & son) team. They're doing really well too.
My take on the white team - from a developmental perspective their child is at the critical age for the formation of parental attachment. According to most psychological developmental models, separation from either, let alone both parents during the age of about 13 months to 2 1/2 years can have long term psychological consequences. I'm sure they are thinking that it is a better alternative than staying home and staying fat, but it is not their only alternative. If we all believe that the only way we can lose weight is to be on the TBL television show we might as well shut this site off, right now. They do have an alternative - stay home and lose weight at home, keeping their family intact, while doing so.
I was rather annoyed by the supposed "shocker" Jillian predicted. Um, what shocker? Considering the outrageously large weight losses the first week, what were we supposed to see this week? More huge losses? Did anyone bring a chainsaw along to trim the extra pounds? And Jillian's response to it, that it was a shock to her, and that it made her question everything she thought she knew, or some garbage like that. You mean, in her entire education and career as a personal trainer (which we assume started before the television show), she's never heard of a person gaining a pound in the course of a week despite doing everything right? What planet has she been on?
I also thought asking Mallory if she "regretted" the 210 calories she ate during the challenge? I'm sorry, but 2 oz of M&Ms did not put on that pound. Even Jillian freaking on Paul, for budgeting the challenge into his daily calories was rather crazy. She said that he didn't know what effect the foods would have on water retention - if they were getting all this education they were supposed to, he should have. He should have known to avoid the high-sodium foods (maybe the drumsticks). It made me wonder if she was really ragging on him for eating at all the day before a weigh-in.
The audience manipulation annoys me. It makes me wonder if this was one of the "short" weeks, and how short was it? 5 days? 2?
The NH primary thing was happening here and I was like no they didn't...LOL. The mini subway commercial was ridiculous! Okay with the cutaways for the primaries did I miss the prize? Oh yeah, the brown team was doing pretty good at home.
I think the eliminated team had a wake up call in the hall of shame. I think it even woke me up a bit. I've never really dieted for any more than a day or two at a time. I did WW for about 8 weeks this fall but even then I wasn't counting nearly as well as I should have. That hall of shame made me want to count for a week and figure out the yearly totals. I might have to try.
That & the zillion commercials (why didn't they cut away during them???) I got to see most of the show.
