Unrealistic goals on TV shows...
 

I just watched the new Extreme Makeover show: Weight loss addition. I have very mixed feelings about it. I think it is great to show these transformations to try to inspire change in others. However, when the girl on tonight's show missed her goal of 135 lbs lost in 6 months by just 5 lbs, the host of the show seemed really disappointed. That is CRAZY to me. This girl has lost 130 lbs in 6 months (or at least thats what they said) and she is standing there crying because she didn't meet the crazy unrealistic goal they had set for her. That is pretty disappointing. What are y'all's thoughts on the show?

Didn't see the show but OMG 130lbs in 6 months?!!?? I guess she had a bit more to lose and it goes a bit faster at first but what the ****?! What she just didn't eat or what diet did she follow? Poor thing..

Never seen it. But I think show called "Extreme Makeover" is in it for the ratings, and the drama not the people themselves. So I'm not surprised to hear of this. :(

I agree that the goal of 135 in 6 mos is really a lot -- 3/4 lbs a DAY?! That's kinda harsh to the body. Sad to have such a set up. Then the girl -- 130/135 is 96% achieved. Exactly how is that done off camera? Sounds... kinda scary frankly.

I hope she recovers from it all ok.

A.

I don't watch shows like that, not even The Biggest Loser. I feel like they are all unrealistic. Even on BL people have specialists & trainers etc helping them... your normal everyday joe (such as me & you) - we don't get that. And we can't contribute 6 hours a day to working out, etc. So those kinds of shows don't do anything positive for me/my outlook, so I refuse to contribute any of my time to them (when I could be using that time working out instead of sitting on my butt watching TV, LOL!!!) :D

I have to admit, that when I saw the clips, I was hoping the show would be motivating and I was interested in seeing it (even though I had my doubts).

I'm very glad I missed it. I find it so incredibly sad that good sense is thrown out the window where weight loss is involved. Exploitive show or not, it's absolutely horrific.

Although I have to admit, even the Extreme Makeover Home Edition has always bugged me. So often they create homes that are unmaintainable on the salaries of the homeowner. The people can't afford to fix their home, so EM comes in and creates a mansion for them - then the utilities and taxes are so high that the family has to sell the mansion they've fallen in love with in order to afford a home they can actually live in. Of course the viewing audience never sees that, so who cares?

130 in 6 months?! I'm almost afraid to hope for 120 in a year!

How sad that they made her feel bad about that 5 pounds. :(

What a real trainer would do would be to celebrate the progress and to make strategies to continue. NO ONE should be upset about a # on the scale if they are following the plan. We aren't machines/robots. We can't know what one person can lose versus another and being within 5 lbs???? HELLO???

To me that doesn't even make good television (and I too don't watch such shows). How many people did that just turn off the show??? Because ANYONE can see what she accomplished should be celebrated - not chastised!

I watched it last night. It was really heavy on the drama and crying, but there was nothing else on so I sort of zoned out and watched it. My only real problem with this and other similar shows is that they show these people focused only on weight loss. That's their job for 3, 6, 12 months. Nothing else. They also exercise 4 to 8 hours a day. What are they going to deal in the real world?

Also, I was surprised that at one of the check-ins she had only lost 3 pounds. This is when she mentioned the 4+ hour a day workouts. So either there's a major medical problem or she'd eating way too much.

I'm glad she did lose 130 #s by the end and hope she continues on her road to weight loss.

I saw the show for the first time. I have to say that trainer was a jerk. he appeared quite angry and dissappointed that she had not lost that additional 5 pounds. She came back again after several months and has now lost 161 pounds.However she only got down to 208 and not the 199 that HE thought she should have lost.Sheesh ! She deserves a huge amount of credit but I just don't think these extreme weight loss measures are the best way to lose.

Actually by the end she had lost alot more than 130. A friend watched it and was texting me...I think she went from 369 to 208. Is that right?

I for one found the show inspiring. While I don't plan on losing 161lbs in a year, that amount of weight loss is really no different than Heavy or Biggest Loser.

I went to bed focused on losing weight, and working harder to do so. I woke up inspired to move more, and try harder. I don't expect or anticipate the sort of weight loss that Rachel had, but I know I can do better than what I am doing now.

And while yes, Chris the trainer seemed a little disappointed that she didn't meet the goal and lost 50/55lbs in phase 2 (which was 3 months long), she still got the "reward" of going bungee jumping.

In total she lost 161lbs in a year. That averages out to 13.4lbs per month.

She lost a total of 161 pounds, Remarkable.

The TV show I'm going to watch (if they ever, ever produce it -- or if someone ever comes up with it to begin with) is called "My New Thin Life." It picks up after these extreme televised weight-loss regimens are over, when the person who's lost over 100 pounds walks away from the cameras, the ranch, the dieticians, the doctors, the trainers, and back to her job & family & friends. And it features episode like her having to deal with a picnic, or a cookie exchange, or doughnut day at the office, or a road trip where the family only wants to stop at McDonald's. And her having to get up at 5 AM & go to the gym when it's raining or snowing or bitter cold or so muggy even her eyelids are sweating, and everyone else is sleeping in or lazing over the Sunday paper & eating a Grand Slam breakfast with puddles of maple syrup. That's all it is, from week to week. Just plain old day in & day out life.

Yeah, that'll really draw the advertisers and the ratings numbers.

She lost 161 pounds in a year. Biggest Loser seasons are taped over a courser of 6 months aren't they? The trainer was disappointed FOR HER because he knew she really wanted to have the skin removal surgery and was afraid she wouldn't be able to. I was disappointed that she only lost 3 pounds at that 3 month weigh in, she clearly wasn't doing what she should have to progress, even with the long workouts. Imagine what she must have been eating to only lose 3 pounds after working out 4 hours a day??? I know her family was sabatoging her efforts food wise, she admitted that much. But she had an amazing opportunity that she ASKED for and I feel like maybe she should have tried a little harder, I would have moved out if that's what it would take for my success. But still, she lost a lot of weight in a fairly short amount of time.

Maybe what this show lacks that BL doesn't is trying to find the emotional/internal reasons why we fail when we want so badly to lose weight. I didn't see any real psychological discussions about how she got there and how to keep from getting back to 369 again on the show last night.

I often wonder, after people lose such significant amounts of weight in a short time,how their gall bladders hold out. I have heard ( not sure how true it is), but when people lose a lot of weight quickly they tend to have issues with gall stones etc. and have to have them removed.
It would be interesting to see if that is really true.