I haven't seen every weight loss show but the ones I don't like are the one's like Biggest Loser when they're ENTIRE LIFE is about losing weight.
This is why not all biggest loser contestants have kept their weight off dispite the massive resources they had.
I had a gym membership for 8 years and went twice. I was too ashamed to cancel so I just kept paying the monthly fees. Fortuantely they went out of business and they monthly shame fee ended.
Like a lot of stuff on TV, the people on these shows are impossible to relate to, and I think that's what's most frustration. On the one hand, they're showing how these people can lose weight through diet, exercise and a whole lot of hard work, and they're giving viewers some important information on health. They are also showing the struggles people experience while losing weight, and not just the magical results and before and after pictures.
But, even though we can admire the hard work and results a lot of contestants achieve, the circumstances are completely different to most of ours. Like JohnP said, most of us don't have all-day, everyday to devote to weight loss for months (or years!). We are also not living with tons of other people experiencing the same thing. Weight loss is something we are trying to tackle on top of work, school, taking care of children, or whatever else is on your plate at the moment, and it's something we are often doing alone.
Should we expect to see the same results in the same amount of time? Probably not. Can we still do it? Absolutely - but I know you already know that. I think we can take away a few important things from these shows, but not compare ourselves too much to them.
Jillian Michaels DVD's doesn't cost 15 000 dollars a year. You can borrow them for free at the library.
Walking is free, no need for a treadmill.
You don't need expensive books to gain knowledge of healthy eating. Everything is google able online.
And this last part cannot be emphasized enough:Motivation has to come from within. Don't rely on other people to inspire you. Oprah has all the things you mentioned you 'needed' to lose weight. However, she has struggled her whole life with weight.
Start looking for possibilities instead of obstacles.
Last edited by IsabellaOlivia; 06-19-2011 at 07:30 PM.
I use bodyrock exercises... Zuzana has amazing body weight, high intensity exercises....
I also walk/jog my neighborhood and lift weight.
HTH!
Just an aside - I've seen her site, how do you like her exercise program? I'm a bit intimidated since I'm quite out of shape and her workouts seem short but incredibly demanding
I can't do her whole routine. I don't have too much to lose (45 pounds) but its a slow process because all my body fat is in my midsection/thighs/butt.
I take things like burpess, push-ups, high knees, mountain climbers, and incorporate other things she has and just do as many as i can.
For instance: I'll do each exercise for 20 seconds and rest for 10, from what I understand this method is called tabata, and if you want to sweat do 4 exercises 2 times and they will get your heart pumping! I only do these exercises on the days I am lifting (3 days per week) The rest of the time is swimming or walk/jog. But her body is my ultimate goal. I want to be ripped, lean and hawt! Good Luck!
I agree that "Moderate, Sensible Long-Term Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" would be a more realistic show, but as others mentioned, there would be less of a market for it. Weight-loss shows draw audiences in direct proportion to how "extreme" they become. The show with the biggest people, the quickest weight loss, the most vomit and the cruelest trainers wins the ratings.
It's deplorable, but true.
So why watch those shows if they don't present a true picture of what long-term weight loss really entails? It sounds like watching them makes you feel frustrated and desperate for a quick weight-loss fix as much as it makes you feel inspired, so give 'em up. There are way better things to do for an hour each day than watch reality television that isn't even real.
I read these forums regularly and one thing I've noticed about your posts, PHG, is this sense of "it MUST come off now!" Is there a deadline coming up in your life that makes you feel the need to lose quickly? I could be wrong, but it seems to be such a common thread in your more frustrated posts that I noticed it. Is it possible that you could lose comfortably and cheaply, but slowly instead of wishing for the most expensive options or the most extreme results?
There are a lot--I mean a lot--of people on these forums who have collectively lost literal tons of weight without spending a dime on gym memberships or special food programs (not that there's anything wrong with Medifast or Jenny Craig or other prepared-meal plans, but they are costly). If you don't need to rush, why look for the quick fix or feel annoyed that people on TV lose more quickly?
I'd bet that most of us see these shows and think, "Yeah, I could lose that quickly too if I had all my meals cooked for me, took a sabbatical from my job, and had personal trainers getting on my *** constantly." But even that isn't true. Want proof? Look at other rich famous people who surely had access to these things and still carry extra weight. They have those advantages and they still find it very tough, maybe even impossible.
I don't mean to say that it truly is impossible for them or for you, of course. There are too many success stories here to believe that a healthier body isn't possible for all of us. But it doesn't have to be fast and it doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, I'm finding for the first time in my life that slow and cheap works just fine--better, really, as this way I learn to adjust to being a slimmer, more active person instead of a "fat chick in a thin chick's body."
PHG, I second what Nola Celeste has said. I've noticed the same things about your posts. You put a lot of pressure on yourself.
In direct response to your post, I think many have already pointed out the obvious: It's EXTREME Makeover, so to expect anything else is nuts. (I don't watch these shows myself.)
I make foods I love and eat a lot less of them, in healthier versions. No special foods here. I purchased a used BowFlex machine on craigslist and use it for resistance training 3 times a week. Total cost: $90. I use my own body weight for other resistance exercises. For cardio, I walk or bike. Cost: Zero.
To be honest, I personally think THE MOST important component of weight loss is ACCEPTING WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU. For some inspiration, I suggest reading some of kaplods' posts. She has compellingly expressed in many of her posts coming to terms with losing her weight slowly. But here's the thing: She's successful! She's not competing, she's doing it all on a budget, and she's making it happen!
It's the tortoise and the hare. Who wins in the end? Really, does it matter how fast you lose? Or does it matter that you lose and keep it off? I think the practice of learning how to eat in a whole new way and continue that for a lifetime is far more important than getting the weight off fast.
Don't let others pressure you into unreasonable goals. Accept what works best for YOU.
Put your head in the right place and your body will follow. And yeah, I know... it's hard.
TV shows, are TV shows, and they keep their slot if the viewing, and advertising dollars say it is working.
Some of then I watch, some I don't. With my Dish package, so far, I haven't found the extreme makeover show.
It's just a TV show!
The real REALITY is if you want to lose, you have to eat a bit less, and move more. It will work.
If you have an SO, who give you crap, well, you need to decide if the relationship is worth it or not.
For myself, I am 51 years old, I have a set of twin boys, that I carried to full term. ( both a bit over 6# each) I weighed 135 when I got pregnant and 195 when I delivered. That may no seem like much, but a 60 pound gain in 9 months is a lot. I have stretch marks and saggy girls like you would not believe. 31 years later, I still have the same hubby. We won't even start on his injuries, and amputations,and A-fib and heart surgery and such.
His injuries and health issues, while it's tough, have not stopped, although now and then stalled, my efforts towards a better lifestyle and a healthier body.
Losing weight and regaining your body through a good nutrition and exercise program, is a long haul and a long process, but it is worth it.
I do get what the point you are making about the show, but, that is not the reality for most of us.
For most of us, the reality is, to find a good nutritional/calorie/exercise/body image/emotional balance, we can live with and support throughout whatever creative means we can come up with.
Yeah, that's true. But what they are doing is OVERKILL. It's like the biggest loser, they do NOTHING else but exercise, they don't work, they don't have commitments, they don't have homework assignments!
I lost pretty much my first 50 pounds by JUST walking and eating right, and less. That's all. I've just joined a gym to get rid of the like 20 so pounds because it takes a bit more.
And as someone else said you pay for a membership and they have all the class, all the equiptment from 6am-9pm at night! Pretty good deal I think. Usually they also offer sign-up specials, or personal training deals.
I'm with FitnessFirst ( I know a lot of peope bash on them!) But yeah, here it was a $70 sign up, and $30 a fortnight. I never have to pay that $70 again. I go to AT LEAST 20 classes a fornight, that's max$1.50 per 1hr class. That's pretty cheap to me!
Television shows reflect our cultural beliefs and stereotypes (which is why they're so watchable, people believe the hype), and my problem with weight loss shows is the same problem I have with our cultural beliefs and stereotypes regarding weight loss. Two, especially are my pet peeves
#1. If you want it badly enough, you can acheive anything (weight loss specifically).
#2. To succeed, you need all the advantages that money can buy (regarding weight loss that means - no job, lots of money, and all the support money can buy).
They're mutually exclusive (both can't be true at the same time), and yet we sort of believe them both (sometimes at the same time, or at least a constant wavering between the two).
The truth lies somewhere in between, but we almost never hear or see stories from the middle. So we sometimes think that unless we have all the advantages, we can't make it. Or we think that if a person (even sometimes ourself) is having difficulty, it must be because the person is somehow subconsciously "not ready" and sabotaging him or her self. We either blame ourselves (but with no idea how to change) or we excuse ourselves (believing change is impossible without resources we don't have).
Entertainment media is not going to provide realistic "in the middle" stories, but 3FC does. Many of us are "middle of the road" success stories. The success isn't as dramatic on the middle road, and that is a disadvantage, because another weight loss myth/belief we have to deal with is that slow weight loss doesn't really count for much, in fact - it's practically seen as failure.
When I was a Weight Watcher's member, and would have a no-loss week (no gain, but not a loss), the weight recorder would make that "sympathy face" and would console me and tell me not to get discouraged.
Well, that's supportive isn't it? I used to think so. Now I don't. Especially since I would often get the sympathy face and consolation not just for no-loss weeks, but for small-loss weeks as well. The weight recorder and I should have been jumping for joy at both the no-gain and the small loss weeks.
I didn't fully realize that until I complained to my doctor about losing only a couple pounds a month, that "I should be losing at least 2 lbs a week like normal people," and my doc reminded me that "normal people" lose absolutely nothing, because they give up and gain it back - that even my 1-2 lbs a month, was beating the odds, and the longer I kept it up, the further ahead of normal it put me. I've lost 90 lbs. That's not normal, that's exceptional, and yet I've lost every one of those 90 lbs at a "failing" pace. At a pace, no one - including myself would have defined as success. That was my (and our culture's) problem. If I, my parents, and our society had seen 1 lb a month as success when I first started dieting I would never have given up. I would have no reason to (I always gave up because I felt like I was failing, when sadly I was just succeeding more slowly than everyone, including myself was telling me I had to).
We don't accept the middle ground very easily when it comes to weight loss. Small obstacles seem insurmountable, because we want rapid and impressive results. And on the other hand, we also label large obstacles as "just excuses" when we want to feel horrible and guilty for failing.
Finding the middle ground - accepting responsibility and finding ways around obstacles without hating ourselves and jumping off plan to punish and reward ourselves at the same time (it's those warring belief systems again - wanting to tell ourselves that it's not really our fault and we deserve the comfort food brings, while also seeing ourselves as weak, unworthy and unable to succeed. Where the food becomes as much punishment as reward).
I have a graduate degree in psychology and it still took me 15 years beyond graduate school to realize that I was following a lemmings path. I was attempting weight loss the way almost everyone does (in a way that leads to failure far, far, far more often than success). I knew the common path wasn't an effective one, but I didn't know how to break the mold. I kept throwing myself harder and harder at the same brick wall, and wondering why I only became more and more wounded and less and less able to make an impression on the wall.
I had to learn to walk around the wall rather than trying to climb it or burst through it with sheer determination.
Sadly, I don't think slower, more comfortable weight loss is going to catch on any time soon. Even guilt-free weight loss isn't very popular. We're taught that we're supposed to hate ourselves for being larger than we'd like to be, for eating when we "shouldn't" or eating something we "shouldn't!"
We're taught to make weight loss more stressful than it has to be (and then we're taught to feel guilty for feeling stressed - because now we know that stress hormones and sleep deprivation can actually cause weight gain).
We've created a no-win situation with weight loss, and the only way to win is to learn to do it differently than we've been taught. How we end up being different can vary, but there is no way to "follow the crowd" and succeed - at least not until we get a lot more folks succeeding so we can follow.
3FC and other weight loss support systems break the mold every day, because we're also taught that needing help is a weakness. We're supposed to be able to do it on our own, and weight loss is a taboo subject that we're not supposed to discuss in polite company - we're not even supposed to admit that we notice when someone is fat - to the point that when a nearly-400 lb person refers to being fat, she's told "you're not fat," (many of you've heard my tell this story. When a coworker told me this I practically peed my pants laughing - and in doing so, I deeply offended her. I was in the wrong for breaking the social taboo of admitting to fatness and not pretending that I wasn't fat).
How can we address a problem, if we're not even allowed to talk about it without offending someone?
Places like 3FC are a haven (and in-person groups like WW and TOPS and First Place, and other weight loss groups too). Because if you're going to break society's mold, it helps to have other rule-breakers at our backs.
As every teenager knows, it's hard to be a nonconformist, without having a counterculture to belong to. Breaking the rules and rewriting them all by yourself, just isn't any fun.
I can once again speak only for myself.
Since I started my health journey which includes weightloss I saved 2500 euro just from living healthy. (9 months ago)
Yes, I actually "made" money passively. And a lot of it.
It is cheaper to buy salads and fruit on the market than 2300 calories worth of junk in take-out shops and the super-market freezer.
It is cheaper and more effective to train alone when you know how. You do not need to pay anything to learn how to do correct sit-ups and how to walk in a brisk pace in the correct body position. It is also easy to learn how to hold your weights during light aerobics. It is all on the net. Search and cross reference.
If you don't have a serious disability, like missing legs, or a terrible condition like crohns syndrome you CAN lose weight. It is the simple truth.
The difference is if you will let yourself. Because it will be tiring, it will be uncomfortable and it will be hard. But those things can also be pleasurable despite what we think.
You might lose friends, you might lose traditions, you might even lose your husband, but that doesn't mean that you Can't if you're willing.
The real question is what are you willing to give up forever or put in line.
If it is not enough you should make peace with being fat and have those things you can't part with.
Life is give and take. There is simply no way to eat 3000 cal worth of junk food, sit all day and be slim. It's simple.
I watched the Biggest Loser for one season but I didn't care for it. I do find more down to earth weight loss shows to be inspiring but these "get skinny quick" to win money shows just make me angry because they give the message that the average person needs to work out for half of the day to lose weight. They barely even talk about food choices which is so much more important than exercise! I do enjoy some of the lower budget shows like X-Weighted and last 10 pounds boot camp. I know they are not 100% reality but they are close enough to keep me on track and reminded of my goals
I think it's easy to focus on what we don't have. I used to look at Jennifer Hudson on the WW commercials and think of course she lost all that weight I'm sure she has a trainer and a chef. But what right do I have to have that attitude towards her hard work no matter how she achieved it.
Bottom line, if you want it bad enough you can do it!
I have a gym membership (20 a month) and I never use it! I work out at home with DVD's, some DVD's I have use chairs for toning exercises. I'm going to start running.
I also have a treadmill that's in the garage collecting dust! And I didn't pay $1500 for it. I got it off of Craigslist for $70 and it works great. Bottom line, I wish I had free meals and trainer and house and it would be easier I'm sure! But since we don't we still have to make it.
Look around at garage sales or on craigslist. I've seen some bikes for as low as $20.
Good luck in your weightloss endeavors!
But her body is my ultimate goal. I want to be ripped, lean and hawt! Good Luck!
