The first episode in this latest reality show aired last night. The Biggest Loser is about 12 obese people that compete for $250,000, and the one that loses the most weight wins. They live together, exercise and eat together. They are divided into two groups, and work as a group effort. The group that loses the least amount of weight each week has to cast out a member.
The first thing I noticed was that they played on the typical stereotype of the obese eater as a glutton. They tempted the group with piles of pancakes and sausages. They showed tables of food that the individuals had eaten before and it contained stacks of doughnuts, platters of pasta and fried foods, large cakes, etc.
They assigned a personal trainer to each group, and the show focused on the grueling exercise routines that looked practically impossible for an overweight person to accomplish. I was in shock watching these out of shape, very obese and unhealthy people being forced to pull cars, do a few hours of cardio a day, and exercise until they puked. Remember, they were beginners! I kept waiting for the EMS to arrive.
The entire program was more visual, they never included weight loss tips, explained healthy heating choices, touched on emotional eating, or discuss health at all. One woman was crying because she didn't know what she was supposed to be eating. She had counted her calories and had consumed less than 600 calories that day and said that couldn't be enough. I'm assuming they still fed her more food that day, but they should have explained it to the viewers.
At the end of the show, they had the weigh-in. The person that lost the least had lost 5 pounds in the week. She weighed 175 to start with, so in the REAL world, that was an outstanding loss! Others weighed well over 200lbs, at least one weighed over 300, and the largest weighed over 400 lbs. The biggest loser lost 22 lbs in one week, many of the others lost between 10 and 15 lbs. The narrator never mentioned that this was mostly water weight, so the public was left with an unrealistic expectation of weight loss. No one said that the safe rate of weight loss is 1 to 2 lbs per weight. No one said that an initial quick weight loss is almost always regained. It was like Las Vegas, where big flashing numbers were most impressive.
By the end of the program, I was left with the impression that you can lose huge chunks of weight in a week. All you have to do is consume less than 600 calories per day, exercise all day long, until you vomit, and you don't need nutritional guidance. I think they will be posting the diet plans and routines on their site in the future, so I hope they will be more complete. Most people just see what was on the tv show, and since they chose to leave out details and advice, then we were left with a very unhealthy message.
I didn't know what to expect from the show, because the commercials didn't explain the details. I never expected to be so mortified.
Did anyone else see it? What was your opinion?