I have a definite love/hate relationship with all of these new and not so new weight loss reality shows. I get sucked in and can't help but watch. It is my own fault for watching so I can't blame anyone else but me for subjecting myself these. However, the fact that many of these are SO unrealistic is very frustrating. I was watching the first episode of Biggest Loser on my DVR today and was totally flabbergasted when I saw that one of the contestants lost 41 lbs in the 1st week.. WHAT?!?! I know that some of the old contestants have said that a week on Biggest loser time is actually more like 14 days or so. I really wish they would just say that. I mean, 2 weeks or so to lose 41 lbs is still crazy but it is a bit more plausible than 1 week. Could your body really even lose 41 lbs in 1 week? I know a lot is water weight but still... What kind of calorie deficit are we talking to see those kinds of results? I wish they were forced to show all of the real facts like insanely low cal intakes and the insanely high # of hours of working out(plus the true time table). Also, they should NOT be allowed to dehydrate before weighing like it has been claimed they do.

I feel like these kinds of shows are totally negating the true hard work and time it takes to lose weight. If Americans see this and think that all it takes is a few butt kicking workouts to loose those kinds off lbs, they are sorely mistaken. Its like,why should I be proud of my 117 lb weight loss that has taken me 6 and a half months if they can do the same in like 2 months?? Of course I am proud and really don't let this kind of irrational thought take over my weight loss journey but that is what I feel these shows are saying to us all. They set all sorts of unrealistic expectations for weight loss. Then, when people struggle or don't see the weight coming off as quickly as they do, they begin to doubt their efforts, get frustrated and give up. It is sad really.

I would love to see a show where they do extreme weight loss, but in a truly healthy way. It CAN be done... why wont they show that?

The simple, ugly truth is that a competitive reality show about how weight loss works in the real world wouldn't have many viewers. There's no drama, no puking, no cheesiness to attract the yokels and rubes into the reality circus side-show tent. (I should add that I don't think everyone who watches competitive-reality shows is a yokel and/or rube, just that a lot of television is pitched toward a least-common-denominator demographic.)

Yeah, shows like that irk me. For one thing, no matter how rationally I try to view them, my irrational brain shrieks, "YOU haven't lost double digits in a week, YOU must not be trying hard enough!" For another, it invites anyone who's watched an episode of such a show to offer their sage advice regardless of how unsolicited it may be. For a third, the results are a lie; when a week can be as long as two weeks, why not make it three? ****, I could say I've dropped 20 pounds in a week if I'm counting back to October as a week.

A show featuring people who had to deal with time and money constraints, family dynamics inimical to weight loss, job stress, unwitting saboteurs who insist that "just one won't hurt your diet," and dependents who rely on a mommy (or daddy) who doesn't have eight hours to spend in a gym at "fat camp" and still only lost two pounds a week? Oh, perish the thought, no one would want to see that.

I don't believe most of what I see advertised on television. These shows are also advertisements; they feature product placement, personal trainers pushing fitness gear and supplements, and of course lots of drama to keep viewers hooked on the product itself--the show. It's important to remember that it's a TV show that happens to involve weight loss, not a weight loss program that happens to be televised.

Just think of it as infomercialtainment and don't take it any more seriously than you do Shake-weights or Thighmasters.

In addition to the time period issue (1 week of TV time is between 2 weeks and 4 weeks of "real" time), some contestants will also intentionally load up on salt and water prior to an early weigh-in so that they can lose it again by the next weigh-in and drop ridiculous amounts of pounds in a single "week." If you're 300+ pounds, a 30+ pound swing in water weight is entirely possible if you follow some of the same tricks bodybuilders use to prep for a contest.

It's TV, not reality.

//b. strong

The Biggest Loser has no effect on my weight loss, any more than "The Bachelor" has an impact on my dating life (why aren't we engaged after 8 weeks?!), or Charlie Sheen's affairs have on anyone else's marriage.

I am planning on watching "Heavy" It really does look great.

I've watched some of the types of show you're talking about and I can see where it might be annoying, but I try to just look at it as what it is: TV. "Reality" is not reality when it comes to TV, and their situation is totally different from those of anybody watching. I mean hey, if I was relieved of all my real world responsibilities and was able to go off somewhere where I had somebody forcing me to stick to 1200 calories per day, shoving me in a gym 6 hours per day, a trainer yelling at me to keep going and $250,000 waiting on me to win it, I would [have back when I was larger] pull those numbers too. For *my* situation, I'll quite happily take a "pitiful" (in TV land) 1lb loss any week

Because TV shows are primarily to sell commercials.

Nobody will buy commercial space on that TV Show time slot if there is nobody watching it.

And nobody will watch that TV Show time slot if it is not made to seem "exciting" somehow to attract viewers.
There's also a TV production schedule time table. They don't have TIME for people to lose it the "real" way. They have commercial space to sell!

So "reality TV" is always that. "Reality TV" in quotation marks.

A.

This is why I can't watch TBL.

When it first came out, I was interested, but it just kept getting cheesier and worse with each season. It isn't about weight loss, it really is just a competition and it doesn't motivate me at all.

southernbelle-
HOLY COW! 117 lbs. in 6.5 months?? Those are some TRULY amazing numbers right there. See, to me, you are the biggest loser. I have lost 75 lbs. in 6.5 months. However, when I saw your numbers, I didn't automatically think "I should have lost more by now". I would have in the past, but by coming here religiously, I have learned so much about my body and my individual journey and now I don't make the comparisons (well, at least now it's only for a minute or two).
Don't discount your weight loss due to unrealistic TV shows. Our society is very impatient and everyone is always looking for the quick fix. However, any of us who have been through this journey several times almost always come to the conclusion that slow and steady eventually win the race.
You are amazing to me!!