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!

Originally Posted by sweetnlow28:
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 ;)

This is a new show that comes on ABC it wasn't quick, they worked with the man for an entire year.
I agree with you about the biggest loser. They are there for a matter of weeks, they work out 9 hours a day and eat subway (lol).Uh, not thanks. That's just not very realistic to me.

I understand that it's frustrating that they are given everything, but it more annoys me the attitude that they take, how canned and how they find someone to feel sorry for. I'm not saying it's great they get someone to get their life back, but it annoys me that the only reason these shows are on the air is because it makes them money. That's what I really hate about it. Everything on these shows works - people watch it and it brings in the bucks. That's why I wont watch these shows. Not that there's anything wrong with the people, I just won't support the overall idea of a tv show.

Originally Posted by gagalu:
i'm a broke college kid and i can do it :}

you don't need to buy your own personal equipment. ****, you don't even need a gym membership. go outside and walk! move around some. get an exercise dvd! they're out there for $7-$10. don't make excuses. he had better access to things, but his case is a rare one and people who don't have that kind of plan are still capable of getting fit.

you don't need a personal fitness trainer. in fact, i'd advise against it until you're at a normal weight because fitness trainers want to focus on building muscle which is highly difficult to do in a calorie deficit while losing weight. a gym membership is not that bad. at a major gym, if they offer you $50 a month for a full year, i guarantee that you'll be able to talk them down to something more manageable. i recently got a gym membership and talked my guy down to $30 a month, because above all else, they want people to join their gym. negotiate. it will work.

you're over thinking this and are making it sound a lot harder than it has to be. you can feasibly lose weight by just reducing your caloric intake. you don't need a gym, although it does make the journey a little easier. and if you're worried about money, eating less is a sure way to save some. ;)

Awesome post! I totally agree and I LOOOOVVVVVEEEEE your Lady Gaga post! I have lost 54 lbs. on Medifast. The packaged foods help, but the motivation, inspiration, ability to stay on track, I must cultivate and maintain on my own. Posts like yours encourage me even more to continue to reach for a life without limitations. Thanx -- you ROCk!!! :carrot:

Sidanne

http://www.tsflsupportinmotion.com/T...6107374111.gif

Lady Gaga QUOTE: Love it!!!
 

Originally Posted by sidanne42:
Awesome post! I totally agree and I LOOOOVVVVVEEEEE your Lady Gaga post! I have lost 54 lbs. on Medifast. The packaged foods help, but the motivation, inspiration, ability to stay on track, I must cultivate and maintain on my own. Posts like yours encourage me even more to continue to reach for a life without limitations. Thanx -- you ROCk!!! :carrot:

Sidanne

http://www.tsflsupportinmotion.com/T...6107374111.gif

Oops! I meant to say I love your Lady Gaga QUOTE! :)

Sidanne :dizzy: