Like the majority of Americans, I've watched the Biggest Loser--absolutely awe-struck at the weight loss the contestants experience. But, even though it is a reality show, the reality is that the Biggest Loser is not reality. As this story shows, the weight loss many contestants experience is actually illusory:
Erik Chopin, who lost 214 pounds on the show and won, now has gained back 184 pounds. He's within 30 pounds of the weight he was at when he started the show back in 2006. In four years he's pretty much back where he started.
Anyone could lose weight if we had the time to exercise 6 to 8 hours a day and lived on a compound completely sealed off from pizza, gooey desserts and greasy fried foods.
Really losing weight means making life-long decisions about diet and exercise and sticking with them forever. Temporary changes to diet and exercise only leads to temporary weight loss. It means learning to have the will-power to say "no" to over-processed, processed foods or passing up a McDonalds in favor of going to a grocery store and buying a banana when we're hungry.
Losing weight and keeping it off means never going back. It's only by moving forward and leaving the past behind that we ultimately succeed in reaching our goals.
I agree with you! As inspiring as it is to see the changes in the BL's contestants bodies, I agree that it's not reality.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more! That's one of the reasons that I am pretty much done with TBL. It is just so unrealistic, and in my opinion, isn't teaching the contestants enough about dealing with the temptations and time constraints you come up against in day to day life!
ReplyDelete