Article about The Biggest Loser

Interesting article Jodi, thanks for posting. I haven't watch the show for years and was always flabbergasted at how much weight these contestants would lose on a weekly basis. I wonder if they'll alter future season's based on this information? But then I guess it won't be very dramatic...
jamie
 
Thank you for posting.
I just watched a few episodes, but I always got the impression that health & wellness was not what the show was striving for. It was strictly about being slim. It was selling getting slim as being the solver of all of your issues in life and/or being linked to your worth as a person.
I feel really bad for those contestants. They seem to have experienced physical and mental anguish directly due to the show. I am not pretending to be any expert, but I got the feeling that they had to submit to abuse because they were overweight and didn't enjoy being overweight. Don't we try and teach our children not to behave in this fashion?
 
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing. I agree, I wonder if this will alter future season's.

I think it should! I think they should show realistic ways of losing excess weight and keeping it off. They could film over the course of a few years if necessary, but at least it would actually help people!

Beth
 
I heard this on the news this A.M. Losing weight is only part of the issue, these people need to make some major life changes w/ activity and nutrition. For some it's incredibly hard. I feel bad for them. A similar situation happened with that one time show where women underwent extreme plastic surgery. Some of the women were not mentally prepared for the results. Someone in charge needs to look at the WHOLE person and provide mental health services for these people. Anything for ratings....it's scary.
 
Here is my 2 cents on this weight loss issue,

What I want those struggling with significant weight loss to know before embarking in any weight/fat loss journey is:
  • It is not a lost cause, if you set boundaries and make a plan on how you are going to maintain and keep the weight off for good.
  • Secondly it is a lifetime journey which never end so make it an enjoyable journey. I know this from a fact cause I have made my journey enjoyable. Not only I have managed to make it enjoyable, I have managed to keep myself out these horrible statistics!
  • Do not be stuck on scale number, aim for a sweet spot visual goal based on your own anatomical and skeleton structure. Do not try to be somebody else and please close those magasines!!!
  • Make the all process a TRUE lifestyle change, there is no going back to old way of eating neither is it about going back to same portions.

Hope this help someone else out there!
 
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Wow.. after all that bad press, if they bring that show back for another season, I'll be shocked. Thanks for sharing the additional articles.

Makes me wonder how things really are on the Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition.
 
I hated to read that article about the drugs and Bob Harper's alleged connection to the situation. He issued a statement on FB saying the article was completely false, and I can only hope that is true. I've always got the impression from him that he truly cared about helping the contestants and people in general live a healthier lifestyle.
 
I hated to read that article about the drugs and Bob Harper's alleged connection to the situation. He issued a statement on FB saying the article was completely false, and I can only hope that is true. I've always got the impression from him that he truly cared about helping the contestants and people in general live a healthier lifestyle.

I hope for all these celebrities trainers involvement prove to be false for their own reputation.
and business. These bad press will affect the show audience rating. I never watched this show:):)
There must be fire causing all this smoke!!!
 
I watched BL quite often. I thought what they were doing on the show was very intense for people that were that overweight. I liked all the trainers they had on there and I agree it seemed like they truly cared about helping the contestants. It makes me think back to Jillian's last season she was on. I don't recall the gals name but she lost an insane amount of weight to the point where she looked too thin and unhealthy (IMO) and I remember Jillian's look on her face when she saw her. I also recall her commenting about it to the press as well.

The entire situation is sad.
 
We need to be careful not to generalize the results of the BL contestants to regular people trying to lose weight rationally. I think the NYT article was not balanced and turned a scientific study into a human interest story. In the process, the author made it look like obesity is a life sentence and there is no hope for anybody. Most people will read it and say why bother? They won't realize that the contestants failed because unknowingly what they did was the perfect recipe for extreme failure.

The logical conclusion from the BL show is extreme diets and extreme exercise don't mix well. And now they have actual proof (on about 15 patients) that the combination is extremely damaging and the damage is long lasting. I expected the contestant to have an improved resting metabolic rate (RMR) at the end of the competition because of the intense workouts and increased muscle mass. Instead their RMR plunged about 2x as much as bariatric surgery patients who lost similar amount of weight. Adding intense workouts to calorie restriction caused 2x as much damage. I feel really bad for them. I hope the show finds them some help.

I don't know about the early seasons but when the NIH scientists got involved, the study was reviewed by an institutional review board to make sure all federal regulations to protect human subjects involved in research are followed. I don't think there was any abuse of the contestants except for what they did to themselves. I remember Jillian's team getting in trouble when she gave them caffeine pills. I think it was her last season. In retrospect, it makes more sense now why the show was so upset with her and so public about it.

I've only watched bits and pieces of this show over the years. If it comes back, I hope they get real experts to redesign the exercise routines and diets based on what they know now.

I remember the old days when experts recommended creating a 500 cal deficit per day for long lasting weight loss. Initially, people were supposed to burn 250 cal in exercise and reduce food intake by 250 cal but only until they became fit enough to burn 500 cal in exercise alone every day. I guess they knew what they were doing back then even if they didn't know why.
 
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We need to be careful not to generalize the results of the BL contestants to regular people trying to lose weight rationally. I think the NYT article was not balanced and turned a scientific study into a human interest story. In the process, the author made it look like obesity is a life sentence and there is no hope for anybody. Most people will read it and say why bother?

This is exactly what I do not want to happen. As I mentioned before IT IS NOT A LOST CAUSE. If some can keep it off by changing
their lifestyle, I am including myself, others can too!!!:):)
 
I happened to read both articles and but I will comment on the second article. I wasn't really surprised about what I read. I only saw bits and pieces of the show over the years and I didn't even know it was still on but to me the show was nothing more than humiliating overweight people. They were yelled at constantly and in my opinion verbally abused. I know it was probably for the camera but it was not entertaining to watch. I remember one of the trainers yelling at someone telling them "move faster or I will cut off your legs and beat you with them". That is not entertainment nor is it a caring and productive environment. In another episode another trainer was trying to get an obese woman to do box jumps and when she couldn't do it, the trainer was screaming at her at her like it was perfectly natural for an obese person to jump on box and that she was an idiot because she couldn't do it. First of all an obese person should NOT be doing box jumps. The form that was shown was so bad it was painful. I don't know what happened behind the scenes and away from the camera but I would never purchase any workout from the trainers that were on the show. In my opinion they sold out for fame and money.

There is someone I know that wanted to go on the show and I told her not to do it. Find a trainer and nutritionist and get help the right away.

I do hope that article doesn't deter others to change their lifestyle. I just hope they don't follow what was on the show and that they do it the right away.
 
I wonder how many people would try out for this show if there was no cash prize at the end. Has anyone ever quit in the middle of production?
 
Thank you for posting.
I just watched a few episodes, but I always got the impression that health & wellness was not what the show was striving for. It was strictly about being slim. It was selling getting slim as being the solver of all of your issues in life and/or being linked to your worth as a person.
I feel really bad for those contestants. They seem to have experienced physical and mental anguish directly due to the show. I am not pretending to be any expert, but I got the feeling that they had to submit to abuse because they were overweight and didn't enjoy being overweight. Don't we try and teach our children not to behave in this fashion?

What a thoughtful comment, Elsie. :) I agree that we should be teaching our children to see past all exteriors and look at each person for what is on the inside, their mind and their heart. I'm about to get serious now...

As the "fat girl" in the 80's and early 90's (when childhood obesity was still pretty rare), I experienced bullying, name-calling, and belittling words on a daily basis for years on end, words that only stopped upon graduating from high school. Even after that ended though, the sorrow and broken spirit that these comments and actions helped create led me to a struggle with anxiety, disassociation, depression, suicidal thoughts, and self-hatred that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. I have slowly healed through the love of true friends, a commitment to health and fitness that is NOT based on reaching a certain weight or size, and my faith.

I despise the way I've heard these so-called professionals on The Biggest Loser speak to people who are contestants, and their entire approach to food and exercise. I am disheartened when I see the lack of modification and moderation taught to people who so desperately need that info to succeed over the long haul. I realize that making someone climb a mountain rather than a small hill is more exciting. But these people are not Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV. They need to start with the hill, not the mountain! There is so much data on how much more prone to injury overweight people are likely to be. Therefore they must be introduced to movement more carefully than someone who is thin, One cannot and should not run when they can barely walk.

There's no aim on this TV show to let people know movement can be joyful, when we find something we love and get results from. For some people that's going to be swimming or water aerobics or gentler forms of yoga. Yet on these shows, they just want to push these people to utter exhaustion, tears, frustration...which does nothing except reinforce the idea that movement is torture. These TV producers should realize that if these people were heavy as children, they very likely experienced teasing, embarrassment, and failure in the eyes of a phys ed teacher and their fellow students. The treatment they get on the show is akin to that. Not exactly joyful, and I'm speaking as someone who knows what that shame and sense of failure feels like. I remember a doctor saying to my mother - right in front of me - "She has such a pretty face, but she needs to lose this excess weight." I was all of seven years old when this happened, and probably had fifteen extra pounds on my frame. I don't think I can express in words what that man's thoughtless comment did to my already fragile sense of self-worth. His words haunted me for a long time to come.

Strict, stringent dietary changes that are drastic and meant to entertain the public by showing how joyless dieting is...what foolishness. Rather than make sure an individual is being properly and carefully being taught about good nutrition and how it lengthens one's life and makes us feel good, or how to shop for and cook healthy food so it tastes delicious, they almost seem to want to punish these heavy people with bland food or extreme calorie cuts- strategies any sane person knows is destined to fail in the long run. This is not only irresponsible and unethical in some ways, it's unnecessarily cruel.

Fat shaming is one of the last "okay" hatreds in society. It is a hatred that spreads like wildfire. It slowly destroys the people on the receiving end of it as if they've taken in doses of poison, as all prejudice eventually does. We do not honor people when we do things like this show does to human beings. One doesn't need to be talked to like a dog to make positive changes in their life- in fact, just the opposite is true. I despise the whole concept of this belittling/blaming/shaming/torturing/depriving/injuring being "entertainment" to people. I don't find watching my fellow man endure painful doses of prejudice, misinformation, and deprivation to be "entertaining". If this posts comes off as harsh, well..I can't apologize. I'm not ready to make nice about this. We can heal and help people with our words and actions, or we can break their hearts, minds and spirits with them. Anything of the latter sort, I'm against without hesitation and without apology. I know this comes off as a long harangue, but please understand what prejudice does to a person's soul. I survived it. However, I've known some people who did not survive the torture of hateful words and all types of bullying. People who went around in their (often far-too-short) lives feeling like they were dirt, deserving of nothing good, and destined to be failures. No one should be taught that, believe it about themselves, or believe it about anyone else. For those who have children, please bring them up to be respectful of all people, I beg you. Teach them the power of their words and actions. Show them how to be positive, thoughtful, loving, and encouraging to others with those words and actions.
 
What a thoughtful comment, Elsie. :) I agree that we should be teaching our children to see past all exteriors and look at each person for what is on the inside, their mind and their heart. I'm about to get serious now...

As the "fat girl" in the 80's and early 90's (when childhood obesity was still pretty rare), I experienced bullying, name-calling, and belittling words on a daily basis for years on end, words that only stopped upon graduating from high school. Even after that ended though, the sorrow and broken spirit that these comments and actions helped create led me to a struggle with anxiety, disassociation, depression, suicidal thoughts, and self-hatred that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. I have slowly healed through the love of true friends, a commitment to health and fitness that is NOT based on reaching a certain weight or size, and my faith.

I despise the way I've heard these so-called professionals on The Biggest Loser speak to people who are contestants, and their entire approach to food and exercise. I am disheartened when I see the lack of modification and moderation taught to people who so desperately need that info to succeed over the long haul. I realize that making someone climb a mountain rather than a small hill is more exciting. But these people are not Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV. They need to start with the hill, not the mountain! There is so much data on how much more prone to injury overweight people are likely to be. Therefore they must be introduced to movement more carefully than someone who is thin, One cannot and should not run when they can barely walk.

There's no aim on this TV show to let people know movement can be joyful, when we find something we love and get results from. For some people that's going to be swimming or water aerobics or gentler forms of yoga. Yet on these shows, they just want to push these people to utter exhaustion, tears, frustration...which does nothing except reinforce the idea that movement is torture. These TV producers should realize that if these people were heavy as children, they very likely experienced teasing, embarrassment, and failure in the eyes of a phys ed teacher and their fellow students. The treatment they get on the show is akin to that. Not exactly joyful, and I'm speaking as someone who knows what that shame and sense of failure feels like. I remember a doctor saying to my mother - right in front of me - "She has such a pretty face, but she needs to lose this excess weight." I was all of seven years old when this happened, and probably had fifteen extra pounds on my frame. I don't think I can express in words what that man's thoughtless comment did to my already fragile sense of self-worth. His words haunted me for a long time to come.

Strict, stringent dietary changes that are drastic and meant to entertain the public by showing how joyless dieting is...what foolishness. Rather than make sure an individual is being properly and carefully being taught about good nutrition and how it lengthens one's life and makes us feel good, or how to shop for and cook healthy food so it tastes delicious, they almost seem to want to punish these heavy people with bland food or extreme calorie cuts- strategies any sane person knows is destined to fail in the long run. This is not only irresponsible and unethical in some ways, it's unnecessarily cruel.

Fat shaming is one of the last "okay" hatreds in society. It is a hatred that spreads like wildfire. It slowly destroys the people on the receiving end of it as if they've taken in doses of poison, as all prejudice eventually does. We do not honor people when we do things like this show does to human beings. One doesn't need to be talked to like a dog to make positive changes in their life- in fact, just the opposite is true. I despise the whole concept of this belittling/blaming/shaming/torturing/depriving/injuring being "entertainment" to people. I don't find watching my fellow man endure painful doses of prejudice, misinformation, and deprivation to be "entertaining". If this posts comes off as harsh, well..I can't apologize. I'm not ready to make nice about this. We can heal and help people with our words and actions, or we can break their hearts, minds and spirits with them. Anything of the latter sort, I'm against without hesitation and without apology. I know this comes off as a long harangue, but please understand what prejudice does to a person's soul. I survived it. However, I've known some people who did not survive the torture of hateful words and all types of bullying. People who went around in their (often far-too-short) lives feeling like they were dirt, deserving of nothing good, and destined to be failures. No one should be taught that, believe it about themselves, or believe it about anyone else. For those who have children, please bring them up to be respectful of all people, I beg you. Teach them the power of their words and actions. Show them how to be positive, thoughtful, loving, and encouraging to others with those words and actions.


All I can say that this was very well said. I'll admit, I watch the show but am considering not to watch the next season, it's just all wrong and does not teach them how to incorporate all of that exercise and healthy eating into the "real" world (how can anybody workout for 7-8 hours per day that has a job, family, or just a life) . I know what is like to be bullied (was bullied in school - UGH) but not for my weight and it's horrible and very scary feeling. So I agree with Turquoise Eyes, the show doesn't really show people the proper and safe way to help those that desperately need help to lose the pounds - too much bullying. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts, I enjoyed reading it.
 

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