The Biggest Loser

OK. Heres the thing...A handful of people in the whole American population says this isn't a healthy way to lose weight. OK. I'm sorry but I always assumed that diet and exercise was healthier than drugs that can overall give you a stroke or heart attack or surgery that can leave you in a vegetative state and brain dead or kill you on the spot. Maybe thats just me though. These few people claim that it is only short term and can come back even faster but what about the contestants from season 1? TWO YEARS AGO. NONE of them have flabby skin and none of them gained the weight back. This show is not about losing weight. Its about CHANGING YOUR LIFE AND LOSING WEIGHT AND KEEPING IT OFF, which everyone has done successfully. This show is so motivational and inspired me to get up and hit the gym (I have lost 35 pounds from Jan 1st-Jan 27). This is a great show to watch even as a family as opposed to all the other shows that SCREAM sex, drugs, bad language, violence, and murder is whats in.

Before listing the numerous bad points I have to say there is one point about this show that is so amazingly good it almost makes up for the bad ones: it demonstrates with no doubt whatsoever that nearly ANYONE CAN BE ACTIVE no matter what their weight. A good deal more active than most people believe is possible. This is so important. It shows that change is possible. It also shows how people who do eat well and exercise can accomplish amazing things well before they reach their goal weights, that there are rewards for changing your lifestyle throughout the journey, not just when you reach that magical number you've been striving for on the scale.

Among the bad points are the cheap psychoanalyzing that goes on, which appears to be more for making drama moments than actually accomplishing anything constructive, product placements (especially for products one strongly doubts the trainers actually encourage the contestants to use), the necessity for some contestants to lose more weight than is healthy in order to win, and raising unrealistic notions of what constitutes an appropriate rate of weight loss or level of intensity of exercise would be safe for viewers at home without strict medical supervision.

We are allowed to have tv shows about alcohol addiction, drug addiction, gambling addiction, addictions to drinking gasoline and eating diapers, but the second there is a show that centers around people who are on the brink of death due to food addiction it's an issue? There is no shame in needing help for ANY addiction. People will sit by and watch My 600 Pound life where they show those in need struggle and suffer, but the second we show how to avoid that misery and fate it's offensive.

The few who have been on the show and have claimed it gave them an eating disorder forget that they Already Had An Eating Disorder. Most of them were killing themselves and were ridden with a slew of diseases that they did not have at the end of the show, I get that for some reason shining a light on addictions and disorders that can be helped is somehow wrong, but The Biggest Loser has genuinely helped me fight through depression caused obesity numerous times in my life. It's reputation pisses me off.

Hey! Let's watch and see who gets voted off this week!

VOTED OFF???

The format of this "new" show demonstrates the inability, or at least unwillingness, of TV show creators to move beyond established paradigms and old modes of thinking. Why is it that all so-called reality shows have to vote someone off? For this show, the old "Survivor model" just doesn't work and is, indeed, quite out of place.

This whole show, while it has some appeal to the TV watching population who empathize with the need to shed pounds, has some serious challenges which are not addressed. The participants have been split into teams and the team who loses the least total weight is forced to vote a member off. The number of pounds lost, in itself, in a given week is a poor indicator of overall weight management. Weight control is a longer process than a single week and should be measured over a longer time. There also is the fact that losing weight too quickly is NOT necessarily the most healthy way to lose it and often losing weight too quickly tends to result in temporary results! Lastly, I will mention that in a health program, a person may lose fat but gain muscle which results in a lower NET weight loss. Focusing solely on pounds lost is a recipe for poor health.

Most importantly, any dieter will tell you that the challenge is NEVER to shed pounds but to KEEP them off! While this show talks about "healthy lifestyles", the only measure of success in the team competition is pounds lost. The single biggest challenge to weight loss, keeping weight off, becomes an afterthought.

Participants should not be voted off. A new format was needed here. They all should have remained until the final weeks of the show where their overall results and HEALTH, based on medical indicators, fitness and other factors is measured. There could be athletic competitions as well in the final weeks when you finally begin to eliminate those whose overall health has not improved as much. You can never tell each week whose overall success will be greatest in the long run. Also it would be ideal if the finale of the show could have been filmed months after the completion of the initial program to help measure how well people have kept it off.

As it stands, this show only reinforces the notion of crash dieting and scale watching to temporarily lose the greatest pounds without regard for true health or permanent results. An abomination of a show, considering.

I was really excited to see this show is back. It's so inspirational & motivational, especially as someone who's on a weight loss journey of her own right now. I do, however, have a few problems with this show.

The first, the music. Awful. Like, YouTube awful. Maybe they're doing it for the millennials? I don't know. The background (no voice) music is fine, but every song with singing included... UGH. Not for me.

The second, is a problem I've always had with the show: they're giving those of us at home unrealistic expectations. Most of us at home can't afford these trainers or gyms, etc & aren't living with said trainers & a team of others in the same boat as you. I don't know about anybody else here, but at my weekly weigh-in, I NEVER get the big numbers they get on this show. No matter how hard I work. So, I feel like those of us at home are actually almost let down by our 1 or 2 lb lost in a week. Which, by the way, is totally acceptable & healthy. So, as motivating & inspiring as it can be to watch, it can also be discouraging for us at home. That's just the truth.

I sincerely hope the contestants are learning healthy ways to eat & live. I know this show has saved lives. I hope it does the same for some of the viewers, as well. If you're on a weight loss journey, just as I am, just keep doing your best! Do not compare your progress to anyone on this show. Or, for that matter, anyone else you may know IRL or on social media. Your journey is yours & yours alone. You've got this!