Made for TV
I cry at the end of “Terms of Endearment.” I cry at the end of “Rudy.” Sometimes I even cry at the end of “Forrest Gump,” but the one that really, really gets me is “The Biggest Loser.” I’ll be doing dishes and sweeping the floor and cheering and crying for those contestants. They are doing amazing things, facing their inner demons, discovering how strong they really are and achieving amazing goals. And they’re really doing it. So what’s my frustration?
A healthy, reasonable weight loss is 1/2 pound to 2 pounds per week. These contestants are losing so much weight, so fast that it makes the show’s viewers feel like failures if they have an astounding weekly loss of one pound. I’m sure you know this, but the contestants on the show work out for hours and hours each day. They have a dietitian supervising every morsel they consume. They meet with a psychotherapist to help handle stress and old emotional wounds. And they’re also very, very heavy. (The more you weigh, the more calories you burn. If you weigh 400 pounds and eat 1500 calories each day, you’ll lose weight really fast.) If you weigh 185 pounds and eat 1500 calories per day, you’ll probably lose about a pound a week.
I like the show, no, I love the show. It is hopeful and helps people recognize that developing self esteem and confidence is really important in the pursuit of weight loss. I like that Jillian pushes and pushes and the contestants learn to depend on their trainers and themselves.
What I don’t like is that when a person loses weight that fast, they are making enormous, drastic, unbelievable changes in their lives. For most people, those types of changes don’t “stick.” Generally, the smaller the change, the better we are at maintaining it. The show’s participants are getting a lot of help to learn new habits and they’re doing it without having to go to work or deal with Halloween candy.
I will keep tearing up at the end of “The Biggest Loser” and I will keep cheering them on, but I will also keep telling people that this is “reality TV” (notice the quotation marks?) not real life. So if you are working at losing weight, just remember that it’s the direction not the distance that the needle moves on the scale. Heck, sometimes it’s not even about the scale, it’s about feeling good about yourself, your body, food and your life. So cheer them on, be happy for them, but don’t compare yourself.
May you be happy, healthy and content with real life,
Regan
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