The Biggest Loser - TV show

I don't watch many reality shows, but "The Biggest Loser" is one I've always enjoyed.  It's a show featuring morbidly obese people who are set up in a secluded ranch and they work with trainers to lose weight while competing with each other for the ultimate goal of winning $250,000. 

Each week, every contestant is weighed on camera and the person who lost the least amount of weight (by percentage, not actual pounds) gets kicked off the show but they can still compete with other people who got kicked off for $100,000 at the finale.  The contestants are on the show approximately 3 months and you can see each one shrinking in front of your very eyes week after week.  At the finale, you see the end result for all the contestants, including those who were kicked off during the season, and the winners of the $250,000 and $100,000 prizes, respectively, are divulged.

I have to give the contestants a lot of credit.  I could never expose my body like they do, particularly on national TV.  Not only are they showing the world what their bodies look like at their very worst, their numeric weight, but they also expose themselves emotionally by discussing the most private traumatic events in their lives that led them to an obese life.  It's got to be mortifying, albeit cathartic, too.

I always find it interesting that during the weigh ins the women are always forced to wear a sports bra and the men have to take their T-shirts off before getting on the scale when they're at their heaviest, yet as the contestants shrink as the weeks go by, they're all allowed to wear a shirt while on the scale.  I can't help think it's for ratings because this way the audience can see just how huge these people have gotten, for shock value I presume.

Watching these people shrink and evolve as healthier human beings is quite amazing and inspirational.  However, it can back fire for the normal person watching.  The contestants live in a secluded ranch for as long as they stay on the show and they're insulated from the real world.   From what I understand, they have no access to the internet, phone, or other contacts with the outside world, including their family and friends unless allowed as a special reward.  They don't deal with financial problems, family issues, or work.  On this ranch, they train many hours every day and everything is provided for them, such as healthy foods for their meals.  They don't have to go grocery shopping on their own nor are they exposed to restaurants, particularly fast food places, in the real world.  They don't have to deal with a busy schedule that makes preparing healthy meals tough.  They are told when to work out, how to work out, when to sleep, when to eat, what to eat.  In other words, they're in a cocoon that sets them up for success to lose weight.  It's not the real world.

  

I've heard contestants say that they work out 6 to 8 hours a day.  That's right, a day!  It's no wonder they lose weight after living a sedentary life and suddenly they're as active as a professional athlete.  You often see contestants passing out or vomiting during the first few episodes because they're not used to being physical and suddenly they find themselves exercising like work horses.  I don't know how these people don't suffer serious injuries.  To go from being complete sedentary and morbidly obese for years to being incredibly active all of a sudden all day long, every day?  What does it do to your body?   To your joints?  I couldn't do it.  I had to start out slowly and increase my activity with time.  Even then I still experienced injuries and issues.   

It's remarkable to watch each contestant's transformation, but it's not realistic.  The temptations and frustrations of general life is what impedes us from succeeding.  It's dealing with:  toxic people around us, saboteurs, frustrations of living a normal life, financial problems, stresses of work and family, the universe throwing things at us - these are the things that impede us from succeeding.  To be put in a secluded cocoon where the only consideration is to lose weight, how can you not succeed!  But what happens when these people return home, to their normal lives, to the normal grind of daily stresses and frustrations?  I wish they did an update of all contestants to see how many kept the weight off and how many returned to their old ways.  You don't often hear about prior contestants and I would venture to guess that the percentage who kept the weight off is low.

But while the show is on, you can see early on who's going to succeed because those who do have complete determination and will power.  You can see it in their faces and they never give up.  I'm grateful to prior contestants because they helped me realize that my personal success is all in my head and it's completely up to me.  No one can make me succeed but myself.  Often the contestants work out some private trauma that happened in their lives with the trainers who act as psychologists/counselors and I've picked up pointers here and there through the various seasons, too.

 

The biggest problem I have with the show is the unrealistic perception the contestants have over weekly weight loss.  It is recommended that a healthy weight loss is half a pound to two pounds a week.  That's not very much at all, but, of course, it adds up with time.  During the first few weeks on the show, these people can see double digit losses on the scale each week which is insane.  It's unrealistic that this can be sustained for long.  When they lose 4 to 7 lbs. a week, they are suddenly disappointed and sometimes cry in defeat.  Are you kidding me?  I would kill to lose 4 lbs. in a week!  In my personal journey, I've been stuck on the scale for weeks and weeks before dropping any weight at all.  On average, it's now taking me about a month or two to lose that much.  To be disappointed about losing ANY weight is self defeating and insane.  I wonder how many in the audience give up because they can never lose as much as the contestants do each week.  Do they realize it's not real world weight loss?  Luckily, I did otherwise I don't know if I'd be where I am today.

Whenever the contestants had to switch trainers, they often cried and were extremely upset about it.  What was the big deal?  They were just switching trainers.  I didn't get it.  Now I do.  When Flaminia ("Fla"), my trainer who made such a difference in my life, moved to New York a year after we started working together, I was truly devastated.  I, too, was incredibly sad for weeks when she told me of her upcoming plans and then I cried the day we said good bye.  Even though Fla and I continue to text each other every few days, it's not the same.  I miss her terribly.  

I've talked to a few people who also have trainers and we all seemed to develop an incredible connection with our respective trainers.  These people made such an amazing improvement to our lives that a connection is inevitable.  When they leave our lives, we're devastated.  Yes, we did all the work and our trainers were there to guide us, but how often is another person there for you 100% JUST for you?  Family and friends don't come close to that kind of connection.  A trainer at my gym has a trainer herself because she competes in body building events.  She's married but she, too, has developed a special connection with her male trainer and although it's not romantic in the least, it's a connection that can't be compared.  Unless you've experienced it yourself, you wouldn't be able to understand.  I didn't when I watched the contestants on "The Biggest Loser" until it happened to me personally.

The 17th season of the show started in January 2016.  This season is momentous to my particular journey for several reasons:

First of all, for the first time in 17 years that the show's been on TV, I weighed less than ALL contestants when the show began.  In prior seasons, when the show started, I weighed more than most, if not all, the female contestants and sometimes more than some of the men, too.

Second, this season they decided to double up on the episodes each week so the show is over in record time.  The contestants were on the show for approximately 3 months, but since the audience is watching two episodes a week, the season will be over in less than 2 months.  Once the show is over, the contestants are sent home to work on their own for I believe another couple of months.  The next step is for all the contestants to return to the finale for the big reveal to the world of their ultimate success.  This season is the first time in their 17-year history that I weigh less than most of the contestants when they left the show before the finale.

Third, to date I've lost 134 lbs.  That means I have lost more than most of the contestants will have lost at the finale, too.  That remains to be seen since the finale won't air for another week or two, but from past seasons, I have definitely lost more than most of the contestants.

Early on in this season, the contestants were offered up to $25,000 in cash to give up right then and there.  No one chose the money because they all said the same thing:  my health is more important than cash.  You can't buy thin.   That's exactly what I decided when I retired.  It would've been much more financially prudent for me to keep working a few more years, but I realized the money wasn't worth my medical, emotional, or spiritual health.  I was miserable and had I kept working, my bank account would have been in a better position than it is now but today I feel terrific and I wouldn't trade that for anything.