The Biggest Loser Review

Yes. I get it. You get some really overweight people together and put them on TV and call it The Biggest Loser. The winner is, of course, the person who makes the biggest lifestyle changes or plays the game the best. Toss the coin.

We have weight issues in this country. That is no secret. The Biggest Loser is not about those who are suffering from anorexia or bulimia and looked on more favorably even if those choices are not good either. It's about fat people. They are the big butt of jokes and not given any slack. Fat is not where it's at, and being overweight is considered a personal shortcoming.

In the United States, we have WIC programs to provide food for low income pregnant women and for mothers and children and include whole milk and cheddar cheese and so on. And, we hand out food stamps for the poor who can stretch the dollars by buying cheap but unhealthy food. That's just a fact. Healthy food costs more. But, people will snear at welfare families who buy high calorie foods to make it to the end of the month. I live in a low income area. I see it.

Then, we bash all the fat folks and consider it sinful to be less than ultra thin. If they bought the right foods and took the extra time to cook fresh and took time between double jobs to work out . . . well . . . they would nto be hanging over the edges of the chair.

To solve the problem, we have reality TV and the Biggest Loser. A few lucky fat folks get a paid vacation (do they not have jobs?) and take 16 weeks to wow us all on national TV with ginormous weight drops and new and improved lives.

Getting healthy is a good plan. It is the right thing to do to eat well and excercise. I doubt anyone will argue against that. But, it's a process and not a full-time job with extra help and no other life challenges as on Biggest Loser. If the only thing a body had to focus on was getting fit and thin, then we would all (or mostly) be looking hot.

When I watch Biggest Loser, I do feel somewhat inspired. They do have contestants with heart who give it their all and make huge changes. In some cases, I get attached to some of these reality TV folks and hope that they win or at least maintain and keep the good life going. I don't watch regular, but I catch it enough to feel some compassion.

On the other hand, I see these weigh ins where someone drops 3 pounds but falls below the yellow line. Although most doctors suggest only 2 pounds per week for safe and healthy weight loss, reality TV takes it to the max. Suddenly, dropping 3 pounds with hard work is not enough and reason to cry. What's up with that? Or, someone works darn hard but does not drop any weight one single week due to the speed of this program, and that's just total failure on reality TV.

Then there are weeks where you have two people who worked hard but one really put in more effort, but they are seen as a bigger game show threat. The person with more potential gets sent packing, because the other contestants can vote. They would be stupid to vote for another player who might give them a run for the big money. So, a true winner type may get sent packing for a random bad week, because a weaker player with less to lose would be easier to knock off in the end.

Then, the show producers like to play up the drama. Every weigh in has the teaser shots which may be from goodness knows when as far as taping and then edited. You see the shocked faces and then it's commercial time (rather commical sadly at this point). Whew. I really ought to get TiVo if I want to bother with this show. Every contestant and the trainers seems to get the freak out faces and then may or may not have unusual results on the scales.

They also try to play it up on the emotions. They push a son to confront his overweight father and express his anger. It goes right back to the parents, and that fault angle has been done to death. My parents are fat or this or that, so I am, and it's all their fault. I am angry. So, I will put that out there and validate my emotions. Yawn.

On some level I like the show with the goal of living healthier. But, I do have to question if these strange games they play (holding a rope for dear life up on an elevated platform) and this push to drop mega pounds in a short time is actually healthy. Maybe life is a competition. But, I think it can really be about each person doing what works, and I really don't see that on reality TV. The Biggest Loser has those high moments but also the back stabbing that makes it all a big joke with all of us being losers for participating and encouraging this sort of approach to being real.

Congratulations to everyone on the show who has dropped a lot of weight and to all those who do it on their own at home. But, use some common sense, and don't step on others to get to where you want to be. Some things really could and should be personal, and I'm not sure this fat to thin show is all that helpful overall.