The Upside/Downside to "The Biggest Loser"

Recently I read an article about the TV show "The Biggest Loser".  The article covered the future success of past participants and asked the question: Did They Keep Off The Weight?  The article answered it's own question confusedly, some did and some didn't.  The contestants weren't nearly as inspiring without the lights and glamor of television drama.

Outside of the vast popularity of "The Biggest Loser" lies the incredible task of creating a healthier America.  Are reality shows that highlight dramatic, fast weight loss "real" enough? Today I want to discuss the Upside/Downside of "The Biggest Loser" and how it affects our ideals of health and what's achievable.

Lets start with what makes "The Biggest Loser" so popular.  Contestants are selected based on their level of obesity.  The more you weigh the more potential you have for weight loss.  The contestants' ability to loose weight rapidly is the major draw for viewers.  But is this draw accurate to reality and fair to our individual hopes for weight loss and health?

I believe dramatized, hyper-realistic weight loss is detrimental to

 viewers and the contestants for many reasons. 

Viewers live vicariously through the contestants of the show.  We develop emotional bonds with certain characters and grow an empathetical attachment.  We place ourselves in their struggles and get pulled into their reality.  But this reality isn't real.  We must remember it is entertainment.

Entertainment is staged, edited, and wrapped around commercials and marketing.  Reality is random, non-edited, and wrapped around your day-to-day choices.  With entertainment, you are more than a viewer.  You are a consumer.  This is a major point to hold onto.

Between the sweat and tears of contestants commercials air. 

Watching entertainment is like reading only the bright-neon highlighted sentences of a novel.  Much of the depth of the story is lost to major plot points and climatical scenes.  What we don't see is the work behind the scenes.  The support the contestants have with doctors being on hand, nutritionist setting the caloric tone for what they eat, and contracts binding the contestants to follow every order.  This is the real story.  

The truest reality lies behind the curtain and the stage, out of sight.

This lack of transparency is covered up with hard exercises, sweat, and tears.  Viewers become transfixed by the entertainment of weight loss success and failure.  And we begin to believe extreme weight loss is not only achievable but easily within reach for ourselves.  A if-they-can-do-it-so-can-I mentality develops.  

Your ability to succeed isn't what I am questioning.  I believe you can!  I worry about the false hope for rapid weight loss the show promotes.  And how this ideology demotivates us to make immediate changes to our lifestyle.  

Why watch success passively when we can experience for ourselves?

"The Biggest Loser" is the actual winner for the television show.  But the show doesn't stop there.  Contestants are under contract to keep the weight off.  They are representatives of the show and have a constant spotlight on their lives.  

That is a kind of pressure we can't relate to.  No one is holding us to contract.  We didn't punish ourselves through filming with nutritionists and doctors on hand.  And we didn't face America once a week on a scale that promulgated our weight in bold, white font to millions.  So how are we expecting ourselves to fair similarly in such a dissimilar position?

The winner of the show isn't only "The Biggest Loser" but is anyone and everyone who takes on this challenge in their lives.  Be proud of yourself for accepting where you are, acknowledging it doesn't reflect who you actually are, and stepping forward to improve your life with long-term healthier life choices.  

The glamour of extreme exercise for weight loss is a major highlight of the show.  But exercise is only a small part of a larger equation for health.  The same can be said for food, sleep, stress, relationships, work, family life, and general activity.  

Life itself is the equation.  

Seeing positive value in yourself and believing it wholeheartedly is the real goal.  When you fully embrace your worth and your desire to fulfill it, great decisions will follow you anywhere you go.  Your appetite for knowledge and self-improvement will become insatiable.  And your focus on your health will surpass weight loss and move into realms of self-exploration you never thought possible.

Why Fitness Will Never Be Owned

Thrusting a flag into the ground is a profound American image of pride.  "This land is ours!"  We defend and protect our ideals and philosophies with fever-pitched passion.  This passion is a beautiful testament to why we've done so well for ourselves.  But our defend and protect, militant perspective presupposes ownership, and with ownership comes the necessity for clear boundaries.

Land is only the beginning.  Philosophies, theologies, and beliefs are the new frontier.  And to wrangle up these epistemological entities we need words, we need definitions.

Before we dive into Fitness as a frontier lets look at Religion.

Religion is a beautiful, diversified, ever-changing organism in society.  It's roots reach deep into the fabric of humanity.  And as a frontier, no map has changed boundaries more often.  Religion is a mother to countless babies.  And her offspring have become parents to us all.

Fitness is an ever-expanding family.  Never before have we had so many perspectives shared at once--which gives rise to an incredible excitement for the future! And never before have we had so many neighbors disputing territorial rights.

So what is Fitness?  And to whom does it belong?

Fitness is an individual's experience shared with the community.  It belongs to us all.  And in each of us, individually, we own whatever we choose to experience.  We should focus on the experience and guard and protect the individual's right to have their own working definition.  A living definition just as alive as we are and just as evolving.

We should have the freedom to attach ourselves to broader spectrums of Fitness and to pull away at any time.  Let's learn to explore Fitness in a open-minded, conflict-free way.  And step into a future of sharing and growing.