SubscribeTV: The Enemy of Weight Managament?
What is it about the tube? It's filled up with shows about makeovers, diets, and obesity - but the mere presence of an active TV can increase your chances of eating poorer fare.
A recent UK article highlighted the experiences of women who took part in reality TV shows. Despite losing weight on the shows, they ended up gaining the weight back (and then some).
- Shelly Stevenson lost 10 pounds during 12 weeks of filming on Fit Farm. She later gained back the 10 plus an extra 20 pounds or so.
- Lorna Slater appeared on Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat. She lost 21 pounds during the show - and has gained it all back again.
- Nicola Duffett lost 14 pounds on Celebrity Fit Club. She subsequently gained the same weight plus an extra 21 pounds.
Weight loss reality shows are entertainment - but they are supposed to be modeling a viable solution - aren't they?
A British reality show - about to start filming in Australia - sets a new low. Fat Kids Can't Hunt will follow 10 overweight children as they live among aboriginal tribesmen and learn to eat wild food.
“This experiment gives our teenagers a unique opportunity to address their dysfunctional relationship with food once and for all before they reach adulthood.”
How does eating witchetty grubs and mangrove worms teach a child to eat healthily in a world full of supermarkets and fast food vendors?
More like this in Psychology and Teens and Kids
I've always thought that The Biggest Loser set unrealistic expectations for people who wanted to lose weight. It shows some participants losing 15-20 pounds in a week! It also shows people getting upset over a 2 pound loss for a week. While the show does demonstrate the power of exercise and proper nutrition, I fear that someone working along from home will get upset and quit if they have a 1-2 pound loss.
Brian
ReplyOh I'm pretty sure most of the people on You Are What You Eat go back to eating junk. Most of them feel it is a huge sacrifice to eat healthy. Out of the episodes I've seen, I'd say around 10-20% of them seem to "see the light" only. But hey, that is the success rate of any diet, isn't it, not just the televised ones.
ReplyOh yeah...Celebrity Fit Club is kind of a joke when it comes to lasting weight loss. I think of all the seasons, I only saw maybe two or three of the people actually WANT to keep the weight off and make a serious effort. The rest of them seemed to whine the entire time about how much the program sucked.
ReplyThe biggest problem I have with "The Biggest Loser" is that they have men and women competing against each other. Let's face facts, because men have more muscle and build more muscle, they have a much easier time losing fat. There should be a male winner and a female winner of that show to make it fair.
And hell yes, TV totally makes you fat. Either by just sitting there being inert or eating too much while you do it. Duh!
Reply"You are what you eat" is stupid. Of course they're going to go back to their old habits when you make them go on an extreme diet. Especially for the "carnivores" (usually men) who are put on the extreme vegetarian diets.
And that Gillian woman doesn't exactly look healthy herself. She looks too thin for her body and her hair and skin are awful.
ReplyI was on that show "The last 10 lbs" (which they forced me to delete my blog on), and I lost 14 lbs, and have not gained any of the weight back.
ReplyPowerpuffin, I've always thought she looks like she needs more fat in her diet too. She is too craggly. I like the recipes she has occasionally, but her no-meat no-condiment way of living is not for me, thanks.
ReplyHey Leanna - Great to hear from you! I loved reading your blog (while it lasted). And congrats on losing the weight and keeping it off. :-)
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ReplyWhy thank you! I;m thinking I might start it up again being that the show was finished, I have a lot more to say! haha
Wow! That is surreal. I guess if I were put in front of tv cameras, it would be much easier to lose weight, and agree with the fact that going back home, away from the cameras would make it easy to cheat. But to gain more, that is too bad!
ReplyLeanna--glad to hear about your continued success! It's definitely all about how much you contribute to your success. I know that the people on Celebrity Fit Club get paid big $$ to lose weight on that show and that seems to be why most of them do it.
I also agree that Biggest Loser should have a men's winner and a women's winner so that it's more fair. It's not that a man and a woman can't both acheive a good amount of fat loss, it's mostly the fact that men usually get results a bit faster, especially at the beginning of their weight loss.
ReplyI've always disliked those shows.
When that one, I forget its name was at its peak, I had friends who were at most 20 lb overweight asking how to lose the weight in 3 weeks--- "like they do on the show." Got quite upset when I told them no more than 2 lb a week. I even tried pointing out that these people exercise a lot in a doctor-supervised environment, and don't have all of life to worry about.
ReplyBut it gave such unrealistic expectations.
I guess they run out of motivation. It sure is great in the beginning, but doing the same thing will definitely bore us. What we probably need is constant motivation and also change in motivation style.
ReplyNo I believe the real enemy of weight management is language and to be more specific, SPELLING! It's a well known fact that our use of language shapes our thoughts and views. I have yet to see anyone on this site not spell GAIN correctly. I do see, almost every day the use of the words LOOSE, LOOSING, LOSEING, instead of the ever popular word, LOSE. Which I believe most of the writers of comments claim to be seeking. Hopefully, this advise will help in the battle against obesity.
ReplyI'm loosing my patience with this.
ReplyThose people probably got bored with the program. I think it does't only happen in TV but also with everyone who undergoes weight loss programs. We can't stay fit for the rest of our lives.
ReplyIt's a sad reality that some of the technologies we have are contributing to our unhealthy lifestyle. If we were to live the way nature intends us to live, I believe that it wouldn't be difficult for us to stay in shape.
ReplyI totally understan where you are coming from 'Weight Loss with Me'. It's true reality tv does show extreme results, but coming from the wife of a new trainer/co-host for a new weight loss reality show coming to ABC...the goal is to inspire people to realize fitness works - whether it comes off at 2lbs/week or 10 - the process is still the same.
ABC's show (Fat March) will be about 12 people who will be walking across America. There's no hardcore training, just plain old fashioned walking. My hope for the show is to encourage people who've tried every diet in the world that fitness works. You get out of it what you put in. Constants put a LOT into it, so they get a LOT out. The process is still the same which should give people hope. You just have to be patient and stick with it. I mean, if you are losing 2lbs a week (which is awesome)...just realize if you stick with it, it means BIG weight loss in time. :)
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