Bigest Loser - A Love/Hate Relationship

Well it's finally over. Season 8 of the hit TV show The Biggest Loser is finally over. For those of you who don't know what the show is about, here is a quick over-view. A bunch of obese people move into a house together. They work out with professional trainers, lose weight, and each week vote one person off. Once they get down to 4 contestants, the top 3 come back for the finale. Those who have been sent home can continue to lose weight and compete for an "at home" prize of $100,000. The final 3 compete for $250,000.

The at home winner for season 8 lost 49.82 percent of her starting weight. She lost 139 pounds and went from 279 pounds to 140. No easy task. The big winner started out at 430 pounds and weighed in at 191 on the night of the finale. That is a total loss of 55.8 percent of his starting weight.

Now here is why I have a Love/Hate relationship with this show:

• Love: Seeing real people overcome their weight problems and take their lives back.
• Hate: The contestants whine all the time. Just shut up and do the work!
• Love: Seeing Jillian incorporate MMA/Fighter type workouts into contestants routines
• Hate: How the show exploits contestants personal problems.
• Love: Watching contestants gain confidence and strength.

And my number one problem with the show.....

They make it sound like having Weight Loss Surgery is the easy way out. I can attest it is not easy. It is just a tool to get you started. You still have to do the work. Diet and Exercise are a must, AND you must take the right vitamins and supplements. Adding the right vitamins and supplements will aid your body in recovering from workouts and help with your energy level.

What I think is the easy way out is to have a medically supervised program with personal trainers, and nothing to do but work out all day. That is your job. No Family, no work, nor responsibilities other than to work out. That sounds like the easy way out.

I salute the contestants on this season. They did a fantastic job. I just hope they can keep it up. It isn't so easy when you have to go back to your families, jobs, and other responsibilities.

As for my relationship with the show..... well it looks like season 9 starts in January. You can bet that I'll be watching and continuing with that whole Love/Hate thing.

Sick of Being Sick

I had such great plans. I launched my blog on Monday with all the intentions of blogging daily, well at least every other day. Then it happened. I got sick. Not just a little sick, but big time sick. I actually stayed home from work for two days. That means I was sick. I only take time off work for fun stuff. By Tuesday night I was already sick of being sick. My wife has decided to look at having the R-N-Y surgery. One of the steps was for her to have a sleep apnea test. Well they called on Tuesday and wanted to squeeze her in for Tuesday night. That was great, but it left me home alone, sick and miserable (she was probably glad to get away from me!). Like millions of Americans I flipped the TV over to watch the Biggest Loser finale.

I guess you could say that I have what you could call a love/hate relationship with that show. I love how the show shows fat people as real people. That they have families, loved ones, and dreams just like everyone else. Often times people forget that. The part I hate about the show is that they make it seem like it is easy to lose the weight. All you have to do is workout. They make it look like it is no big deal to loose 10 pounds in a week, however, the biggest thing I hate about the show is how they put down weight loss surgery (WLS). They are always so quick to tell the world that Ron had had an R-N-Y gastric bypass surgery and had failed. This perpetuates the idea that WLS is a quick and easy fix, and how the only way to do it is by following their exercise plan, signing up for their meal plan, and following Jillian.

When I weighed 400 plus pounds, I hated myself and what I had become. I wanted to work out but with that kind of weight, my body wouldn't cooperate. My back hurt, my joints hurt, I had trouble breathing. I would try to fight through it. I would loose 3 pounds then hurt myself. I would get depressed and gain back 5 pounds. It was a vicious cycle. It finally reached the point where I said that "enough is enough." I realized that for me, I would need the kickstart of WLS. WLS is not a quick and easy fix. It is just a tool. It allowed me to reduce my body mass enough that I could begin to exercise and to take responsibility for myself.

As I'm watching the show, I noticed one thing that kept being repeated. As they profiled each of the contestants, many of them came to the same conclusion. They felt that they had reached the point where enough is enough, and had decided to accept responsibility and take care of themselves. I know that when I reached that point, it was time for me to accept responsibility and look at WLS. Looking back it was one of the best things I've ever done. It was the first step to "Fixing Rick."