What You Don’t Need To Do To Lose Weight
This past weekend, I watched, in horror, the new Netflix documentary Fit for TV about the reality TV show The Biggest Loser, which ran from 2004 until its cancellation in 2017. I remember the show existing, but didn’t watch it. Seeing clips now, as a nutrition and fitness coach, it was extremely difficult to sit through. The tactics of the trainers was appalling. I almost abandoned ship, but wanted to learn how participants were coping with the experience of being on the show years later.
Here’s what struck me: The Biggest Loser was marketed as an inspirational show to help people, but in reality, it preyed on people desperate to lose weight. Thousands of people showed up to try out for the show, and it came to be viewed as a Holy Grail. “Lucky” contestants were dropped on a ranch, pushed through brutal workouts, temptation challenges and fed meagre diets (sometimes as low as 800 calories), and humiliated on national TV if they didn’t perform. The accountability of viewers was marketed as a huge motivator. We need to care about the opinion of strangers to lose weight? The grand prize, in addition to being slim, was $250,000. Millions tuned in weekly, including 10 million for a finale. What’s shocking is not just what contestants endured, but how many people watched this display and accepted it as normal for so many years.
The Dark Side of Quick Fixes
It was heartbreaking to watch people so desperate to not live overweight that they were willing to do anything, even harm themselves, for approval and applause. And when they couldn’t keep up, they were shamed, ousted, or denied recognition. Bullying. One contestant lost nearly 200 pounds in six months and became “the ultimate Biggest Loser.” He later regained the weight and nearly didn’t appear in the documentary out of shame, but ultimately chose to share his story to help others. I admire his ability to bring his story forward.
Having to get what I watched out of my system, I turned to EC Synkowski’s podcast review of the documentary and her lessons learned from it, for which I was grateful. Some of her takeaways were:
Social norms are shifting.
Sustainable weight loss tactics do not sell because they are not flashy, but are the only kind that lasts.
You have to figure out why you’re eating before you focus on losing weight.
When you do lose weight, physical activity, not another diet, is a key component to keeping it off.
Once you lose the weight, your work is never done; keeping it off requires consistent effort and vigilance.
You Don’t Need Punishment to Change
My take: Shaming people into change is a wholly unacceptable tactic. You don’t need to be punished into health, starve yourself, or put your body through extremes to “earn” a better life. What works is developing patience and a long view plus finding a compassionate system you can stick with that contains real food, consistent movement, and a community that lifts you up instead of tearing you down. That’s the approach I believe in, and the only one I’ll ever coach!
