I'm really sick of hearing how hard your life sucked prior to your ginourmous weight loss. This is getting to the realm of self loathing and disgust and I really want the Biggest Loser to minimize that kind of talk. Now that we're down to the final episode, we are hearing again and again how sucky it was to be fat and how their lives were stuck and hadn't started yet etc, etc. Fine, being fat is a barrier and being fat opens you up to health issues, harassment, and low self-esteem. But the thing is, I think it's totally counterproductive to rag on your old fat self and act as if your life before the weight loss was just this big black hole.
Losing weight is as much about forgiveness as it is about hard work. You have to realize you've ALWAYS been worth it. Otherwise, why would you even start? I think about my own gains in health. I'm doing it because I want to keep the life I've create for myself. And the life I've created for myself was done when I was 40 pounds heavier. Yes, as a heavier weight, I found the love of my life, created a great circle of friends, blogged, and moved forward in my career. My motivation for being healthy is precisely because my life is pretty kicking and I want to keep it that way.
I look at the Biggest Loser contestants and Ron is a member of the City Council, married with two kids and gainfully employed. Was his life really nothing before he went on the Biggest Loser? I doubt it helps to have them go over all the ways their lives sucked before the weight loss.
Checking in / On the road...
13 years ago
2 comments:
I haven't watched this season, but I know at least one of our fellow blog friends is a loyal watcher and I'd love to hear her take.
But, my assumption (which is always dangerous) is that part of this might be because of who the pool of contestants are. Not many people with established careers and full lives are able to take off the amount of time required to go live on a ranch for a reality show. In some ways, it reminds me of the Real World casting problems - you're not getting a really diverse & successful pool of potential contestants just because of the structure of the show. My thoughts - prove me wrong?
Yes! More comments please! You do make a good point that the pool of contestants is self selecting. Obviously someone with a well-rounded life would probably never go on the show. But the thing is, when you see the folks go home and see their lives, they are the black pits of despair they end up talking about in their interviews. Many of the folks over 30 are happily married (after all they go on and on about their spouses being the love of their lives) and most have children. Being fat hasn't stopped them from building a meaningful life for themselves.
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