The new show "Heavy" made me so mad

[gettheweightoff]

Sorry, but I have to vent about this show because it irritates me so much.

So the people on this show are morbidly obese and are on a 6 month program to lose weight and change their lives. For the first 30 days they are sent to a clinic and are basically yelled at by fitness trainers where all you ever see is them working out and they barely and I mean barely touch on the food component when this is a huge factor in weight loss and changing your life. These people are literally eating themselves to death and all they focus on is workouts?

I can't stand shows like this and the Biggest Loser where they lose 6-10lbs a week (granted they are 600 lbs so changes are going to be drastic and that's expected) but it's implied that it's done by moving more and they don't say much about the food when at the beginning of each episode the candidates talk about their "food addiction" and one lady inparticular was talking about her constant snacking and snacking inside snacking and yet they didn't really address this. Oh they see a therapist and suddenly they are so much better? Still, how are they supposed to eat?

The whole time I was watching I was thinking how much these people would benefit from no-s because it regulates your eating etc (you guys all know the benefits)

Now I know I need to excercise and I haven't included this yet in my plan and I'm actually starting today but excercise isn't the whole picture and these shows make it look like it is. Not everyone can afford personal trainers, let alone gym memberships or the time (very difficult with young kids around) etc. I'm not making excuses because the excercise part is something I need to work on but come on these people have access to a gym 24 hours a day and it's just not realistic.

Ok, I know some of you will disagree with me but I had to vent.

[NoelFigart]

The reality is that those soi-disent reality shows aren't anywhere close to real in terms of diet, exercise or anything. Training all day isn't reasonable or practical. Diuretics before weigh-ins, or any of the other practices these shows us are about drama, not healthy habits. There are plenty of fat people (like me) who do not, in fact, sit in front of their televisions snacking on huge bowls of candy. That nonsense is often staged.

Healthy eating habits and moderation aren't dramatic. That's rather the POINT. They make crappy television, but I don't think ANYONE needs to take television as any sort of reality check for their own lives. (That'd be like taking relationship advice from a Harlequin romance. Date rape, anyone?)

Yes, exercise is important, no doubt. If you like them and can afford them, gym memberships are dandy. If you don't like 'em, Shovelglove and Urban Ranger really are excellent systems to get exercise in.

Me? I used a treadmill today for a half an hour. My goal is a half an hour of exercise every N day for a month, or I have to *shudder* take an exercise class. (Great for them as likes 'em. Doin' stuff in groups ain't my cuppa). You might be different and like the classes.

[amake616]

I agree. Those shows are pretty dreadful. I caught a couple of episodes of Celebrity Fit Club when I was still in high school and will never forget one of the judges reaming one of the contestants who'd had steady weight loss but in smaller amounts (1-3 pounds a week) as not trying hard enough because 2 pounds in one week is a joke and can be lost in a trip to the bathroom. It depressed the hell out of teenage me - the average person on a diet is doing phenomenally well if they're losing a couple pounds a week.

[bluebunny27]

Oh, I like the show. It shows people who have real issues. They tell 'em what to do to improve. I agree they could show more tips about nutrition though. It's barely mentioned.

I disagree, it's not like THE BIGGEST LOSER at all, people are not voted off the show, it's not a competition where people have to lose weight to get money and whatnot. I'd like it better if they had people who only have 100 pounds or less to lose on the show though, it's hard to relate to a huge guy on my TV screen who weighs 500, even 600 pounds + of course.

They are pretty successful too, on the last show the big man went from 555 pounds to 425 in about 6 months if I recall, good improvement.

Plus did you see those trainers on the show, wow. The young blonde woman, Britny, is 100% *HOT* and in *TOP SHAPE*. Seems really nice and friendly too. I always check out her lil' body whenever she is there. Geesh, any guy would be motivated training with a girl like that .. hellllllllllo !! You'd stay overtime in the gym, even ...

The other main trainer, the black guy, has huuuuuuuuuuge arms !! 100% muscular. Unbelievable physique right there, I am so jealous !! Looks like a frickin' bodybuilder. I hope it's all natural, no steroids or human growth hormones. He looks like he weighs 260 pounds while having less than 10% body fat, maybe even less than 6% ... unbelievable.

I like how he berates people though, he gets people to move, that's the idea. In the last episode he was berating the big man in a very intense way and that helped him a lot. Instead of sitting there moping he was exercising in no time after getting yelled at. It's like a good cop, bad cop, situation ... you have Britny who is super sweet and the big black guy who is much tougher, good trainer combination.

Quite an entertaining show overall.

It's true they are in optimal conditions though, private center, equipment to train, personal trainers ... even at home. But you can get great results even doing it on your own as long as you are motivated of course. It depends on the person. I know someone who lost about 60 pounds within 6 months. He sees a trainer 4 times per week so that must cost a lot, maybe 150$ to 200$ per week ?? He says he needs to be motivated by someone else and already worries what will happen when the trainer is no longer around or maybe just a once a week deal ... if he'll be motivated enough to train on his own, etc.

Marc

[NoelFigart]

I have never found being berated helpful or motivating. I don't like perpetuating the idea that yelling at me for being fat is going to help me.

Of course, this is why, on the rare occasions that someone is stupid enough to do it, I call them on it.

[kccc]

I have never found being berated helpful or motivating. I don't like perpetuating the idea that yelling at me for being fat is going to help me.

Of course, this is why, on the rare occasions that someone is stupid enough to do it, I call them on it.

Ditto. I think that kind of berating is a form of bullying, and find it unacceptable.

You can challenge people without being mean.

But then, I suppose I'm not exactly the target audience for that sort of show.

[amake616]

I guess everybody gets motivated by different things. Personally, if I had a personal trainer who berated me I'd deck them and demand my money back. As far as I'm concerned, you get paid to do your job - you shouldn't get to take the easy way out by being nasty to the people you were hired to train because it's easier than spending a bit of time and effort to treat them with courtesy and respect.

[Over43]

I thought "heavy" looked better than "The Biggest Loser", although I haven't seen the former, and refuse to watch the latter.

I watched the Biggest Loser once for about 10 minutes and was so disgusted with that Jillian Michaels I think I turned the tube to the wheat report on the Rural Channel.

I find her treatment of those folks pretty innapropriate. If a PE teacher was caught on a text doing that he/she would be on national news.

Anyway, I forget what channel Heavy is even on?

[Lorelei]

My beef with the berating and yelling is that it does not promote activity/exercise as something enjoyable that can make a person feel good. It makes it seem like a punishment - something people must endure - even if it exhausts them or makes them physically ill. That, in my opinion, is not going to make a person enjoy being active. Associating negative feelings with exercise is certainly not motivating. Just my two cents.

[BrightAngel]

One way to show the difficulty of a weight-loss struggle
is to show extremely fat people doing heavy exercise.

The REAL weight-loss struggle is to reduce one's eating enough to lose weight,
but watching people not eat would be like watching paint dry.

Not too entertaining.

Personally, I've learned that during the time I'm exercising,
I'm not eating.
So...if these people exercise between 6 to 8 hours a day,
that's at least 6 to 8 hours a day that they aren't eating.

[Over43]

One of the guys I work with now teaches PE. I think he has the kids run a lap, at their pace, and then has them inviolved in structured games/sports for the rest of the hour. The students seem to enjoy it, and I haven't heard a complaint yet concerning PE class.

About 5 years ago (+) I taught PE with a fellow who would get the students on the indoor track and run them (with the belittling and yelling inculded) until some of them vomited into the trash can. It scared the h3ll out of me because I thought any one of them might drop.

I don't think you need to exercise until you hurl for it to be effective, and it might garner ratings, but Jillian Michaels' "tough Love" is pretty borish.

[Blithe Morning]

During the cold war, PE classes were looked at pre-bootcamp training, a way to develop a large pool of soldiers who would have a baseline fitness should we need to mobilize on a large scale. The Presidential Physical Fitness Award was based on skills used in military training - rope climbing and sit ups and running a mile for example(1).

Today, PE is geared more towards life time activities which makes more sense.

But, the military is finding out that the level of fitness of many incoming recruits is appalling. The report released by Mission Readiness in April "Too Fat to Fight" (2)highlights some of those concerns.

PE classes are part of the answer but only part.

============================
1 - Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2003
2 - Too Fat to Fight. A report released by Mission Readiness. April 2010.

[Over43]

That was an issue during WWII as well, a lot of recruits (draftees) were just plain unfit.

Charles Atlas took the Military to task over it.

[Nicest of the Damned]

One way to show the difficulty of a weight-loss struggle
is to show extremely fat people doing heavy exercise.

The REAL weight-loss struggle is to reduce one's eating enough to lose weight,
but watching people not eat would be like watching paint dry.

Not too entertaining.

I suppose No S in particular would make boring television. It wouldn't be very interesting to watch people not snack, not eat sweets, and not take seconds. The struggle with hunger between meals that some of us have isn't very telegenic, either.

[Over43]

I imagine it would.

I like that.