WOW!
I always tell my Marshfield clients, even have it on my website, the UNREAL expectations of The Biggest Loser game show on the human psyche.
It’s downright insulting.
How can average Joe and Jane expect to drop 8-25 pounds a week with the intrusion of kids, school, work, chores, family matters, grocery shopping, sports, etc.
When they lose 2-3 pounds a week they feel like they haven’t done it right.
Far from the truth.
But I found these on one of Tom Venuto’s websites, one of my colleagues.
Read This about FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS from a Biggest Loser champion:
EXCERPT from the article:
The Biggest Loser Pros And Cons: An In-Depth Review of Television’s Most Popular Reality Show
Tom Venuto
…
The network, the trainers and other supporters of the show say they do not
promote or endorse drugs or any unhealthy methods of weight loss. Official
statements notwithstanding, the inherent nature of the show promotes dangerous
behavior.
Listen to what Biggest Loser season one winner Ryan Benson had to say on his myspace blog:
“I wanted to win so bad that the last ten days before the final weigh-in I didn’t eat one piece of solid food! If you’ve heard of “The Master Cleanse” that’s what I did. Its basically drinking lemonade made with water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The rules of the show said we couldn’t use any weight-loss drugs, well I didn’t take any drugs, I just starved myself! Twenty-four hours before the final weigh-in I stopped putting ANYTHING in my body, liquid or solid, then I started using some old high school wrestling tricks. I wore a rubber suit while jogging on the treadmill, and then spent a lot of time in the steam room. In the final 24 hours I probably dropped 10-13 lbs in just pure water weight. By the time of the final weigh-in I was peeing blood.
Was this healthy? Heck no! My wife wanted to kill me if I didn’t do it to myself first. But I was in a different place, I knew winning the show could put us in a better place financially and I was willing to do some crazy stuff. All this torture I put myself through has had no lasting effects on me (that I know of) and at the time it was sort of a fun adventure for me — but I am sure it reeked havoc on my system.
In the five days after the show was over I gained about 32 lbs. Not from eating, just from getting my system back to normal (mostly re-hydrating myself). So in five days I was back up to 240 — crazy!”
AND THEN, AS IF IT WERENT BAD ENOUGH… THIS IS OBVIOUSLY COMMON BEHAVIOR
Benson wasn’t alone. Kai Hibbard (season 3) answered a question about this
on her my space blog:
Q: I’m curious on just how much did you all dehydrate yourselves before the BIG WEIGH IN?
A: I dehydrated off 19 pounds in the last two weeks before the BIG weigh in. I stopped eating solid food after eating only protein and asparagus (a diuretic) then I had two colonics and spent the night before the weigh in and out of a sauna. there really was no “diet” the day of the weigh in, we weigh in as dehydrated as possible on empty stomachs after 2 hour workouts in the morning.
As with Benson, Hibbard’s final week weight came flying back:
“I actually put on about 31 pounds in two weeks. After my body had a chance to stabilize I spent all last year hovering between 159 and 175, I fight everyday to find some stability.”.
…
CONCLUSION…
The Biggest Loser is just Television where the bottom line is ratings and sponsors. If you can, draw some inspiration from the show, but not your education. If you watch, then please recognize this show for what it is — entertainment; show business. Nothing more. nothing less.
Taken from Tom Venuto article
