Weight Loss Discussion (VERY ON TOPIC)

[Guest guest]

This is a letter I received from a member of The Biggest Loser loop I am on. He

sent it to the loop...not me. It is on topic with weight loss but he does

discuss the show The Biggest Loser. I wanted to share it with you guys because I

wanted to bring it up for discussion among our group because I just don't

understand how he could send a letter like this about weight loss and I wanted

to see what you guys thought about this. I replied a letter to him and my

response is under his letter. It is long, I apologize, but VERY interesting to

read.

[biggest-Loser-2] Who are the BIGGEST LOSERS? We are.

My name is Rob. I am posting because I am infuriated by " The

Biggest Loser. " I was morbidly obese for most of my life until I

stopped dieting and lost 140 pounds over seven years ago, and have

kept it off the same way. Dieting only made me fatter. And that is

what will happen to the participants after they leave the show and to

anyone at home who buys into the myth being perpetrated by this show

that short-term diet and exercise programs can do anything but insure

long-term weight gain.

I was appalled at the methods the trainers were using with the

participants. Any doctor will tell you it is potentially dangerous to

lose more than 2-3 pounds per week. Some of these people lost over 20

pounds in one week. To exercise so much that you puke your guts out

is also very dangerous. Even fit people don't work out for five hours

at a time. And they don't need to be humiliated into submission by a

drill sergeant of a trainer who is neither a psychologist nor a

nutritionist and is therefore ill equipped to deal with these

people's emotional upsets or dietary needs.

It is a sad state of affairs when a prime time television show places

ratings above the well being of the people on the show or the viewing

audience. But welcome to America, where commerce almost always comes

before people. It angered me to see how cruelly these participants

were treated and how they were humiliated in front of millions of

people as they were forced to parade, half naked with their bellies

hanging out, being publicly weighed, tempted with " bad foods " and

treated like children who need to be told what to eat and how to

behave. Sure, these people agreed to be on national television with

the promise of winning a lot of money. But what will it cost them

after they leave the show?

The participants said they were there to change their lives and what

they are being set up for is failure after they leave the show and

return to normal living and eating, just like they've always

experienced on any diet or exercise program. The extraordinary amount

of deprivation and temptation they experience on the show is a

guarantee of overindulgence once they return to their own

environments. They will be in such a beat up mental state that they

will binge worse than ever before. This will cost them dearly in the

end. This type of treatment is degrading to human beings and is

reinforcing the stereotypes that there is something fundamentally

wrong with being a fat person. These people should be treated with

dignity and have their self esteem built up not trounced upon. Could

it be possible to have people lose weight, have them win money and

have them be looked upon with admiration rather than as losers and

that there is something wrong with them?

What is the message this show is sending out to overweight Americans,

especially children? If you severely restrict what you eat and

exercise excessively that of course you will lose weight. But for

how long? Who can maintain that regimented " lifestyle " for any period

of time.? This reinforces the misguided belief that a short-term

solution can produce a long- term result. If you trust someone else

to help you lose weight you don't learn to trust yourself, so you can

never succeed on your own, forever believing that someone or

something else has the answer on how you can lose weight. Our culture

wants to get thinner, so we diet and exercise and we just get fatter.

When will we wake up to the fact that diet and exercise do not

produce long-term weight loss. They never have and they never will.

Because all of these short-term solutions have deprivation and

failure built into their design, which virtually guarantees eventual

weight gain. All the proof we need is in looking at any other culture

where diet mentality is not prevalent. We will continue to get fatter

and sicker until we stop the insanity of doing the same thing over

and over expecting a different result.

What responsibility does prime time television have in a society

facing an epidemic where 400,000 people die each year from obesity

related causes? If ratings remain more important than perpetuating

diet mythology and making a buck the obesity epidemic will continue

to spin out of control with no signs of it abating any time soon.

What do you think?

My response:

Hi Rob. My name is , Jr. and I have lost 127 lbs. from 1997 - 1998

and I have kept it off for 8 years through diet and exercise and group support.

How can you send this e-mail out and make the statement that, " When will we wake

up to the fact that diet and exercise do not produce long-term weight loss. "

when the fact

remains that I lost my weight through diet and exercise, as do thousands and

thousands of members of my weight loss organization and have kept it off for

years. Sometimes up to 45 years! I admit that I have struggled from time to time

and have gained back about 10 lbs. but I am still on track and will be getting

it off once again through diet and exercise. Are you saying the only way to get

the weight off and keep it off is NOT through diet and exercise but through

what....surgery? I'm confused! In order to lose weight you don't have to go on a

diet but make a lifestyle change. Moderation is the key. It's not a diet but you

have to change your diet and cut down on things that are bad for you.

Moderation. Just because it's not a specific diet doesn't mean it's not a diet.

It has to be a diet that you can live with for the rest of your life.

Craig works if you do it the rest of your life. Weight Watchers works if you do

it the rest of your life. Who can afford that? You have to find out what's right

for you and what you can live with and that's when the weight will come off.

That's what I did. And it sounds like that's what you did.

I agree with you that the people on The Biggest Loser are losing the weight too

quickly BUT what I learned from the web site and last season is that they have a

bunch of doctors on staff there that monitor the contestants and make sure

everything is okay and everyone is eating and exercising healthy. They just

don't show or talk about these doctors every week. And I don't think people are

strutting around half naked on the show. First off...they agreed to this. Second

of all....the guys having no shirts on and the girls wearing tight clothes will

show us as well as them how much they have lost and how thin they are getting.

It was always great for me to get rid of a big shirt and put on one that fits

because I felt thinner and I looked thinner and it sure did show me how much

weight I had loss when sometimes I didn't feel it or see it naked in the mirror.

You also have to realize that there is a difference in a person weighing 200

losing 20 lbs. in one week than someone weighing 400 lbs. losing 20 lbs. in one

week so who are we to say it's not healthy unless you are THEIR doctor.

And what about when they leave the show? Have you seen the web site? They have

stories and pictures of all the members from season one and they have all lost

more weight and kept it off. They are all doing great. Even the people that have

left from this show have lost and kept it off. They learned a lot from the show

and have kept the weight off and feel great and I have no doubt in my mind they

will keep it off forever. I lost 127 lbs. and I feel absolutely great and there

is nothing in this world, unless it's out of my control, that would ever make me

gain my weight back. I have had a taste of what it's like to be thin, and I know

how much hard work it was to lose this weight, I will never go back to the

weight of 316.

You sound like a VERY intelligent man and I like the way you write and I am glad

you expressed your opinions but I have to totally disagree with you on your

statement about diet and exercise. Diet and exercise is the ONLY way to lose

weight. Diet, exercise, food journal, drinking water, and group support are the

keys to weight loss.

I wish you all the best of luck in your battle with your weight.

Sincerely,

, Jr.

Go Texas TOPS Team 1: SIX TOPS 'A LOSIN'!

Your KOPS Pal Always,

, Jr.

TOPS #TX 1432, Spring

112.25 lbs. gone/90.25 in TOPS from highest weight on renewal

Reinstated 1 year KOPS/Current goal acheived August 4, 2005.

" These excuses how they've served me so well

They've kept me safe they've kept me stuck

They've kept me locked in my own cell

These excuses how they're so familiar

They've kept me blocked they've kept me small

They've kept me safe inside my shell "

~Alanis Morissette (Excuses)