NBC’s hit show The Biggest Loser is being called a big fat loser once again for pushing its contestants beyond their limits.
The show that pits unhealthy, overweight contestants against each other to see who can lose the most weight the fastest is being called unhealthy itself for encouraging dangerous levels of weight loss and injury-causing workouts.
Experts recommend losing 1-2 pounds per week for safe weight loss. The Biggest Loser, however, prides itself on weekly double-digit weight loss, with some contestants losing 100 pounds in seven weeks, and leaving others disappointed, and sent packing with a seven or eight pound loss.
Those same experts warn that such rapid weight loss is not only a sure fire way into yo-yo dieting, but can be unhealthy and dangerous as well. Patients who lose weight quickly run the risk of gallstones, mineral deficiencies, loss of muscle tissue and reduced bone density. In addition, such grueling workouts are a recipe for injury, as the show often shows us.
My favorite, and by favorite, I mean most frightening example, was Season 8, where resident evil-game player Tracy collapsed on the first day after pushing herself too hard during a mile run. She fell to the sand, eyes rolling back into her head, not responding to anyone, yet her teammates drug her across the finish line because she “would have been disappointed in herself if she didn’t finish.” Tracy was then rushed to the hospital where she remained for days. She didn’t need to finish a race too difficult for her fitness level, she needed an ambulance, immediately. During that same run, another contestant was hospitalized
Season 9 opened with a 26.2 mile race on stationary bikes. One contestant was taken off her bike after suffering from severe leg cramps. I work out almost daily and am not confident I would be able to bike 26.2 miles in one sitting, but that may be because I am aware when I am overworking myself and have the good sense to stop before I cramp, pull something, or have to be hospitalized.
These people, in most cases, haven’t worked out in years and don’t know what normal exercise discomfort is, and they miss their bodies’ warning signs that they are pushing too far, especially when they have trainers and teammates screaming in their faces to keep going. Most contestants by the end of the season are wrapped, fractured, broken, pulled, strained or restricted from activity due to injuries.
I have quite a few clients over 300 pounds, and I would never dream of ever asking them to try the exercises these contestants do. When you live at over 300 pounds, your body pays the price every day. There is knee pain, back pain, joint issues, cardiovascular limitations and often times many medications that effect the bodies signs of activity, like heart rate and blood pressure. Immediately forcing a body that is already broken to perform at peak levels for extended periods of time is going to breed disaster.
This isn’t a game. This is life. We like to see people push their bodies to the limit, and see perseverance and determination triumph over all, but more often than not–especially in the case of severely de-conditioned and obese individuals–it results in pain, illness and injury. We like to see the smiling faces and slimmed down bodies at the end of a short period of time, but the same results can be achieved at a slower pace, increasing the likelihood of permanent weight loss with no injuries. Competition is one thing, but unrealistic dangerous expectations are an entirely different ball of wax, and to push people as far as they can go, and sometimes beyond, will ultimately do more harm than good. Even if it does pull in the ratings.
Photo via NBC
