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The Biggest loser dangers? (Read 636 times)


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    I watch it.  I'm not sure why.  By the end, they are generally in pretty ggod physical shape from all that exercise.

     

    I'm jealous of people who can lose more than a pound a week.  I am a halfling.  According to spark people, I burn 67 calories a mile.  Even losing a half pound a week for me takes heroics that I don't have.

    DoppleBock


      I find it really amusing when my overweight friends or relatives point out people who are fat ...ter than them.  What the hell its OK to be fat as long as you can find people fatter than you and make fun of them?

       

      I struggle with weight - I work hard - I have a lot of failures, some success.  I feel for anyone that is over weight - Specially for those who are trying to fight the good fight.

       

      I agree on the stupidity of going full throttle into a workout - I see the YMCA personal trainers having people who are starting to workout for the 1st time in for ever - lift weights on machines to failure ... WTF - Those people are going to be so sore tomorrow that they will not be able to move ... a week from now they will still be sore.

       

      I agree with TanyaS and Nobby -- the biggest danger of the biggest loser is the way it feeds cultural ideas about exercise, pain, and health. The show is definitely part of the problem, not the solution. I'd add to this the "freakshow" element; it's basically P.T. Barnum all over again.

       

      The show gives two things to viewers: first the good feeling that even though they are overweight and out of shape, at least they don't weigh 400 lbs. And then second it disguises that pleasure in feeling superior to others by offering cheap and contrived identification with the people that we were just pitying as the contestants fight for their goals.

       

      You see this a whole lot on sitcoms these days: characters that make us feel good by comparison (they make us feel smarter or healthier or what have you) and then a storyline that shades over that feeling of superiority with really sappy and simplistic events that then make us feel sorry for those people. I think the hit show Parenthood works this way with different themes.

      Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

       

       

      Better I Leave


        I struggle with weight - I work hard - I have a lot of failures, some success.  I feel for anyone that is over weight - Specially for those who are trying to fight the good fight.

        Right there with ya on all counts my friend.

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