The boom in so-called Reality TV shows has me worried. The vast majority of them fail to tickle my intelligence. Actually, I more often than not feel a few brain cells die when I check out a new one, just to see what it is about. Deciphering the beneficial Reality TV shows from the useless detritus usually takes time, so I've decided to pay my dues to mankind by assisting with weeding out the roses from the offal. The only issue is that I won't be able to get through too many in one post, so I shall look at them over a series of posts.
My favourite category of shows promote healthy lifestyle via healthy diet and sufficient exercise. This never bores me, as it's near impossible to hit perfection with this, and anything to keep the motivation going is a huge plus. Many of them focus on obesity, and helping those who feel as though they've gone too far to come back, do just that. This is wonderful way to show those who are morbidly and super morbidly obese that it is never too late.
Here are some which I've seen along with my thoughts on them. I won't be delving too much into the logistics of the shows, as that will make this post too long.
The Biggest Loser
There are so many verions of this, each country which does it tries to make it his own, however the basic premise is still the same. It's a game show where everyone weighs in once once a week to keep track of their percentage of body weight lost, and usually one person gets eliminated each week after the weigh in, until they are down to the final 3 or 4 contestants, and then the person with the largest percentage of weight loss wins. I like that this show (and all those below) take us back to the basic science of weight. Calories in < calories out = weight loss. Simple! Cut calories and increase activity = weight loss. We've seen some of the biggest people lose weight and get healthy on this show, which is fantastic! What I dislike is that it is a competition which has a lot of emphasis on the game. I don't like the weight advantages/penalties for winning/losing challenges, the food temptations, having to vote someone off and the strategy which has to go behind it, and the fact that so much emphasis is placed on losing large quantities of weight so quickly. In the real world, nobody can work out for 8 hours a day and have nothing else to do but work out. It doesn't demonstrate that a healthy lifestyle can be well balanced and integrated into everyone's regular lives. Also, the focus on the number on the scale doesn't take into account how much of the weight lost is fat, retained water or muscle mass. A lot of the large numbers we see is from water. Also, if we believe what we read and hear, some of the former contestants claim that they have gone to extremes to show large numbers lost on the scale, and some of those habits are not healthy (dehydrating, diuretics, etc.). I also dislike that so much time is wasted on watching emotional breakdowns and tantrums, and so little on showing which exercises contestants are doing and what they're eating. So while on a whole this show has a good motivational tone, it's not to be taken too seriously.
Heavy
This is an American show. Each episode features new obese folk who will try to lose weight over a longer period of time, without the pressure of being in a competition. I like this. The pace of the weight loss is more realistic than that on some of the other shows out there.
Embarassing Fat Bodies
This is a British show which focuses on some of the negative effects which obesity has on the body. In each episode, each doctor on a team of 3 usually meets, examins, refers and then follows up with a patient who has some obesity related body issue to resolve. A good reality check IMO.
Fat Families
A British show where an entire obese family is visited, observed, advised, and helped to lose weight. The motto is simple and true, 'Eat less and move more!'
Shedding for the Wedding
An American show, which as the name suggests is all about losing weight for your wedding. A number of couples get together, work out, weigh in each week, the 2 couples with the lowest percentages of weight loss then face an elimination challenge where the loser goes home. When they have only 3 couples left, then it's about which couple has the highest percentage of weight loss. The prize at the end is the winning couple's dream wedding. It's similar to The Biggest Loser in concept, but done differently. It is an okay show which provides motivation. The game play part of it seemed a tad bit more fair than The Biggest Loser.
Dance Your Ass Off
I honestly am not too sure how this one works, as I haven't even watched a full episode of it. All I get is that it's a bunch of overweight folks who love to dance being paired up with thin dancers, having to learn and perform new routines in front of an audience. It somehow combines calorie counting weight loss techniques with dancing. May well be interesting, but I don't like to see people dance, I rather get up and do it.
Supersize vs Superskinny
A British show which as the name suggests, takes one anorexic person with one morbidly obese person, pairs them up and has each prepare his own meals and feed them to the other person for a week. The idea is to get those who eat too little to eat more and vice versa. To be honest, I can't see the benefit in this show. I don't see it as teaching people to find the balance, I see it as trying to show people who are too extreme in one direction with their eating disorders to try to get the opposite eating disorder.
Insanity - The Asylum
This American show is work out videos, however it is for elite athletes. If you're not already a pro, then you shouldn't try this. To me, it's to take those who are already there, over the edge. It's not for fatties trying to move for the first time.
