Monday, 9 April 2012

[Supertraining] Digest Number 4543

Messages In This Digest (1 Message)

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1a.

Re: How The Biggest Loser Promotes Weight Bias | Dr. Sharma's Obesit

Posted by: "deadliftdiva@comcast.net" deadliftdiva@comcast.net

Sun Apr 8, 2012 2:33 pm (PDT)



I looked in on a couple of this season's shows after reading the first posting. I have to say that the infighting and emotional stress that cast members put on each other, plus the over the top behavior of one of the trainers is very off putting. If there was a message there, it was "eliminate somebody succeeding with their weight loss because they're a threat" and "anything short of collapse is not doing enough for dramatic weight loss". If everybody did as this show suggests by example, we'd have a lot more calls to 911 and have heavy folks trying to submarine each other rather than support.

This does not look like sanity. This is not encouraging to someone who might want to change their lifestyle - it suggests you have to have a crazy coach, and have to be secluded from your normal life. This is not what most people can afford to do, or realistically SHOULD DO.

You cannot keep up the nutty efforts they make on this show for LIFE.

Also, what is the rate at which former cast members regain weight? My understanding is not all past 'winners' have kept the weight down - no matter how carefully they select their cast - and they ARE hand selected - there are "failures" post show.....

How large a group was the ACSM studying? and of the folks who were obese, how many actually did anything after their "positive response" to the broadcast? Did they go out and hire trainers, and diet help? How many succeeded in extreme weight loss and maintained it?

Also it is my understanding that "Jillian" from the earlier years of this show is being sued? Something about unhealthy supplements she was helping to sell?

I think the original posting is much closer to the mark. Sizism or what you wish to call it certainly is around and doing very well in American society. The show is helping to make the rift worse.

One example - I was in a dress shop recently and a lady who appeared to be very high strung, had almost no body with bones protruding (and zero bodyfat from the appearance) had tried on a size 0 and then demanded to know from the lady assisting her whether this had been "stretched out by someone fat". After the shop lady recovered from the phrasing of the question - I mean, how fat are you at size 0 or2 or ? - she pointed out that only 1 other lady had tried the dress on and she believed it was still quite proper to the size. She also said if this lady wished, they would order her one and if necessary, alter it to meet her needs....inward.

Fat at size 0?? what sort of mental process or lack does it take to arrive THERE?

Second example - years ago, I was competing on the platform. One of the judges was a lightweight lifter who threw nothing but red lights at all the ladies in my flight in the squat and after 2 rounds, they removed her. Why? Because she didn't like FAT people. Even said it outright in the hall at the break. :( The flight had been the 82.5, 90 kg, and shw. Luckily the other 2 judges had passed most of the lifts and nobody bombed out because of her, but still....sigh.

Third - as a massage therapist, I work with all sizes. I've heard coworkers and gals I went to school with proclaim that they didn't want to work on anybody who was fat... (some made it "old and fat").

BBC America did a show where they took a couple of ladies and pointedly put them through mental and physical evals to be sure they were up to the study, then had them fight their way down to a very small size from a normal weight by any means possible. One (a journalist) had a sort of breakdown and had to be removed from the study..... One of the participants ate her way back to her normal weight afterward but nearly broke her relationship during the whole thing. They showed the methods the participants used. They also detailed and followed up after the study to show what happened. The journalist was still struggling with the behaviors that had caused her to quit the study. They were all hell to be around, miserable, and I think a far more realistic portrayal of what does go on with models and others who intentionally force weight loss down to a tiny size really have to do to get there and maintain it.

The use of the word "loser" in that title of the show is appropriate - for it's meant to point out how bad these folks' lives are for simply being fat. From what they show of the audition tapes, you have to be desperate enough to degrade YOURSELF on there before they allow you in.

Trying to sell folks on a sane idea of walking more steps vs. the glory of loserdom is probably not going to work. By the way - I've seen very overweight ER nurses who had pedometers on and did about 10,000 steps a day....just how much further do they need to walk on tired legs before their weight moves? Bodies acclimate to the stresses we put them under and well, I'm not convinced the one guy I saw (about 6'5" and 400ish?) is going to lose significant weight from his pedometer clicking over daily. Sigh. He was a very good nurse by the way - very gentle and good manner with the gal he was working on.

One size never did fit all. It's the biggest loser myth.

The Phantom
aka Linda Schaefer, CMT/RMT, competing powerlifter
Denver, Colorado USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "samuel9888" <Sam68123@cox.net>
To: Supertraining@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2012 9:51:40 AM
Subject: [Supertraining] Re: How The Biggest Loser Promotes Weight Bias | Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes

A panel presentation last week at ACSM's Health and Fitness Summit cited research on the effects of reality TV about weight loss on respondents. 57% said the programs have influenced their eating habits and 48% said the shows influenced their exercise behavior. The percentages were dramatically higher among obese respondents (72%/73% respectively). BL has spawned grassroots spinoffs of the idea at workplaces, communities, and other areas. The segments portrayed on the shows are only a small part of the entire process and obviously selected to heighten the drama and viewer involvement. In addition, Tara Costa gave a keynote address about her experience on BL and "living a new lifestyle" (from the title of the presentation). Most informative!

We don't know what 40-minute segment (or combination of segments to equal 40 minutes) of the show was used to conduct the research by Domoff et al. There is room for both perspectives regarding the show: some positive elements and some negative elements. One truth about BL and its clones is that they focus on outcomes vs behavior. How about a "Biggest Mover" contest–a pedometer step challenge?

Teresa Merrick, Ph.D.
ACSM HFS, NSCA-CPT/CSCS
Bellevue, NE

--- In Supertraining@yahoogroups.com , David Supertraining International <david@...> wrote:
>
> http://www.drsharma.ca/how-the-biggest-loser-promotes-weight-bias.html
>
> David Driscoll
> Sydney, Australia.
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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