Hello all, I've (24F; SW:311 CW:225) been on my weight loss journey for almost a year and a half now, I've lost a total of 85 lbs. I've attempted weight loss multiple times, including during childhood and my teenage years. I was always a chubby kid and my parents have struggled with obesity and weight loss my entire life as well.
While I also do not agree with the approach my parents took in trying to get me to lose weight as a child, something I have been thinking about recently is how my family used to watch shows like The Biggest Loser when I was growing up. We used to watch it as a way to stay motivated with our own weight loss and also for information, tips, advice, etc. on weight loss. Obviously we seemed to trust the expertise of the trainers on the show as they are considered professionals. We had no reason to question how this show presented weight loss and fitness.
As an adult who finally found some success in weight loss, I realized just how toxic this show was. If you've ever seen the show, you know these contestants are forced into brutal workouts, presented food temptations in exchange for rewards like money or contact with their family, cut off from their primary support system and isolated from the outside world, expected to lose 10+ lbs every week just to secure their safety on the show, and made to feel bad about themselves if they don't lose at least 5 lbs in a week. I realized that this show set my own personal expectations of weight loss as a child/teenager and it made me believe that if I'm not doing intense workouts for 2 hours every day or not losing at least 5 lbs a week, that I was a failure and wasn't doing it right. I've had to reset my own mindset around food and exercise to create a healthier relationship with my body and food to achieve successful weight loss. I would say I've been doing well in achieving that but I wish The Biggest Loser had never existed. I feel like I could have achieved weight loss a lot sooner or avoided getting as heavy as I did had I not been exposed to it.
Has anyone else had similar experiences with this show? Or a different experience? Does anyone feel like media similar to The Biggest Loser helped them? I know the show isn't on air anymore (even after a revival season that didn't make many changes) but I feel like this is something people struggling with their weight don't realize, that their perceptions surrounding weight loss have been distorted by things like The Biggest Loser.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/3fD47jy
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