Operation Fitness
By Michael Torchia
The Potential Health Dangers of "Biggest Loser" TV Show
The popular reality television show "Biggest Loser" depicts successful weight loss as an all or nothing process. On "The Biggest Loser," contestants are put through physical, emotional and psychological abuse. In addition, their trainers subject the morbidly obese contestants to severe workouts that are potentially harmful to them and viewers who attempt these extreme methods of weight loss on their own.
Their so-called expert trainers push the unfit contestants through various exercises and challenges utilizing such poor form. The hours-long, athlete-level routines take place from the get-go. Some contestants have completed a quasi-mini-triathlon consisting of a 250-meter swim, a 2-mile bike ride and a climb up 42 flights of stairs. Others have pulled airplanes down a runway or climbed up and down a hill as many times as they could from sunup to sundown — not just sweating profusely, but sometimes feeling dizzy, vomiting and crying.
"The Biggest Loser" has made extreme boot camp style training sessions seem a sure-fire way to weight loss for sedentary, morbidly obese people. And the success of its contestants has created a false sense of it being risk free. It's completely contrary, weight loss programs should be undertaken only with a physician's seal of approval. Overweight people might have undiagnosed medical conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
Contestants could potentially have a heart attack, a stroke, or risking physical injury. Viewers need to be aware of these kinds of dangers. Health experts around the country are appalled by how the unfit contestants are put through extreme workouts and subjected to such verbal abuse. Not to mention the embarrassing weigh-ins when male contestants must go shirt-less revealing their blubbery waists and man boobs. All the show does is re-inforce to those who are overweight and inactive, that exercising is not enjoyable and it's useless if you aren't panting like a dog on a hot summer day. People should be watching the show to be inspired and not to feel hopeless anymore.
Recently, the third season 'Biggest Loser' champ, Erik Chopin, lost a remarkable 214 pounds on the show, he has gained half his original weight back. Weighing in close to 300 pounds, Chopin said in an interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show, once he stopped getting attention from the show, he fell into depression and stopped exercising. When the show originally aired, Chopin was the center of attention and media coverage, having gone from 407 to 193 pounds. While in the public eye, he kept his weight maintained and even underwent a dramatic body lift surgery in 2007 to get rid of the excess body fat sagging around his waist. During the surgery, doctors removed over 10 pounds of skin. Now he is finally ready to turn his life around before his weight gets "out of control," he told Oprah. While he doesn't expect to get down to 193 pounds again, he admits he just wants to be healthy. "This time I am not going to get involved with a number. I want to be healthy and fit," he said. " This is a perfect example of how such rapid weight loss can lead to physical, emotional and psychological adverse effects. The best way to lose weight is by developing sensible eating habits and utilizing a sensible workout program.
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