With the Australian Finale of The Biggest Loser over, viewers are left to contemplate the journey and incredible transformations of the 18 contestants. What these people achieve in 12 weeks, most of us wouldn’t achieve in a lifetime. Yet many viewers dismiss the program as “unrealistic”, “setting a poor example of healthy weight loss”, and “way too challenging to try.” With over 10% of the population watching the program it has the ability to significantly affect how people feel about exercise and weight loss. The question remains, however, is the biggest loser a motivator or de-motivator?

When throwing the topic open for discussion, it’s evident that there are many who see the show as a de-motivator. In an article from Time, the author was concerned about;

• the program’s focus on rapid weight loss,
• the fact that it paid little attention to the maintenance of their results
• the rumours that drastic losses experienced often came from deliberate dehydration before a weigh in.
• the general public might think that such high weight loss numbers were the norm.
• Other people commented that the pain these contestants went through was too much. If weight loss was going to be that hard, then they weren’t even going to try.

I’d like to challenge these opinions, as I think that overall, the Biggest Loser is a massive motivator. It may be filmed in a 12 week pressure cooker situation leading to some of the above concerns, but I believe that the majority of viewers see that the benefits far outweigh the concerns.

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Tagged As: diet, Motivation, the biggest loser, Training, Weight loss