“The Biggest Loser” is a reality TV show that seems to defy gravity. Morbidly obese contestants shrink to half their size in a matter of weeks through healthy dieting, intense personal training and persistence. Season after season, “The Biggest Loser” has presented the same inspiring message to a country where heart disease is the leading cause of death and 35.7 percent of adults struggle with obesity: if these individuals can overcome obesity, anyone can.
This season, the success stories were overshadowed by astonishment and concern when Rachel Frederickson stepped onto the season finale stage and showed off her insanely thin new body. The 24-year-old former competitive swimmer shocked the world when she weighed in at 105 pounds, indicating that she transitioned from one extreme to the other. Despite the fact that her BMI clearly indicates that she is underweight, Frederickson was crowned “The Biggest Loser” and took home the $250,000 cash prize. Frederickson’s win goes completely against the purpose of the show. Instead of promoting healthier lifestyles and inspiring others to tackle obesity, Frederickson’s win rewards unhealthy and unrealistic goals.
The general premise of “The Biggest Loser” is respectable, admirable and necessary. The show brings to light how severe the issue of obesity is and how life-transforming and satisfying working hard to achieve a healthy body can be. However, the methods and week-by-week results are incredibly unhealthy. Losing 10 to 15 pounds a week is not only severely damaging to the contestant’s health, it also creates unachievable goals for viewers at home.
A “The Biggest Loser” fan can feel motivated by the show to diet and work out and will most likely lose between two to five pounds a week. This is a healthy and average rate of weight loss. But he or she will then tune into “The Biggest Loser” and feel discouraged and disappointed because they are incapable of producing the same unnatural results as the contestants. Watching Rachel Frederickson drop from 255 pounds to 105 in a matter of months is a probably dream come true for many Americans, but it is too dramatic a shift in such a short amount of time to be healthy by any means.
Frederickson mentioned in a recent interview that she works out six hours a day, a completely unhealthy workout schedule. However, it is unfair to assume that Frederickson has an eating disorder. Yes, she is under a healthy weight for her height, but not every girl who is underweight sheds pounds through starving and purging.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, more than one half of teenage girls and nearly one third of teenage boys try to control their weight through unhealthy methods like skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives. The media’s claim that Frederickson used unhealthy methods or possibly had an eating disorder to become a size 0 might make teens and young adults even more inclined to try similar methods.
In a world where images of super-thin girls flood TV screens, magazines and the Internet, there is universal pressure to either hit the gym and cut the carbs or sulk over the unachievable nature of body image goals with a box of cookies. Frederickson’s win shows the world that the ideal size is a size 0, a healthy body image is very thin, and those who do not achieve these goals are not working hard enough.
“The Biggest Loser” should promote appreciation for all healthy shapes and sizes and not reward the thinnest person on stage for losing the most weight. Next season, the show should calculate BMIs before crowning a winner. If the BMI is too low, the contestant should be disqualified.
There are too many shows that promote skinny supremacy, especially in the genre of reality TV. “The Biggest Loser” should challenge socially enforced body images and reward realistic body shapes that fans can actually achieve these goals are not working hard enough.
“The Biggest Loser” should promote appreciation for all healthy shapes and sizes and not reward the thinnest person on stage for losing the most weight. Next season, the show should calculate BMIs before crowning a winner. If the BMI is too low, the contestant should be disqualified.
There are too many shows that promote skinny supremacy, especially in the genre of reality TV. “The Biggest Loser” should challenge socially enforced body images and reward realistic body shapes that fans can actually achieve.
