The finale of NBC’s hit show, The Biggest Loser, generated a lot of controversy. Contestant and challenge winner, Rachel Frederickson, revealed that she’d lost an incredible 155 lbs. – including an astonishing 45 lbs lost in the final three months of the competition.
As Frederickson strutted her 5’4”, 105 pound frame in front of judges, their facial expressions said it all. “I was stunned. That would be the word. I mean, we’ve never had a contestant come in at 105 pounds,” exclaimed The Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper.
“What people don’t understand is, when the contestant leaves to go home…they’re in charge of themselves,” Harper said, “so I had not seen her until that night, and when she walked out, I was just kind of like, ‘Whoa.’ And I’ve been on the show since the beginning.”
Harper’s comments and longevity on the show (this was his fifteenth season) are a testament to how truly incredible Frederickson’s transformation was.
However, the word incredible isn’t necessarily a synonym for “good,” and the weight loss doesn’t necessarily mean it was all praise and applause for Frederickson. In fact, the amount of weight she lost, in the time that she lost it, prompted many viewers and experts in health and fitness alike to weigh in on the transformation in a less than positive manner.
“I think the show gives [the obese] a false sense that they can lose that much weight that quickly, safely,” said celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak. “It gives them a false sense of what you need to do to lose weight. I don’t think you need to be flipping giant tractor tires and having obstacle courses…weight loss is not a competitive thing.”
Some critics have demanded the show be cancelled, but ratings and recent publicity will all but assure that a cancellation is the last thing that will happen to The Biggest Loser.
Other critics – take People Magazine for example – have provided the show with various recommendations such as: setting limits on how much weight contestants can lose, slowing down the weight loss, scaling down the intensity of workouts, and providing long-term support to former contestants.
“It is impossible to lose more than 2 lbs. of fat per week, so then you’re losing muscle tissue,” said Laura Gideon, a L.A.-based exercise therapist and physiologist. “[Rapid weight loss] is very dangerous…she could really mess up her thyroid, her adrenals, her metabolism.”
The hashtag “#tellusatoday” asked viewers of USA Today to give their opinions of the transformation, and while most blasted Frederickson and the producers of the show for promoting body sizes that show extreme ends to the spectrum, others congratulated Frederickson on her hard work, achieving her goal, and being content with herself.
While the epidemic of obesity is highest in America, Canadian health experts warn that the rate of obesity among Canadians is continually rising, which is causing premature deaths and a strain on the public healthcare system.
The Toronto Star released a visual presentation earlier this month comparing obesity rates in 2000 to obesity rates as recent as 2011.
In 2000, British Columbia was the only province with an obesity rate between 15 to 19 per cent. Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec registered per cents ranging from 20 to 24; Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Newfoundland, and the Yukon registered 25 to 29 per cent while Nunavut and the Northwest Territories ranged from 30 to 34 per cent
As of 2011, no provinces register in the 15 to 19 per cent range any longer, and Quebec, Northwest Territories and Nunavut are the only provinces who have not registered significant changes in rates. The Maritimes showed disproportionately high amounts of obesity, as did aboriginal reserves.
Obesity is undoubtedly an issue in Canada, but shows such as The Biggest Loser, according to experts, do little to help solve the problems our societies face in weight-related illnesses.
Weight gain and loss comes down to education, and as one expert who spoke to Hollywood Gossip puts it, “90 per cent of losing weight is changing behaviour, getting to the root of the problem, and understanding why the pounds got put on.”