One Utah

I am not a fan of reality TV.  Most of it strikes me as mindnumbingly bad.  It’s therefore with some shame that I admit I love NBC’s The Biggest Loser.  What I like about Biggest Loser is the show’s willingness to talk honesty about food, fitness, obesity, and health.  Right now, Style TV is showing past episodes of the show every night.  The general conceits of reality TV - the “confessional” interviews, challenges, eliminations, and prizes are all intact, as are the emotionally manipulative games and temptations.  Interestingly, the contestants on Biggest Loser seem to mostly avoid the reality show cliches and instead for the most part seem genuinely likable, decent people trying to improve their lives.

The most memorable aspect of the show, for me, is the authentic feelings between the contestants and the trainers.  The competition is actually an artificial addition to the show and really seems secondary, added only to create tension for the viewers.

Biggest Loser’s appeal for me is also the honest way in which both the trainers and contestants come to talk about food and fitness.  The contestants talk about the ways in which they have come to see food as a source of comfort, as a key component of relationships, of celebration.  In one form or another, as the contestants describe their relationships with food, it’s difficult not hear the patterns that emerge - food as comfort in bad times, food as reward for good work, food as key component of celebrations, food as security blanket, food as fill in for every emptiness.  In one episode Bob the Trainer says, (more or less), “Most obese people are emotional eaters and my team just lost a challenge and the first thing they did was head for the kitchen to make themselves feel better.  I got them to the gym to teach them new coping skills.” 

Through the show, contestants struggle to manage their relationships with food. 

Contestants also talk about weight.  I realize that discrimination against heavy people is very real in our society.  Law and Order SVU did an episode talking about fat discrimination and the ways in which heavy people are stereotyped as stupid, slow, lazy, incompetent and morally weak.  On Biggest Loser, contestants discuss the ways in which being overweight has negatively impacted their lives.  For many of them, the reason to lose weight is not just health but quality of life issues.  One contestant talked about no being able to climb stairs and do things with his kids.  Another contestant talked about wanting to do things with her family and not being able to because of her weight.  Many contestants talk about obesity as a danger to their health - having had relatives who suffered from obesity related illnesses and dying as a result. 

Most of the contestants on the show are extreme in their obesity.  In one powerful scene, the entire cast gathered on a scale to be weighed - the average weight was nearly 300 pounds.  Many of the men on the show top 400 pounds.  Facing the confessional camera, seeing their weight on the giant scale in front of god and everyone seems both shaming and empowering.  When the whole room sees your weight at 350 pounds, it’s no longer possible to deny that you are fat.

Which makes me wonder.  I have never in my life said to a friend or family member, “You know you’re on the big side there.  You might not really need that extra slice of birthday cake.”  Or, “So, yeah, that double order of chili cheese fries - not a good idea.”  Generally, there just isn’t a place or time in our world’s that we say to someone we know and love, “Honey, you’re getting fat.  It’s not healthy, it’s not attractive, it scares me for you.”  And if someone says that to us, we normally react angrily. 

Talk about food and fat is all around us - in magazine, on the radio, on TV, on the internet, but it’s not personal.  We don’t say to people we know, “Maybe you ought to consider hitting the gym once in a while.”  Quite frankly, on a personal level, in an intimate context, talking frankly and honestly about food and weight is taboo.  We don’t say, “Why do you turn to food every time something happens - good or bad?” 

I suspect Weight Watchers and other such organizations thrive because they provide a safe space for people to talk about food and weight and to really examine their relationships with both.  I suspect as Americans really grapple with the epidemic of obesity in this nation, we’ll find ways to have healthy, appropriate conversations.  I think it promises to be very interesting.

This entry was posted Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Society, This Blog. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.