Gawker 
Enter your username and password.
New York, 11:50 AM
Mon Dec 7
26 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
Tipline: 646-214-8138
Editor-in-Chief:
Gabriel Snyder |
West Coast Editor:
Richard Rushfield |
Contributing Editors:
Valleywag:
Ryan Tate |
Media:
Hamilton Nolan |
Politics:
Alex Pareene |
Investigations:
John Cook |
Entertainment:
Brian Moylan |
Nights:
Adrian Chen |
Azaria Jagger |
Ravi Somaiya |
Weekends:
Foster Kamer |
Video Editor:
Richard Blakeley |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/29/09
I don't know what her problem is, every time I see her on TV she has one of the contestants with her, acting like she's their best friend. I don't know if this is like Stockholm Syndrome, or she yells at them that they better act like she's gold or she'll get angry.
Seriously, this show is nothing but giving fat haters a chance to watch fat people suffer. As far as Jillian goes, I think someone really needs to give her a psychological work-up. She claims she was fat, and got thin, so everyone else could do it. I suppose thin and acting almost like a Nazi officer, is better than being fat in this society?
Also, they've started involving children. That's right, more child abuse for entertainment. I don't know what to make of this, it's really beyond me. Someone would expose their child to a sadist like Jillian. I think those parents need to be investigated by child services.
11/26/09
Yeah, thought I'd stop by and elevate the conversation a bit.
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/25/09
It's all about will? No - not for everyone.
Obesity isn't caused by one thing and for some better nutrition and exercise are the keys to successful weight loss. For some, barriers such as poverty and lack of access to healthy foods, or poor nutritional education get in the way.
But a significant percentage of morbidly obese people are suffering from compulsive overeating and/or binge eating disorders and this is not a matter of will power.
For several years, I exercised 6 days a week (2 times with a skilled trainer), ate very healthy meals, and then compulsively binged alone late at night when the rest of my family was in bed. The exercise and healthy eating in the day mitigated what was going on, but I was still 100+ pounds overweight. It wasn't until I got into treatment for a binge disorder, to combat this as an addiction, that I was able to start addressing what was going on. If it was will -- believe me, I had it. And while I don't think that everyone needs the same kind of treatment I've needed, many people use food as a drug. I see it every day and I'm sure others here would agree. It's not enough to say people just have to want it. That's insulting.
11/25/09
Well, come on, when people are talking generally about weight loss, they are are not including people with a mental or emotional disorder.
11/26/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/26/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
Sure, there are some not-so-good choices going on in having people use a cash prize/crash weight loss system--but has the alternative of just sitting around and staying fat really done anything for obese america? I gotta say, the one thing the show does really well is get into the psychology of what causes people to self-medicate with food (just as AA has done for years with alcohol). God forbid we admit that food is just as dangerous (if perhaps not even more dangerous) a drug as all the illegal drugs we persecute people for every minute in this country.
And I gotta say, I'm a rather in-shape-kinda guy, but I purposely head to the gym every morning after watching the show because my workout routine is automatically doubled by still hearing the fabulous Jillian screaming in my ears.
Finally: fat people sweating, crying and hugging--kills me every episode.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
#tips
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
#tips
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
#tips
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
Plus, it just makes sense that it will be easier to sustain if you lose weight slowly because you then aren't living a diet lifestyle that is impossible to continue.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
Every person with an ounce of knowledge in human physiology cringes at this show, and pretty much waits for someone to die on it. The water weight issue is something most laymen don't comprehend. When your body first starts to exercise, you shed water weight. If you don't eat as much, you shed water weight. Not only are you not taking in water, your body doesn't produce water as it does for aerobic glycolysis (the process of turning fat to energy). So if you just started exercising, and start shedding 5 lbs a week, that's what you're losing, water, not matter what.
I don't watch the show but for the couple of times I did out of morbid curiosity, and one thing that really got me about this show is the fact that they engaged their contestants more in exercises that work in the lactate system (burning straight blood sugar and lactic acid [pyruvate]) instead of the aerobic system (the lipid burning system, in which you actually begin to burn fat, thus lose weight). To hit aerobic, you need to do at least 45 minutes of moderate (not heavy) exercise to start any significant fat burning ratio, and 60 to 90 minutes for any real weight loss advance.
And you can lose up to 3 lbs a week safely, as long as it's not for an extensive time (like over a month or so). Just cut a few hundred calories out of your diet (about 3500-7000 a week, depending on your basal and resting metabolic rates). Just don't overdo both the exercise and the calorie cutting, since then you start burning muscle and becoming lethargic.
But you had a good idea of what you can and can't do, I just mainly went on the soapbox rant for people who don't quite understand how weight loss is supposed to work. :p
11/25/09
Personally, cutting my portions, balancing my meals, switching to higher fiber foods and cutting SOME fat (not all) led to more sustained weight loss than being an exercise junkie ever did.
The exercise - it's addictive and toning and great for my energy and overall health levels, but it doesn't seem to do diddly for me in weight loss.
11/25/09
I assume most people who are rapidly losing weight (particularly procedures like gastric bypass or stomach stapling) need surgery afterwards.
11/25/09
When it comes to health, as long as you're not grossly outside your BMI (body/mass index), I don't really tell people to put too much stock in weight loss. I emphasize toning before that, since muscle weighs more than fat. If you do just straight endurance exercising (hour long light jog) and no resistance training (such as lifting weights), you will see a greater loss of weight, plus drinking water regularly will also add water weight, presuming you weren't drinking near enough fluids before (as is typically the case).
BMI is still important, since regardless of your fat to fat free mass ratio, the higher it is the more inclined you are to cardiovascular disease, but you are a lot less inclined than before.
#speakup
11/25/09
#speakup
11/26/09
Any time you shock your body into weight loss, you're going to affect tissues of all kind--not just fat. When the body realizes it's starving, it uses whatever it can for fuel. It happens in anorexia as well as when people use crazy diet pills, but I imagine it works the same with any extreme weight loss. It's also going to totally throw off your hormone levels which screws up everything in your system.
11/25/09