To me it's not the participants but the depiction of fat people in general. The participants agreed to be put on the show, must have had some idea of what was going to happen and went ahead with it. It bothers me that it feeds the perception that fat people have no willpower and are very lazy. It also way oversimplifies weightloss - "if you'd just get up off your fat, lazy butt and exercise and stop stuffing your face you would lose weight".

I love reality TV like the home reno shows (while you were out, extreme home makeover, trading spaces) and the makeover shows like what not to wear - not Extreme Makeover, tho, because I just think it's sad and kind of creepy. I hate the romance/marriage shows the most, tho!!! IMO, it cheapens love, commitment and marriage - how the heck can these people propose to somebody when they were making out with somebody else the day before??? That's just insane....

Love or hate reality shows, it's our own choice to turn on the TV and what channel we choose to watch, right??

Nicole

Did anyone on the western side of the Atlantic ever come up with the idea to just throw out the TV?? I did it 12 years ago and have never regret it. I read papers and books, life goes on - HT

I need to throw out my computer.

Why do you people want to lose weight. I mean, Being large is better then trying to be like the rest. My current weight is 160KG or so and i intend to rise to 350KG as fast a possible.

Greetings,
A wanna-be-fat-person

oh look .... A troll

Just someone being a nuisance - maybe a kid. Look at the silly stats.
Angeline - you've got his number alright.

I sent a complaint so hopefully that will be the end of him.

I think the show is in bad taste. It reminds me of the "fat farm" show that was on MTV. Its making desperate overweight people feel like they have hope...putting temptations in front of them, and then filming the parts where they cheat on the diet, and it gives millions of people a reason to laugh.

I watched the show, and thought it was intresting. Not really fair though, as some people are going to lose a lot slower than others. The ones with the least amount of weight to lose, are not going to be around for long, Im sure they knew this before signing up. I love reality TV.
Becca

I watched this show for the first time this evening. Frankly i was sickened. It was horribly disgusting, and makes overweight people seem like circus participants. Plus giving them unatainable goals which make them think things like that losing almost 20 pounds in two weeks is "disapointing". There is very little doubt in my mind that the majority of these people will gain back what they have lost within a couple years since they are not dwelling on the long term, rather only getting the poundage off asap in whatever way possible. I refuse to watch this ever again.

Does anyone find it odd that these people seem to have no idea about water weight loss and that the first week is always the fastest? I ask this because, as a fat person, I knew about diets galore, but just couldn't commit to one due to the starvation factor. I even tried the exercise my brains out method. I always knew that water weight was the first thing to go and that a loss of 3-5 pounds a week is incredible. Perhaps it is the game factor that is causing this sharp disappointment in the participants? I thought the first show was interesting but it was a little disturbing to me this week. Even the trainers seemed disappointed in their weight loss and they should know that these people are losing at a very normal rate!

Yes, I was really disappointed that none of them seemed to have enough experience with dieting to understand this. Surely this is not the first time they've been on a diet and the trainers should have stressed this fact to them plus the fact that they might have gained muscle while still losing body fat. To be really fair they should not only weigh but measure each week and incorporate the inches lost into the pounds lost.

I agree completely! When they were first starting, they did their body fat percentage. Why don't they do that?? I guess the big dramatic scale moment is more TV worthy.

The woman trainer told them that they had plateaued because they only lost a pound or two that week. I screamed BULLSH*T at the tv. She said NOTHING about the first week being mostly water weight loss. OMG. She is clueless. The people following her advice have no hope of permanent success. It's sad.

i like the guy trainer. he said he isnt interested in the "sprint," he wants to focus on the long term goals.

by the way, if you go to the website you can get the trainers menus AND their excercise plans.