Why I Stopped Watching The Biggest Loser

Ok, well to be up front I don't have TV at all any more so I don't watch any shows live. When we went digital I bought the box and the antenna but just haven't set them up because I realize there's a whole world out there I can be a part of if I don't just sit in front of the TV all night.

More full disclosure: I'm all about the movies now. :) So it's not like I don't watch anything. In fact, I'm going through all my movies, A-Z (ish) and blogging about them. Not like movie reviews so much as how I feel about them, what memories they bring up, etc. This is an attempt to A) decide which VHS movies must be purchased in DVD, and B) have another reason to have to write every day (or every few days). So if you're interested, click here.

But the real reason for my post: Why I stopped watching The Biggest Loser. I watched the first couple of seasons religiously. Why? Because I myself, like most of the US, am overweight. And I thought hey I can watch this show and get pointers. Or maybe someday I could go on the show and lose tons of weight.

Or I can sit on the couch and eat ice cream while I watch those poor fat people trying to enjoy salads. Yeah, I said it. Ice cream. And seriously, it wasn't just a one-time thing. The Biggest Loser happened to coincide with my ice cream night on occasion.

I would always tell myself "hey this show is a good incentive! Look at how well they're doing--if you get out there and work out you can look like them!" Do you know how many times I laced up my tennis shoes immediately after the show and went for a nice healthy walk? Once. I was so proud of myself. But then I never did it again. Why? Probably because I wasn't done with my ice cream yet, and then a new show came on.

The really odd thing, however, is I'd be sitting there watching these people work out, thinking about how I should work out, and I kid you not, sometimes I actually felt like I had in fact worked out. Not because I did, and not because I was mentally deranged. But really truly honestly I somehow managed to trick myself into thinking I had actually done what I'd been thinking about. Ok, maybe I was mentally deranged.

But it was so sad, because here I am, sitting on the couch, eating ice cream--wait not even sitting on the couch but reclining on it--and somehow by the end of the night I figured the ice cream was worth it because of all the exercise I'd magically gotten.

So in conclusion... watching a show about other people getting healthy actually contributed (in some small part) to my weight gain.

So now... now I take a fitness class. (Zumba, a latin-dance-based class). And I don't watch TV.

22 pounds lost so far.