Biggest Loser

Of course I watch The Biggest Loser. I watch it while I'm eating dinner. Oh, according to healthy eating principles I shouldn't be watching TV while eating but that's what I do when my husband isn't home eating with me. I know I should be concentrating on my food, on the flavors but especially on recognizing when I'm satisfied but I love to eat while reading and/or watching TV. It's a pleasure I refuse to give up.
I have a love/hate relationship with The Biggest Loser. I love how hard the contestants work. How much they learn. And I love to see the physical and sometimes emotional changes (like improved self esteem).
I hate that they make them take off their shirts. Why do they have to be weighed shirtless in front of the world? We know they're fat. And most of us know what being fat looks like. A peek in the mirror as you exit the shower should be just about enough to enlighten you about how fat looks on the human body. So why? It might be instructive to show them at the beginning of the show and then when they've transformed themselves but not every week. There's little to be gained. But that's just me.
I love that we watch them go from couch potatoes to strong willing exercisers.
I hate that we never see them with the dietitian. We see the contestants with their trainers and with the docs but never the dietitian. Why?
Sure the exercise is part of the weight loss. They work out all day. It becomes their job. With that many hours of exercise, lots of calories are burned and lots of muscle is built. But truly it is the reduction in intake that in the end is the reason for their loss of fat so why concentrate so much on the trainers and exercise and not at all on the dietitian.
Oh, and Rocco. Give me a break. He's giving us shopping and diet advice? Rocco? There are so many dietitian chefs who could do a better job. I know. They're not celebrities although there are a few. Would be great to see someone like Ellie Krieger on there doing the cooking/shopping segment. That would add some credibility at least. Let's see, Rocco is the former star of a very revealing reality show and the former chef at a failed restaurant and celebrity whose star has fallen a few times too many. He's got no nutrition background but he's teaching the contestants how to shop and how to cook healthier fare. Credibility?
But you know what I hate the most? How they waste time. They've dragged the show out to two hours but they don't show two hours of footage. Repeating stuff after the commercial break is annoying and makes me leave at the commercial and not return until the repeated segment is over. I wonder if the advertisers know that.
I want to say, "Move it" to them. Move the show along a little. The pace is too slow. At least for me.
But I keep watching it. I wouldn't call it entertainment. Watching people sweat, deny themselves and complain. No, that's not entertainment.
I don't identify with the contestants. But I do root for them. I feel their pain.
I would like to see previous successful (meaning, they maintained their weight loss) contestants return to work with the new ones. Last season's winner was particularly motivating to me. She beat out a guy who was a killer with exercise. She has an amazing will.
Excuse me while I go make some oatmeal with water, sweetened with a little banana. Yum. Yuck.