Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Another reality tv show aimed at us fatties

Thintervention. Catchy play on words. Caught my attention. Another BRAVO reality show--this one copied straight from The Biggest Loser. Only the name has been changed. Two trainers. One dominant and bitchy. The other laid back. One male. One female. Lots of name calling. Not much comaraderie on this show, though. If I thought the advice on BL was bad, this one wins the prize for handing out ridiculous platitudes and misinformation.
I had watched the original Jackie Warner reality show a few years ago. Watched as Jackie spent most of her time building her business and fighting with her girlfriend and mother. She spent very little time training anyone. She was attractive and, although not particularly intelligent "sounding", she was ambitious.
This new show is very disturbing. First, Jackie looks terrible. Yes, her abs are gorgeous and her arms are toned. But her hair and her skin look really bad--she definitely does not look healthy.
I will admit that I have not seen all the episodes but what I have seen is enough to make me hope that the show is not renewed.
Ms. Warner is obviously promoting a book, one written without (if I am understanding her premise) a shred of scientific knowledge. "Clean eating". Yes, good buzz words. But she spouts some pretty ridiculous crap on the show when she opens her mouth. My guess is that there was a ghostwriter for the book.
I won't attempt to argue with her knoweldge of exercise science (although I'd again guess that science is not her strong point) but her knowledge of nutrition is sketchy and suspect.
Most of us dietitians recommend a weight loss of approximately 2# per week. That's the norm. Of course, we fatties are not "normal" so we can throw that out the window. But we all know that some weeks we might lose five pounds and others just one. And it might not have anything to do with how hard we worked out or what we ate. Our bodies rule us. There are hormones, especially if you're female, that both help and hinder weight loss. And then there are unknown reasons that might account for fluctation in weight loss that have to do with metabolism and the body's defenses. In the end, we just want to lose weight (well, I want to lose FAT. I don't care what I weigh!).
Ms. Jackie berates her fatties for losing only two pounds in one week. She accuses them of cheating. In fact, it appears as though on the next episode she will be bringing in a lie detector because she is certain they are lying.
One of the contestants, Stacy, has revealed that she has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Of course, she doesn't blame PCOS for her weight because she has admitted to overeating in the past. But having PCOS makes it very difficult to lose weight. And, yet, Jackie brings her to tears with accusations of cheating and not working hard enough. That's criminal.
Thintervention needs a dietitian to help Jackie understand how the body works. Please, someone, help Jackie Warner. And, will someone get this woman an aestheticisan for her skin and a hairdresser for her hair.