|
The Biggest Loser: Lessons Learned
 Posted by Trish Milburn Feb 8 2012, 12:01 am in The Biggest Loser, Trish Milburn This week’s excuse being tackled on The Biggest Loser (or as I am jokingly calling it The Biggest Whiner) was “I can’t lost weight on my own.” Those of you who regularly read posts here at The Healthy Writer know this isn’t true but is an oft-used excuse. Let me just start off with this week’s instance of the pot calling the kettle black. This is what Conda said about Adrian: “Adrian has caused nothing but drama and chaos, and we don’t need that.” Now while she is correct that the show has been way dramatic since Adrian returned, I could not help a bit of a mouth-dropping-open moment. Conda calling out someone else for causing drama. Wow. In this week’s challenge, the teams had to hold on to ropes holding up a weight that I believe weighed 240 pounds. Meanwhile, Bob and Dolvett were suspended several feet in the air over a pool filled with frigid water. I felt sorry for Bob who is famously afraid of heights. Whichever team dropped their weight first sent their trainer into the pool and lose that trainer for the entire week until the last-chance workout. That unfortunate trainer was Dolvett, so the red team were on their own. But Kim stepped into the spot of team leader and designed cardio and weight-training workouts for her teammates. What the red team didn’t know was that Dolvett was monitoring them via video feed. So he saw everything, right down to his list of 13 times Conda complained about something. This week’s “trainer talks to an individual contestant about their feelings” moment was between Bob and Megan. He found out that Megan trains horses but is too big to ride them now. She’s always wanted to be a rodeo star, and she sees herself as ugly. Is Megan overweight? Yes. Is she ugly? No. But it showed how our negative perceptions of ourselves can keep us from realizing our dreams. Negative self-talk is extremely damaging to our self-esteem. Bob took the black team on an intense hike and workout at one of the big parks in Los Angeles County. Daphne was feeling bad because she was coming in last and asked Bob what she could do to do better and prove to her teammates that she wasn’t slacking. He told her and the other members of her team that she needed to keep doing what she was doing, talk to her teammates about the support she needs, and just work hard. I really like how the black team seems to be embracing and accepting Daphne much more so than the red team was with Adrian. Granted, she is not a loudmouth and rubbing people the wrong way like him. As a reward for their hard work, Bob sent his team off with nutritionist Rachel Heller. She gave them a lesson in how to make healthful choices when dining out. She began by asking each person what they would have ordered before coming to the ranch. Everyone was shocked by the astounding amount of calories those dishes added up to. Rachel said that when you open a menu, look for the things you need (vegetables, healthy fats, complex carbs, proteins) and eliminate the rest. Also, don’t be afraid to make changes to things on the menu. For instance, when ordering an omelet ask for it to be cooked dry, meaning that the cook uses a spray instead of butter to coat the pan. This will save you about 200 calories. As Cassandra said, the experience was “a complete eye-opener.” At the weigh-in, the highest numbers went to Chism (13), Jeremy (12), Buddy (9) and Adrian (9). The black team won the weigh-in, sending the red team to the elimination room again. Since Conda had the highest percentage of weight loss, she was immune from the vote. I really thought it would be nearly a clean sweep for voting out Adrian, but a couple of people did vote for Mark (Adrian and Roy, who thought Mark had the fewest health problems to deal with). But no one really seemed to like Adrian, and I have to admit that he sort of dug his own grave. Even when it was obvious that the better course might have been to sit back and not say so much, he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He was defensive with everyone and confrontational. Even Dolvett pointed out to him that the way he was approaching his teammates was not the best way. But Adrian didn’t go quietly. As Buddy pointed out, he made a lot of excuses. He even tossed the fact that Mark is a youth pastor in Mark’s face, as if to say that he wasn’t acting very Christian-like. When Mark tried to walk out with him and talk to him, Adrian responded with “I don’t have anything to say to you.” It was one of the ugliest exits I’ve seen on the show. All that said, I’m glad that Adrian has found success at home. No matter how someone acts on the show, I don’t wish for them to fail and continue to live an unhealthy life. So far he has lost 100 pounds, and he’s determined to win the at-home prize and lose more than the eventual winner of the Biggest Loser title. It looks like next week is going to start off with some more confrontations between Daphne and her brother’s former team. I really hope it doesn’t go far though and doesn’t sour her own team on her. I think she works hard and seems to be trying harder to fit in well with her teammates. As of six weeks in, my top players are Cassandra, Chism, Jeremy. Most of the others I like fine. Bottom of my list is, no surprise, Conda. Again, I do wish them all success though. This isn’t just a competition. It’s about changing their lives for the better so that they add years to those lives. What did you think of last night’s episode?
Comments
5 Responses to “The Biggest Loser: Lessons Learned”Leave a Reply |
The Latest Posts
archives
tags
10 Healthy Guidelines
Anna Sugden
bad habits
calories
clothing
confidence
cookbooks
cooking
eating healthy
Emotional Eating
exercise
Expectations
fear
fitness
food
food diary
goals
guest blogger
health tips
Holidays
inspiration
Inspiration Sunday
Keri Mikulski
Michelle Butler
Michelle Mondays
motivation
non-scale victories
portion control
positive thinking
process
progress
Rachel Graves
recipes
running
Sally Kilpatrick
small changes
stress
Tawny's Thursdays
Tawny Thursday
Tawny Weber
The Biggest Loser
Trish Milburn
walking
weight loss
Writing
feeds
the healthy writers
|
|||||||||||||
home | about | the writers | resources | blog | contact
©2010 The Healthy Writer Blog. All rights reserved.
Site designed and maintained by Bemis Promotions.
I should have been writing, but I took a break and watched the episode on my DVR so I could fast forward through the commercials.
I felt bad for Adrian. He was a perfect example of what can happen when a person is scapegoated. Soon all their behavior is labeled in a negative way and their weaknesses are increased. The more they are scapegoated, the worse their behavior becomes. Yes, Adrian doesn’t listen, but he could have if the team had given him half a chance.
Imagine what it might have been like for Adrian if the team members saw his bravado as insecurity and HELPED him instead of pushing him away. The harder they pushed him away, the worse HIS behavior became. Imagine what they might have thought if they understood that losing a baby was the event that precipitated his extreme weight gain? They never even stopped to consider having any compassion for the poor man.
Conda is the destructive force on that team. She was relentless in scapegoating Adrian and everything he said about her was true. I’m sure her behavior is ground in insecurity and pain, as well, but her destructiveness is downright mean. I would love for her to face that in herself, otherwise her life is going to always be filled with drama and she’d going to make others’ lives around her miserable as well.
What’s mystifying is that her brother seems to be a teddy bear. A nice guy who just tries his hardest.
You make some very good points, Diane. I really think the show runners do a huge disservice to the people they send home before they ever really start. I hope they do away with that for good.
I do wonder if when the contestants go back and watch the show after they’ve come home if they see things differently.
Poor Adrian never had a shot given the dynamics on that team. It’s always hard for the newer or returning contestants, but this seemed particularly ugly.
I can’t top Diane’s analysis. I do wonder what the dynamics are like in Conda’s family to produce such different kids. They’ve obviously developed different coping mechanisms. I still can’t stand Conda.
I can’t stand Conda, too, Michelle! I do think there might be a hurting little girl in there somewhere, but it sure is hard to see that little girl now.
I hope the producers don’t scapegoat her! They are exploiting this conflict and it’s made the show less enjoyable to watch, in my opinion. I liked the seasons where the members were more supportive and caring of each other.
Dolvett seems to have Conda’s number, though. I hope he can get through to her, so she doesn’t have to live the rest of her life like this!
I totally agree with the dynamics of this season versus the more supportive ones. I actually hope that Conda does eventually come to terms with whatever makes her the way she is. It’s possible she could have one of the biggest turnarounds we’ve seen if that happens, and that would be awesome to watch and for her. But right now she’s toxic to be around.