I was talking to one of my clients at my GP Referral gym session the other day and She brought up the t.v show The Biggest Loser. If you haven't seen it its about a group of heavily obese couples who are living together in a county retreat and spend all day trying to lose weight by dieting and being put through a fitness regime from Hell, led by two personal trainers. The two sets of couples who have lost the least get nominated by the others to be voted off the show. The couple with the most votes have to leave.
What I find worrying about this programme, although quite entertaining, is the fact that the fitness programmes that they are doing is not suitable for people who are this heavily over weight and have hardly done any exercise before.
To get a 20 stone plus person to start running just like that and get them to run up hills and stairs straight away is asking for trouble. All that weight going through their joints in their knees, back and neck is very unhealthy. In T.V land they get away with it due to the fact that they must have been put through a vigerous medical check up to ensure there's no underlining heart conditions and they have a paramedic on hand to give medical intervention if things get a little too rough.
The healthy rate of weight loss is 1-2 lbs a week but these guys are losing a lot more then this. In losing this amount of weight so quickly they are putting more strain on their heart and run the risk of putting on weight and extra once they stop their dieting and exercise regime.
I understand that this is T.V and it needs to be exciting but my concern is that the average person watching this will think this is the best way in going about losing weight and will put themselves in danger, trying to copy the exercises that are shown.
I think there should be a warning at the end of the show to let viewers know that they need to consult a fitness professional or doctor, before embarking on any fitness programme.
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