I just watched the season finale of The Biggest Loser. I haven't watched it on a regular basis this season, but I like to keep tabs on whats going on. (It wasn't too long ago that I thought about signing up for the show myself.) I haven't mentioned it on here before, but I have a love/hate feeling about that show. I LOVE how it has inspired so many people to take control of their health, but I HATE the unrealistic expectations it fosters in people. Its actually a topic I could probably ramble on about forever, but I'll spare you that for now.
Instead I'll totally ruin any chance I had of ever working with the people from The Biggest Loser or Subway. (what? I can't dream big?) Last season Subway offered one of the contestants, Shay, a chance to earn $1,000 for every pound she lost between the Season 8 finale and the Season 9 finale. At the end of Season 8 she weighed 304 pounds and at tonights weigh in she weighed 252 pounds. That loss means she earned $52,000. Not too shabby.
Actually, "not too shabby" is an understatement. Season 8 wrapped in early December, so that means she lost 52 pounds in the past five and a half months. Thats totally rock star status in the regular weight loss world. Unfortunately, in "Biggest Loser World" that number isn't up to snuff. As I was sitting there, impressed with her loss my husband made the comment "If someone paid me $1,000 a pound to lose weight, I'd do a lot better job than that."
"Huh?!?"
Lets totally disregard the fact that my husband wouldn't ever be able to lose as much as her, simply because he doesn't HAVE the weight to lose. And I'm not even going to address the obvious issue of: "how is 52 pounds NOT a good job?!?" I've already mentioned THAT issue is one of the problems I have with Biggest Loser. Suddenly everyone is supposed to be able to lose 34 pounds in a week.
Instead, I wanted to talk about the whole getting paid to lose weight issue. I'm not bashing Subway in anyway (other than... why wasn't I invited to their Twitter BL finale party?), I actually think it's nice that they are supporting someone in their weight loss efforts.
HOWEVER, my husbands comments made me realize how much someone who hasn't struggled with their weight simply doesn't understand how complex obesity is. I'd love to think that if someone had paid me to lose weight I would've been motivated to do it, but unfortunately that probably not the case.
There were a million superficial reasons I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to fit in cute clothes, I wanted my husband to have a hot wife, I wanted to feel comfortable in shorts, I wanted to feel attractive, I wanted to look good in a bathing suit, I wanted to fit in an airplane seat... and on and on. All of those were things I laid up at night dreaming about, but NONE of those were important enough for me to make a change. Would money have worked for me? Probably not.
It wasn't until I truly believed I DESERVED to be happy and healthy that I was ready to make the changes. It was no longer about a cute pair of shorts, but was now about taking care of ME.
(I am in no way implying Shay only lost weight for the money. Congrats to her for taking charge of her life... .oh... and for the $52,000.)
By the way, if Subway HAD paid me for every pound I lost... they would have to make out a big fat check for $126,000. :) And since the Biggest Loser is based off of percentages I thought it would be fun to figure mine out: I lost 45.21%. (also..not too shabby)
Any Biggest Loser fans out there?
What made YOU decide to live a healthy life?