In case you haven't seen it, "Losing It" is a before-and-after show, where a person's weight loss story is told, complete with photos.

I have watched this show a couple of times and I decided that I'm not going to watch it anymore. First of all, there are so many commercials: half of them are for "diet" foods and the other half are for "treats." I don't believe this is an accident.

The thing that bothers me most, though, is that disembodied, judgemental narrator: "Josie was so fat that no one loved her anymore. People were shocked by how large she was and talked about it behind her back. She was alone and cried all the time. She was a staggering XXX pounds and wore a huge size XX dress! Once she decided to lose the weight and started doing Plan X, the pounds just melted away. Now that she's a thin size X, everyone thinks she's great and she has lots of friends!" (I'm exaggerating, but not much).

I am sure there are ways to tell these stories that would be inspiring and not just reinforce stereotypes about overweight people: the idea that losing weight will solve all your problems, the idea that no one could really like you if you are too large, the idea that fat people are disgusting, the idea that all thin people are happy, etc.

I love the post about Marilu Henner's "medical qualifications."

I just feel like many of these supposedly "inspirational" weight-loss shows just feed people's shame and hatred and then the commericals help contribute to the all-or-nothing thinking. Either food is "diet" like Special K bars (yuck) or it's "good" like the Toll House Cookies that you don't even have to bother to slice and bake now. Yuck too.

I'd rather have one real homemade chocolate chip cookie than a wagonload of either of the above.

quote:

...the idea that losing weight will solve all your problems,...the idea that all thin people are happy, etc.

As it is, those are pitfalls that are easy to fall into.

You're not allowed to reject me - I'm thin now!

One show on my Don’t Watch List is FitTV’s "Shape Up Your Life with Marilu Henner".

Her "Marilu's Ten Steps to your B.E.S.T. Body" include nonsense like "eliminate meat" and "eliminate dairy products".

Here are her "medical qualifications":

"You know her from Taxi and Evening Shade. You've seen her on Broadway in Chicago and on tour in Annie Get Your Gun. Marilu Henner has starred on stage, in TV series, films, commercials, television movies and specials. She has co-starred with some of Hollywood's leading men and worked with some of the best directors in Hollywood and on Broadway."