Do weight loss reality shows inspire you?

Nope, not at all. In the best case they are ridiculous and unrealistic, in the worst downright annoying and show you every way of how not to lose weight if you don't want to ruin your health.

I agree with the above.

The last season of "The Biggest Loser" was the first time I watch the show consistently. Yes, it was very inspirational.

Watching people push their bodies to the limit is extraodinary because we realize how strong we are. It's all about will power - mind over body. The workouts, the challenges, the low food intake, for people of that size is unbelievable.

With that said, there are rumors that Helen- the winner- used diuretics, colon cleanses, starvation, personal trainers, etc to lose 30 pounds in 30 days. She went from 147 down to 117!! And she's 5'6" and 46 years old! I have to say that I cannot believe she did it without drugs. It's a very unhealthy weightloss for someone of that size. Had she been 247 lbs it would have been a very different case.

Is the competition inspirational? Yes
Would I do it? No

I will watch any show that deals with weight loss. I am constantly checking the discovery health channel to see what is on. The biggest loser did at first but i now realize how twisted it is.

I enjoying seeing the peoples reaction and feelings as they are losing weight. I like to see how happy weight loss makes them feel.

It inspires me to focus on integrity as a trainer.

I think its inspirational to see people lose weight, yes. Even if its a TV show.

However, I don't agree with the extreme approaches to it like in the biggest loser.

I voted for dangerous and unrealistic, but really both of these work for me:
No, the methods they use are not safe or realistic
No, I think these shows are ridiculous

I think there are a lot of good shows on Discovery or whatver that do show how strong and flexible the human body can be, as someone else mentioned, and I think those can be worth watching. OTOH, I think network "reality" TV is some of the worst thing to happen to TV and weight loss in general. People watch the shows and think they can get the same results and either do drastically unhealthy things to achieve it or get disappointed and feel like they've failed when they can't.

I loathe the Biggest Loser with a passion for that very reason.

Even more than that, I have watched an entire season of the show (on hulu.com) because I don't feel that I should speak out against something w/out having knowledge of it. And the other thing that really bothers me about the show and that cemented my loathing was how they turn the whole act of losing weight and "getting healthy" (which I think is a joke, considering how they do it) into a cut-throat competition. To me that's so incredibly counter productive. The episode where the contestants gorged themselves on junk that they'd been avoiding for weeks in order to get the "golden ticket" that let them have complete control over the voting ... that episode quite literally made me feel ill. I thought it was disgusting and sickening that the show would even go there, much less that the contestants were so obsessed with getting the vote that they would do what they did.

Like I said, I watched one season because I felt that if I were going to be vocal about my dislike of the show, I should be knowledgeable. I will never watch another. I was thoroughly revolted by the whole thing.

Love, love, love Biggest Loser! And I do watch ANY show that comes on tele related to weight loss. I get so stoked seeing the befores and afters - that's what brought me to this *awesome* site in the first place!

So yes, I find weight loss shows incredibly inspiring.

JM2C
ABBA

I used to watch them because they inspired me, and i sat on my fat ass, and then ate my way through episodes. Then i started loosing weight and was a bit too busy.

Then i went back to watching it after i had already lost substantial amount of weight.
At this point i realized what they FAILED to say, ie diet and exercise and the rest.
But the worst part which just made me turn it off, was the excuses. The excuses that the contestants made to eat food, to not do exercise, and all that guff. I think possibly some of them hit a little close to home. Things i used to say and do to not do it.

But yeah, i like it occasonially now i guess, but dont go out of my way to watch it

Yes, this is my primary issue with the show as well.
"Oh you didn't lose enough weight - you're off the island, you loser."

I used to watch (when it was on) a show out of Calgary called "Taking it Off", which was somewhat similar, but everyone worked together to support each other. There was some friendly competition, but the only thing at stake was some bragging rights.
It was a good show, and it actually was inspirational.

I really got into the last season of The Biggest Loser. I love the show, but dislike some of its principles. Examples:

-I love seeing the results that the people achieve...talk about inspirational

-I hate hearing every week that so-and-so is disappointed in themself for only losing 3-5 lbs. WHAT THE HELL? I'm pumped when I lose that kind of weight.

-I love seeing the pure determination sweated out of the contestants in the gym. I don't know about anybody else, but I sure felt lazy after watching them pound out those last-chance workouts.

-I'm not sure how I feel about the "competition". I think it's great that people get the additional drive to do well, but I think that it can be taken too far. Some of the bigger folks were working out ALL DAY and only consuming 1200-1500 calories. I don't think they were doing themselves much good.

Anyway, I guess whatever your opionion may be about shows like The Biggest Loser, it should all be taken lightly. Yes, they are losing the weight, but in reality, it's a TV show. Take what you can from it, but be cautious of desiring to imitate their results.

Yes I do like watching these shows, and they DO inspire me, but at the same time I know that they're unrealistic and dangerous.

It said for "other" to explain in comments, so by "other" I meant I really don't watch any tv. Although, even though I haven't watched it for years, it didn't really do me any good until I made that "non-tv" into "exercise time."

Hi, I just have one wish, to unplug from the web and come back into the real life! Where is my blue pill?
I'm a 21 years old massagist from NY, and when I come back after work, tiered from standing all day long, I just turn on my laptop, and suddenly, it's 2 am. How do you manage to keep your offline life, when you have a pc at home?
My obssesion is icq, blogs, myspace and any web place where you can meet interesting people. Forums are new to me, but I thought to give it a try.

ps: I'm a total newbee at forums, so I'm sorry if posted in the wrong place, just got here and saw this one.. Please be kind to show me the right place where you can just talk with people.