5 Reasons to avoid TV weight-loss programs
This is a guest post written by Marha Hudnall, President of Green Mountain at Fox Run Retreat Center.
It looks so easy!
Get a spot on The Biggest LoserTM and you’ll solve your weight-loss problems.
At our retreat center, we don’t consider this to be a healthy approach.
In fact, I don’t think quick weight-loss boot camps such as “The Biggest Loser” provide a good solution for anyone. Here are 5 reasons why:
1. Humiliation and criticism don’t work as motivating tactics.
Punishing and humiliating overweight people may be good for ratings, but it’s not good for your health.
A recent study reported by US News & World Report found that viewers of “The Biggest Loser” were less inclined to want to exercise or expect it to be enjoyable after watching a 7.5 minute workout on the show.
2. You must address the underlying emotional stressors.
Eating and weight struggles are often a result of the stresses in your life and how they affect your thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
Real change happens through addressing those thoughts and emotions in order to permanently change behaviors that get in the way of optimal health and weight loss.
3. Focusing on body and mind brings healthy, permanent weight loss.
Achieving a healthy weight is as much changing your “head” (the way you think about food, eating, exercise, your body, yourself) as it is about what you eat and how much you exercise.
I believe that life is not just about losing weight. It’s about learning how to care for yourself, make better choices and let go of perfectionism.
4. Extreme measures produce quick results but don’t last.
Forcing people to exercise until they throw up, underfeeding them and pushing them beyond their limits, is not the key to healthy, successful, long-term weight loss. Nor for that matter is it humane or safe.
I have a lot of concerns about how quickly these people gain back all the weight they lost. I doubt that very many of the boot camp show participants actually stay at their goal weight.
5. You must make changes you can live with.
According to Yoni Freedhoff, MD, of US News & World Report, “If you don’t like the life you’re living while you’re losing, even if you lose a great deal, you’re eventually going to head back toward the life you led before you lost weight.”
In our 40 years of working exclusively with women and their weight issues, we’ve found that real success comes as you move to a place where you feel good about yourself again.
Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD, CD, is the President & Co-Owner of Green Mountain at Fox Run, a women’s retreat center for healthy living without dieting. The center is located in Ludlow, Vermont. www.FitWoman.com
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