I Admit It: I Love The Biggest Loser!

Yes, every Tuesday evening for the past two years I sit motionless, like an L-shaped Idaho spud, and for 60 minutes (really 2 hours on premier night, like last night) watch reality TV. I'm not a huge TV watcher. I have it on most times for noise in the background while I clean, cook or study, but to sit and watch something for an hour...OK, I am committed to a few things: Prison Break and 24, when it returns. But other than those two, and now The Biggest Loser, not much. And, typically, I have a magazine or book in my lap at the same time -I just get bored and restless easily and feel like if I'm not learning something or expanding my brain, it's a total drain!

So, back to The Biggest Loser. I was in awe, and truly learned a lot about human motivation the first time I watched it. I watched couples weep when physicians showed them their mortality prognoses. Husbands said to wives "We're killing ourselves". Daughters said to fathers "I want you to be around to walk me down the aisle". And the most profound statement came from a beautiful young woman last season who weighed in at 221 pounds. I'll never forget one of her interviews when she explained how she had gained so much weight at such a young age. She indicated that she didn't realize it was happening....that it happened "5 pounds at a time". She said she didn't get on the scale often, but when she did, at times, it was just 5 pounds more than the last time, versus 55 or 75 pounds more than the first time. This is a huge testament to weighing yourself every day, but more on that some other day.

This season the contestants are husbands and wives, and parents and children. I was struck by the Brady & Vicki, a couple with an overweight daughter at home - by their worry and guilt for her condition; By Tom & L.T. (Little Tom), the father and son cab drivers whose entire family is obese and whose sole focus seems to be food - and of the physician's dire predictions for their future health. And lastly, Jerry & Colleen, the father/daughter team. There was a father/daughter team that began last season, but didn't make it very far. These two will pull on your heartstrings. Jerry has the most medical conditions of anyone who has been on The Biggest Loser so far, and his daughter's concern for both her own health and the health of her father are wrenching. I know, it's "reality TV", but I'm just not so sure it's so far off what so many Americans are dealing with today. Busy, fast-paced lives driving people to fast food joints, lack of education and knowledge about food and nutrition, and lack of physical activity...all contributing to the self-induced, lifestyle epidemic we are currently living through. Yes, I'm a Tuesday night TV junkie. And yes, sometimes I cry, too - both for the contestants pain, and also for their successes. And YES, I know it's reality TV, I keep that in mind and I'm not blind to flash & glass. I'm also not blind that all these people have to do to succeed (other than play the reality TV "strategy" game when voting others off), is to exercise 6+ hours a day and mostly eat what they're given or what they prepare as a group. Who wouldn't lose weight if this is all they had to do? I hear so many friends say: "I could look like 'her' too if I had a personal trainer"... an excuse, I know, but there is an advantage when someone else helps or pushes you daily.

I won't say much else, other than I do admit subjecting myself to this type of entertainment (can I call it that?) once a week. And it motivates me. Goals can be achieved, and one person at a time, I hope I'm there for people the same way this crazy broadcast is there for these people.

If you have absolutely nothing to do on Tuesday nights at 8pm, tune in to NBC. I will say, however, it does compete with House, which may be a tough sell!!