As I watch the show, I feel emotionally moved by these people who are on such a drastic weight loss journey. I don't get this reaction from other shows like Biggest Loser. I especially get emotional when the lucky recipient of Chris Powell's participant for the week is a woman. I have been moved to tears.
I start to think, as the show progresses and the person starts to lose weight, I need to do that. I need an extreme makeover. I want to go on that show. Wouldn't we all be so lucky to have Chris Powell helping us lose weight. I've even gone as far as researching how to go on the show.
Here is where I pause, I become conflicted. The essential concept of EMWLE is so far from what I learned at Green Mountain. I wonder sometimes if watching the show is the best thing for me. So here are my pros and cons of watching EMWLE.
PROS:
1) Chris Powell talks about this being a "lifestyle change," its not a diet. Although the first 3 months are extreme, the participants eventually have to learn how to incorporate exercise and eating healthy into their everyday lives.
2) Exercise is an essential part of the program. They have to do both cardio and strength training. Chris always asks them, what have you always wanted to do. So some participants learn how to ride bikes and eventually go on a bike race. Some learn to run and do a marathon.
3) They are held accountable. Chris gives them goals to meet and they are held responsible if they don't meet those goals.
4) They get to have skin removal surgery. OK, so this is a pro for me but others may not think it is. I have always wanted to lose enough weight to qualify for skin removal surgery. For me, this is a huge pro that the participants get at the end of the show.
5) Chris Powell is a hottie. Who wouldn't want him to be their trainer. I'd be inspired to lose weight too. Just saying.
CONS
1) The essential idea of the show is unrealistic. These people have huge amounts of weight to lose. They lose it in a year. One thing I learned at GM and that might apply to this show also is that the time period on the show might not actually be a year. For example, on Biggest Loser, every week, the participants stand on a scale and get weighed and lose huge amounts of weight. In actuality, the weigh in times on Biggest Loser are longer than a week. The mass American audience is made to think that these huge weight loss numbers happen in one week but it is more like 10 days to 2 weeks.
2) Expanding on #1, even if it is an actual year, the weight loss is unrealistic for everyday people like myself. There is no way I could ever just take 3 months off of work and dedicate my every waking moment to exercising with Chris Powell. Of course they will lose a huge amount of weight doing that. However, it makes us create unrealistic goals for ourselves, we don't reach these goals, get frustrated, give up, and its a never ending cycle that never ends in us losing the weight we want. If I just realized that this takes time, it may take 2 or 3 years to lose as much weight as I need to lose, maybe I wouldn't get so frustrated with myself.
3) It probably isn't really all that healthy to lose that much weight in that amount of time. Most doctors, weight loss experts, etc, say you should realistically aim for 1-2 pounds a WEEK. Not a day, which is what some of these participants lose.
4) The show emphasizes the exercise but doesn't really say much about food. It does talk about eating healthy but it really doesn't go into too much detail on what kind of diet the participants are put on. More than likely, the participants are on very calorie restricted diets.
5) When I watch the show, I do become very emotional at the weight loss achievements of the participants. I want so much to be that person and it sometimes leaving me feeling worse about myself.
6) Shouldn't I embrace getting and being healthy over losing weight? Didn't I learn at Green Mountain that it is not about the numbers on the scale as much as how I feel? On EMWLE, it is absolutely about the numbers on the scale. I'm sure losing weight will come hand in hand with getting healthy. However, the amount of weight I would lose might not be as extreme as my mind thinks it wants to lose.
I think my cons are actually stronger than my pros. Some of my cons even contradict my pros.
Will I keep on watching the show? Probably. But hopefully I can separate my journey, my achievements, and my disappointments from the journey of the participant.
