The Biggest Loser

I am not a big fan of reality television. I tend to get plenty of personal reality each day that I get out of bed, along with a good bit of mystery, drama and occasional horror.

I have to admit, however, that I did find myself watching week two of the “The Biggest Loser” a few nights ago. If you are not familiar with the show, it is essentially a boot camp for seriously overweight men and women. The contestants each come from different walks of life but all share one thing in common – they have reached a point of desperation where their health, relationships and/or self esteem are at high risk of crashing. The contestants are not only desperate, they are also brave. There is absolutely nowhere for them to hide on this show. The cameras document everything. This includes weekly weigh-ins where each contestant stands on an industrial-sized scale – dressed in non-flattering workout garb – while his/her weight gets posted digitally on a huge display board.

Each week, the contestants are instructed, cajoled and barked at by two juiced up health and fitness specialists as they are taken through a series of nutrition regimens, exercise routines and team challenges. The goal is for individuals and the team to meet aggressive weight loss targets. A variety of incentives and penalties are used to keep the contestants motivated and engaged during the grueling tests they face each week. At end of the season, there is one winner – i.e., “The Biggest Loser.”

The name of show is obviously a play on words. Each contestant is striving to be the biggest loser in terms of net weight loss. Ironically, many of the contestants have labeled themselves, or been labeled by others, as “big losers” because of their size. These individuals are generally not viewed by our image conscious society as beautiful, cool or interesting. Many of them would be completely ignored if it were not for the novelty of their size. This makes them “big” underdogs in our competitive culture.

I like to root for underdogs, which I suppose is the hook that got me to watch the show. I also like to look in unexpected places for poignant lessons about life. Here are a few lessons that I took away from the “The Biggest Loser”:

• Pain is a great motivator. It motivated each of the contestants to engage in a radical change effort by entering the boot camp. When our pain (physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual) reaches the point where it exceeds our efforts to forestall or resist change, it pushes us to action. The key is not to sedate the pain but to use it as a springboard for stopping destructive habits and adopting healthy ones.
•  “Cramming” drains our reserves. The contestants on the “The Biggest Loser” are engaging in a form of cramming – trying to take shortcuts to weigh loss by pushing their bodies to extremes in a short span of time. They have neglected their health and are now faced with “do or die” situations, both literally and figuratively. As human beings, they need to drop weight or face the prospect of an early death. As contestants, they need to put up good numbers each week or face the prospect of being sent home and losing out on the ultimate prize.
• Success requires a workable plan. Each contestant is introduced to a nutrition and fitness plan with specific instructions, tasks and goals. The plan is extremely challenging but doable. It is difficult if not impossible for any of us to reach a worthwhile goal without a rational plan, especially when engaging in substantial behavioral change. We can always adjust our plans in pursuit of our goals, but we cannot ignore or abandon them if we expect to achieve success.   
• Daily discipline is the driver of change. Discipline involves activation of the will – i.e., purposeful intent followed by consistent action. It is where the rubber meets the road. Self-imposed discipline involves getting our butts in gear and sometimes working them off. This is no doubt the most significant hurdle faced by “The Biggest Loser” contestants. In fact, is it is the biggest obstacle that we all face. Discipline is the act of “planning the work and working the plan” on a consistent basis, even when we do not feel like it. It requires not only learning and integrating new habits, but also unlearning and abandoning old ones.
• Building endurance creates sustainability. The contestants who avoid being sent home each week gradually build physical, mental, emotional and spiritual endurance. The process of building endurance is often painful but the reward is that it makes us stronger, and it is strength that sustains us over the long haul.
• Smart people accept help. The contestants receive help from others, sometimes willingly and sometimes grudgingly. This includes the coaches who push them and fellow team members with whom they compete. Successful people are the ones who learn to accept help when it is offered, and ask for it when it is needed. We all need help from others when we face difficult challenges. We need support to lift us up, to keep us in the game and to keep us moving forward. Sometimes the support is soft; other times it is rock hard. It depends on what we need. There are plenty of times when I can use a supportive ear but what I really need is a good kick in the pants.
• Celebration feeds the spirit. The contestants celebrate incremental successes as individuals and as a team. When the goal is daunting and progress is slow, it is easy to neglect celebration. We may worry about reveling in our success prematurely. None of us wants to intensify our disappointment if we fail to reach our goal. However, celebration is vital for the human spirit, and sometimes we need to acknowledge our small successes on our way to the bigger ones.

There you have it – the seven lessons that emerged for me through my sixty-minute exposure to the “Biggest Loser.” It reinforces for me that we can learn a lot through the experiences of others. We just need to open our eyes and pay attention to reality. Many of our biggest gains in life will be achieved by bravely letting go of the comfortable habits that are weighing us down and embracing the challenging ones that will lift us up.