Yet another reason to ditch the scales
I’m a huge Biggest Loser fan, I’ve watched every episode of every season of not only the The Biggest Loser USA but also it’s offshoot Biggest Loser Australia. I love watching, cheering, tutting, rolling my eyes and sighing as the contestants lament about how its all too hard and they want to go home.
So when my Facebook news feed suddenly became clogged with an uproar of emotions regarding Rachel Frederickson who is the season 14 winner of The Biggest Loser in the USA I *obviously* went to check out what all the fuss was about.
Rachel who is 162.5 cm tall, started the season 14 of The Biggest Loser at 118kgs. As a comparison she stands 2cm taller than I but weighed 18 kilos more than I did at my heaviest so she was definitely Biggest Loser material. At finale Rachel had lost 60% of her bodyweight and came in at 47.6 kgs (which incidentally is 6 kilos lighter than when I stood on stage at my first body building show).
As she walked through the doors her “transformation” left people (including the trainers) horrified and the uproar of disapproval could be heard around the globe well before the final confetti piece fell to the floor.
Do I think she looks good? No.
Am I surprised it happened? No.
I’m actually more surprised that it took 14 seasons!
Shows like this are dealing with people who have a myriad of “issues” you don’t suddenly wake up at 180+ kilos just because you like pancakes, it would be easy to see how someone could replace one addiction (food) for another (weight loss) after all there is $250,000.00 up for grabs!
If anybody was going to push the boundaries and do “whatever it took” to win, Rachel Frederickson would have been a prime candidate. As a former competitive swimmer, she possesses an inner drive and will to win that only an athlete has, those are the characteristics that separate those that “participate” and those who excel.
At first I wondered what the big deal was. We all know that those biggest loser contestants never stay at their finale weight, it’s like a bride who slims down for her wedding and brides don’t dehydrate like a biggest loser contestant does for their big day.
I saw Rachel with my bodybuilder eyes, she was doing what it took to win and she would put on some weight after the trophy was in the cabinet and money was in the bank, after all bodybuilders, figure competitors and even fitness models never stay at stage weight all year round.
Rachel was in it, to win it and to be fair, for a cool quarter of a million dollars, I’d go all out too!
Ive since seen that she plans to stay at that weight, so hopefully she gets some help because I’ve seen girl after girl end up f**ked in the head because they can’t maintain a weight that is unrealistic.
Which brings me to a more important point, the number on a scale is a stupid unit of measure. Body composition would be a fairer determination for all contestants and would even out the playing field for all shapes, sizes, sexes and races. It may not have the same viewer appeal but it would ensure we didn’t have another Rachel Frederickson on our hands next season.
Till next time
