Friday, December 17, 2010

When I said I'm going to be the next Jillian...

I didn't realize:

- She'd come out with some products that I'm not so sure are helping people lose weight in the healthiest, most maintainable ways. In other words, I think she's joined the weight loss industry and is getting rich off of it. Sure, sell fitness DVDs, sell books, sell workout gear, sell online training...those kinds of things are relatively harmless. Even selling her own protein powder seems fine, although I'd like to know what makes hers different from the cheaper ones available (isn't whey protein pretty standard?) But selling fat burners and cleansing systems detracts from her other products, in my mind. Not only does it seem dangerous to take some of the products (the fat burners contain a serious amount of caffeine and the cleansing system comes with a host of warnings), but offering these things suggests that you need them. Shouldn't following her diet advice and doing her workouts be enough?

- Biggest Loser is worse than we thought. Past contestants have come clean about how they're really treated on the Ranch. I had a picture of a happy place filled with hours upon hours of sweating, but I didn't realize the things that went on before weigh-ins. As a side not, that makes me an idiot. Contestants regularly lose over ten pounds in a week -- did you guys know that ten pounds of body fat is equivalent to 35,000 calories? Or roughly 117 cheeseburgers. Needless to say, something funky has to be going on. Whether or not it leaves contestants with disordered eating is debatable, but some of them will admit it. Kai Hubbard is one of the contestants who made a big controversy by speaking out, but others have said it's tough to adjust back to real life after living on the ranch. Helen Phillips, one of the winners, talked about the stress of going back to real life and having to learn to not work out all day long. She also talked about the fear of gaining the weight back. All of this leaves me wondering how 'healthy' the ranch is really making contestants.

- She makes fitness videos and programs without understanding the techniques first: I bought Jillian's Yoga Meltdown DVD about the same time I started to actually practice. I thought I'd be getting the best of both words--Jillian and zen! I made it halfway through the DVD. Did I quit because it was too hard? Nah. I quit because I felt like I was going to throw my back out when she had me 'rep out' reverse triangle. Remember the ballistic stretches that your gym teacher told you were so dangerous? If you don't, I'll lend you the copy of Jillian's DVD and you can check out the contraindicated move for yourself, or get a taste of her yoga skills. What kills me is that she is in Self magazine in January with a yoga workout to help you meet your New Year's Resolutions (that's a whole different post in itself!). At any rate,I learned my lesson with the yoga DVD and didn't bother buying her Kettlebell DVD. Since I don't actually own it and haven't seen it, I can only comment based on what others have said. There's outrage in the Kettlebell community over her form and lack of training and she's defended herself on her blog and twitter. Kettlebell has it's own certification program (kind of like if you want to become a certified spin instructor) and for good reason--swinging around a weight like Jillian is asking for injury if you don't know what you're doing!

- Blatant product placement gets annoying. I might not like Jennie O Turkey. I might not want a Brita filter water bottle, even if Jillian tells me I need one to stay hydrated. I really don't like Subway. But I do like Extra gum, but there's no way that chewing a 5 calorie stick is going to stop me from having dessert if I have my heart set on dessert. Stuff that in a Ziploc bag. I'm aware that the Biggest Loser has to endorse these brands to make money and that the trainers are automatically roped into promotional stuff on the show. But Jillian has also taken on Popchips, which are supposedly a healthy snack option. News flash Jillian, these are potato chips. See the ingredients? ...same as potato chips. See the fibre and good stuff? ...me neither.

Basically, my girl let me down. I still love "If it didn't come from the ground or have a mother, you shouldn't be eating it." But I also love Christmas cookies and fail to see how saying that you shouldn't be eating them when we all know that every sane person will be eating them (and other, less than nutritionally stellar things that we all eat) does anything but create unnecessary guilt. There are plenty of healthy people who eat Cheetos, Jillian! What do you guys think? Is the Biggest Loser making something healthy--weight loss to get to a healthier place--an obsession? Do you think seeing contestants drop double digits is inspiring or makes the efforts of ordinary folks, who take a sensible approach to their weight loss, seem menial?

If we focus on getting healthy for the sake of getting healthy and lose the obsession with the numbers, people will still lose weight. They will also develop the skills and habits that they need to maintain that weight in the long term. Rather than getting frustrated and giving up if they have a 'bad' day or week, they'll learn to look at that and use it as a learning experience to get back to a healthier place. Exercising because your body is meant to move, eating foods that nourish you (body, mind, soul), and taking care of yourself are habits that everyone--regardless of whether they're overweight, underweight, or at their perfect weight--should work on cultivating!

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