I received a phone call from a local newspaper last week asking me what I thought about operation transformation and the host/trainer or whatever she claims to be. Dr. Eva. Â I have commented on these shows before and I have written a blog post regarding operation transformation and the biggest loser over a year ago. It is my opinion that these shows will demotivate people more than motivate them. I will explain below but first, let me explain something.
If somebody loses 3.5 lbs in one week after losing 7lbs the week before they have done something amazing.
I am not a fan of simplifying the weight loss struggle with a ‘calories in VS calories out’ approach. But lets pretend that it makes sense for a moment just to explain how well Charlotte done that week and why Dr. Eva needs was way out of line.
1lb of fat has 3500kcals of energy in it. Therefore, theoretically, you have to burn 3500kcals in order to lose 1lb of fat.
Let say she could maintain weight eating 1500kcals/ day. I.e. 10,500 kcals per week.
Losing 3.5lbs equates to 12,250 kcals (assuming it was all body fat and none of it was water)
So in one week, she managed to somehow lose an amount of fat that is calorically more than her weekly food intake.
Let me put it another way. She lost the amount of fat that she would have been expected to lose if she hadn’t eaten ANYTHING for an entire week and then some.
Amazing right?
And that donkey Dr Eva decides to slate her. Not only making her feel like she’d failed but also making a large percentage of the Irish population feel like they’d failed if they ‘only’ lost a couple of pounds that week.
Imagine you have 50,60,100 or more lbs of fat to lose. Now imagine looking at that show and seeing the abuse the contestants get.
What happens?
The people now need to lose fat are left thinking that in order to lose that amount of weight they need to be shouted at, train three times per day and eat the smallest amount of food imaginable.
That is just not the case.
I’ve had multiple people train with me and lose 100+ lbs (45kg) of fat in less than 6 months. They trained 3-4 times per week and followed a sound nutrition program.
The amount of training the personal trainers on these shows make the contestants do is absolutely insane. I understand that they have to make the show ‘dramatic’ and entertaining to help their ratings and Dr. Eva’s little outburst certainly did that. Herein lies the problem. If someone agrees to be ridiculed and abused by these trainers for entertainment purposes that is fair enough but the fact of the matter is that this BS is putting 1000’s of people off.
There may be some people who get motivated by the show. They might adopt the ‘If they can do it, so can I’ attitude from seeing it. That is great but the truth is that this crap would motivate very few people.
I have a successful track record with people who need to lose a LOT of fat and in my experience, these people need praise and compassion. If they don’t get the respect they deserve for every little bit of fat they lose then their progress will come to a screeching halt.
For example, if I had a client that had set a goal of losing 4 lbs and managed to lose 3.5 lbs I would simply explain that he/she had done well. ‘You got 87.5% of the way this week, lets reassess and set new goals for next week.’
Simple as that.
I certainly wouldn’t shout and scream at my client.
I think Dr. Eva must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.
Typically, if someone criticizes somebody else aggressively about something the person receiving the criticism will do the opposite to what the critic says.
Dr. Eva told the girl on operation transformation:
‘You need to cop on’
Her immediate response would have been one of two things.
1. ‘I’ll show her’ 2. ‘She’s right’, feel disappointed and give up.
If she chooses to be defiant and show Dr Eva who’s boss then happy days but this happens very little. If she is disappointed in herself and gives up then nobody wins. The show fails in helping the girl lose fat and the girl fails because the trainers on the show are moronic sell-outs.
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