The Biggest Loser is Back and So is Jillian!!

[michiruwater]

We do not know whom you have in ignore. No one is going to stop just quoting people entirely in order to prevent you from having to deal with seeing something you don't want to see. This is a forum. These things happen. Either deal with it or get out.

MacMadame is perfectly allowed to say whatever she wants to say on the topic, even if I do agree that it can be a little irritating for someone to come talk about something they don't like with people who obviously do. But yelling at people for quoting someone on a public forum where people quote each other all the time because it means you have to see the quotes is totally inane. I mean, really. Just because you start a thread does not mean you can dictate what people talk about or whom they quote (or when spoilers are expected). Forum rules don't change just because you started a thread.

I've never watched The Biggest Loser, but I have read multiple articles about her and several of Jillian Michael's books. The Biggest Loser is, of course, a very special, specific circumstance where people are pushed to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. The articles and books I have read with her - all of which, of course, are in the USA, or I would pull them out for quotes, sorry - are all about a full lifestyle change, about losing weight slowly and organically but still pushing yourself. "Master Your Metabolism" is an absolutely fantastically interesting book that goes through every single hormone in your body and how it is a part of your metabolism and all these "diet foods" and crap screw those hormones up and play tricks on them.

I have a lot of respect for Jillian Michaels based on this book and her honesty and integrity in the articles/books I have about/by her. But like I said, I haven't watched the show.

[MacMadame]

Couldn't believe last season's cast and how it was completely littered with bullies. It was one of the first times that I tuned out in the middle of a season of any show.

The season I watched was the one with Heba and Vicky. I thought there were a lot of bullies then. Are you saying this past season was even nastier. Wow.

[AragornElessar]

No, what would be nice is if the sniping stopped and in turn this person isn't given what they want. Attention and in turn, taking the thread over w/their own little dramas.

Clear enough now?

[numbers123]

HUH? You don't know a whole lot about MacMadame if you think she is saying this to get attention. She lost weight, she is a triathlon athlete and is into training/getting fit in the proper manner, over time and not bullied.
For some JM works, she does make the show because of her extreme actions. My cousins love her work-out DVD's. They adore Jillian. Jillian to me is a bully and does not prepare them for life outside the boot camp setting.
I know you have been around FSU long enough to know that when you try to control/write rules for any thread, you will get the opposite reaction. We all have people who are on our ignore lists, we can not possibly expect that the other hundreds of thousands of registered members would know and follow our wishes.
Back to topic of PE - I hated the concept/requirement of PE, partly because of the bullying aspect. If you had no coordination and your body was not the ideal shape, you were perceptually picked last and made fun of in the showers. Some of us were naturally clumsy but can kick butt on some WiiFit games.

[Prancer]

No, what would be nice is if the sniping stopped and in turn this person isn't given what they want. Attention and in turn, taking the thread over w/their own little dramas.

Clear enough now?

The only drama I see is that you are pitching something of a fit because you don't like MacMadame's posts. Stop posting about it and ignore her posts, even when they are quoted. Drama over.

You can only control yourself and what you post. Other posters will do what they do and if they want to respond to her posts, that's the way it goes.

[Fridge_Break]

The season I watched was the one with Heba and Vicky. I thought there were a lot of bullies then. Are you saying this past season was even nastier. Wow.

I did not start watching until after Heba and Vicky's season so I can not compare.

[heckles]

I hated the concept/requirement of PE, partly because of the bullying aspect. If you had no coordination and your body was not the ideal shape, you were perceptually picked last and made fun of in the showers. Some of us were naturally clumsy but can kick butt on some WiiFit games.

It's ironic that PE is lauded as a way for students to let off stress, yet it seems to be the source of stress for many. Seems like a good half of adults' bullying recollections involved a PE class. It doesn't help matters that PE tends to revolve around team sports, so kids who don't do well in those often end up thinking they're bad at sports in general.

I'd like to see more schools allow students to fulfill the PE requirement by letting them to do sports outside of school, especially if those sports are ones that are difficult to teach in the school setting. If the kid likes skiing, let him or her fulfill the PE requirement by joining a ski team with a verifiable practice and competitive schedule. I've heard of only a few schools that allow students to do this, and it tends to be mostly for high-level athletes.

[Prancer]

It doesn't help matters that PE tends to revolve around team sports

Does it? My PE classes never did. I did fencing, gymnastics and dance in high school.

My kids have had all kinds of options for PE, including things like DDR, Extreme Frisbee, and outdoor bicycle riding along with more standard stuff like weightlifting, aerobic dance, volleyball and such. I've often wondered how common this is; what exactly IS PE like in most high schools these days? From everything I have read, the emphasis has shifted a lot because of the bullying aspect of PE in the past, but I don't know if that is true everywhere.

[michiruwater]

We did all sorts of things in PE. We stretched every day, ran every day, our instructor taught us to use all the standard gym equipment safely, and we played various sports. We never chose teams, though, he just divided us up on his own, and most of the sports we did were full-team sports where we were evenly divided, like volleyball or soccer.

We definitely never had anything like dance or gymnastics. I wish. But I did enjoy PE and while my instructor was a hardass, he was fair.

[MacMadame]

I have a lot of respect for Jillian Michaels based on this book and her honesty and integrity in the articles/books I have about/by her. But like I said, I haven't watched the show.

I find that interesting because part of why I don't respect her is that I think she's all about the money. The fact that she knows the right way to do things but is willing to get paid to do it the wrong way is part of that. It's not just this show. She's done things like say in interviews that 30 min. workouts are bad and then 6 months later she puts out some 30 min. workout tapes that are no different than what she was criticizing -- because they sell.

As for PE, my best sports and PE experiences came when I was older and had choice over what I did. In High School, PE was treated like any elective and you picked the classes you wanted to take (if you didn't try out for and make a team sport instead) and in college we also had intramural sports which were very social and, again, totally elective. It was those experiences that started me on the path of thinking sports could be fun, not traditional PE classes.

I think increasing kids' access to physical activities and making them cool -- such as some of the kids sports programs sponsored by high profile athletes and sports organizations -- will do worlds more for kids' fitness than increasing their PE time.

I also worry that those kids on this season's Biggest Loser are setting themselves up for a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and ending up even heavier. It's been shown over and over that one of the risks of dieting is ending up fatter than you started. When the adults do it, I figure they are adults and have probably already had a lifetime of dieting so it's probably too late anyway. But getting kids -- who are still growing -- to do these extreme diets and exercise programs horrifies me and when I saw the commercial of them being on the show, I wanted to cry.

[Fridge_Break]

But getting kids -- who are still growing -- to do these extreme diets and exercise programs horrifies me and when I saw the commercial of them being on the show, I wanted to cry.

The kids are not living on the ranch and are not being pushed like the adults are. They're more being taught how to live an active and healthy lifestyle and are checking in with the trainers on a weekly basis.

[myhoneyhoney]

Not sure about high school since my two oldest are still in middle school. They have PE every day, with Monday being their mile run day where they are timed. The longer the run the lower the grade. They don't have different activities to choose from, rather the teacher rotates the activities, looks like it's 3 weeks of volleyball, 3 weeks of basketball, etc. It does seem to be more of the team sport format and not individual like dance. The teachers grade participation vs. grading on how well they perform which I think is more fair.

[heckles]

We never chose teams, though, he just divided us up on his own, and most of the sports we did were full-team sports where we were evenly divided, like volleyball or soccer.

Are there still schools that let the students do that team-picking bit? Don't know why anyone ever thought that one was a good idea.

[PRlady]

My favorite thing we did in PE was archery. I was awful, but I loved it.

I was good at it. It was the only thing I was good at so I kept it up through college. (In case you're interested, Jennifer Lawrence really did have good technique.) It's an interesting sport but it still took me til age 39 to finally do some aerobic cardio exercise, because gym class taught me to hate it.

We had to square dance, too. In a Hebrew Day school.

(And I've watched the show a couple of times. It makes for good TV but I feel so sorry for the contestants from beginning to end that I can't really enjoy it.)

[Rob]

Not really. I mostly remember coughing up lungs because of Presidential Physical Fitness tests with gym teachers who didn't believe in exercise-triggered asthma (they're lucky it wasn't like a few times as an adult where too much aerobic activity outdoors in warm weather actually caused anaphylactic HIVES--people with airborne allergies are actually not supposed to do intense outdoor activities that increase breathing, for reasons that should be obvious.) I didn't mind dodgeball as I eventually got fairly good at hitting people (same for floor hockey once we got to high school and only played other girls), but in general PE was a long exercise in teaching the less-adept to never, ever perform physical activities in public, ever. Forcing kids into traditional sports and gym activities like rope climbing helps those who are already good at them, but pretty much creates the dislike/fear of exercise in those who aren't good at them.

Were we the same person in school? Asthma during Presidential fitness tests. Check. Always hoped for Dodgeball day. Check.

[MacMadame]

The kids are not living on the ranch and are not being pushed like the adults are. They're more being taught how to live an active and healthy lifestyle and are checking in with the trainers on a weekly basis.

Well that's good but losing massive amounts of weight is still good tv so I still worry about them. I keep thinking about all those Fat Camps and how well they don't work in the long run and how kids who go to them talk about all the disordered eating that goes on there.

Not sure about high school since my two oldest are still in middle school. They have PE every day, with Monday being their mile run day where they are timed. The longer the run the lower the grade. They don't have different activities to choose from, rather the teacher rotates the activities, looks like it's 3 weeks of volleyball, 3 weeks of basketball, etc. It does seem to be more of the team sport format and not individual like dance. The teachers grade participation vs. grading on how well they perform which I think is more fair.

That's how they do it at Mini-Mac's school too. Except they did have a unit on dance. She hates PE just like I did, btw.

The funny thing is, I was so sure I was "bad at sports" that I never considered dancing as a sport or even a physical activity. I Contra Danced every Friday night through college and was damn good at it too. But sports were things like track and field, volleyball, and basketball in my mind. It's really a shame all the opportunities I missed because I got labeled as Bad at Sports at an early age and learned to hate physical activity. I'd like to see others avoid that.

[my little pony]

ita that gym caused more stress than it was worth. in one pd you had to get there, change, sit in a squad, since we only did team sports - put on one of those pinnies (sp?). by the time it was time to go change, not a lot of quality anything was done. and the only thing i liked was dodgeball. apparently, my only talent is hitting people in the face.

[jamesy]

Well that's good but losing massive amounts of weight is still good tv so I still worry about them. I keep thinking about all those Fat Camps and how well they don't work in the long run and how kids who go to them talk about all the disordered eating that goes on there.

The kids aren't really involved in the weight loss contest part of the show. They are more like mascots for their team; I think the show mostly refers to them as ambassadors.

They aren't weighed in and they are not involved with the weigh in ceremony at all. They pretty much show up to help participate in reward challenges then they leave. Even when they do work out it is apart from the adults.

I was kind of surprised they were going to involve children in the show but so far it looks like they've gone out of their way for the kids' experience to not just be a junior version of what the adults go through.

[MacMadame]

I was kind of surprised they were going to involve children in the show but so far it looks like they've gone out of their way for the kids' experience to not just be a junior version of what the adults go through.

That's great, then. I feel so much better.

[madm]

I'd like to see more schools allow students to fulfill the PE requirement by letting them to do sports outside of school, especially if those sports are ones that are difficult to teach in the school setting. If the kid likes skiing, let him or her fulfill the PE requirement by joining a ski team with a verifiable practice and competitive schedule. I've heard of only a few schools that allow students to do this, and it tends to be mostly for high-level athletes.

The best PE program I know of in the U.S. is one that the Colorado mountain schools have. They let their kids out at 12:30 every day in the winter to go skiing for the rest of the afternoon. How frickin awesome is that?!!!