The Biggest Loser is Back and So is Jillian!!

[MacMadame]

I realize contra dancing is very important to you but, again, school have no mandate to instill a love of contra dancing into students.

They do have a mandate to get the kids moving and maybe even to teach them that physical activity can be fun. Since you love dance so much, it's natural for you to think that it's a perfect activity for this mandate. But, at the point in their emotional development that most high school students are at, this kind of of social dance is actually kind of an iffy thing to teach a love of physical activity, as others have pointed out from their own experiences. It's not a coincidence that most contra dance groups do not have a lot of high school students in them.

I think my kid's high school is on the right track with having the kids run and with having them make up a solo dance to modern music of their own choice rather than teaching them square or contra dancing. And I say this as someone who loves both (and ballroom too). But not many High School students are ready for this sort of interaction or going to appreciate it being forced on them and you don't get people to love stuff by forcing it on them when they aren't ready.

[heckles]

But how shocked were you to hear that the Biggest Loser Chef (wtf?) endorses Jenni-O turkey products?!?!?!?!

I never would have guessed. Did you infer that PLANET FITNESS is a great place to work out, and PLANET FITNESS is a great place to bring a friend, and PLANET FITNESS caters to "normal people", whatever those are?

[overedge]

PLANET FITNESS caters to "normal people", whatever those are?

People who don't go to the gym so they can talk on their cellphone while they wave a weight around in one hand and pretend that counts as exercise?

People who don't go to the gym for the sole purpose of leering at girls or guys in tight clothes?

[MacMadame]

I ran into this article on another website a few weeks after we had our discussion about whether this show encourages people to diet in a healthy way or not:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news...-biggest-loser

It pretty much sums up the discussion with lots of scientific data instead of just people's opinions.

[heckles]

People who don't go to the gym for the sole purpose of leering at girls or guys in tight clothes?

Without the eye candy at the gym, you might as well just buy a Ricky Simmons DVD and stay home.

[madm]

I ran into this article on another website a few weeks after we had our discussion about whether this show encourages people to diet in a healthy way or not:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news...-biggest-loser

It pretty much sums up the discussion with lots of scientific data instead of just people's opinions.

Thanks a lot for the article. I would never have guessed that the participants' metabolisms would slow down so much! It is sad that so many gain back their weight.

[MacMadame]

Yeah, I was surprised too. Not that they gain back their weight. Studies show that pretty much everyone who loses over 50 pounds gains it back (and usually more) eventually. The ones who don't are statistical outliers. But I was very much surprised that the "Biggest Loser Way" of doing things was so much worse for participants in the long run. I figured it would be about the same as normal methods.