The Biggest Loser Finale

Holy Cow. That's all I have to say. Holy Cow.

Ok, maybe I do have FEW more things to say about the season finale of The Biggest Loser. First, I may be wrong on this point, but I think that the contestants this season lost considerably more weight than in either of the previous two seasons. (Matt, who won last season, lost 157 lbs - about 46% of his weight) That being said, I also believe that this season had more time at home before the finale. I thought that they had 3-4 months at home before; this season they had at least 5 months (since Heather was 5 months pregnant!). And while the weight loss is unbelievably impressive, I worry about the message it's sending as well. There's no doubt that Americans are overweight, and most of us need to lose a few pounds. But losing 50% of your body weight is an unrealistic goal for most (even for those who really do need to lose that much weight), and certainly unhealthy to lose it in that amount of time. I would like to see a special a year from now to see how much weight they have actually kept off. I'm also sure that I'm not the only person who looked into their "Biggest Loser Club" since it clearly works...seems like the show may just be a giant advertisement for their website (you do have to pay to be a club member).

Anyways, I was impressed with their weight loss, especially Poppi, who lost all that weight by herself. I was also wholly unimpressed with the attitudes of several of the contestants. Yes, you lost a lot of weight. And yes, you look great. But you're still the same person - you're NOT better than us. And Marty - is that really the attitude you want to teach your students? As a teacher, I was embarrassed for you.

Side note: if you were surprised that Heather was pregnant, please raise your hand. Oh, I hope your hand isn't up right now. As soon as they showed her being tired and gaining weight, it was pretty clear (that, and they stopped showing her progress at home!). She did look really good though, even though I wasn't a fan throughout the show.

So a blue team member finally won (actually, both big prizes were won by blue teamers...Bob must be elated), with Erik losing a ridiculous 214 pounds - that's 52.08% of his body weight. Holy Cow. He looks like a completely different person. I hope he can keep the weight off...he does seem like he's a nice guy.

And with that, we're done for another season. It doesn't look like they'll be doing a "special edition" season this spring (remember how they did those 2-episode things last spring? They weren't that bad, really). So no more fat people on scales until the fall. Sigh...how will we ever last that long? :)