Samara Serotkin, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist

Reality shows like “The Biggest Loser” are popular entertainment. You might think that it could be enjoyable, even educational, to watch people challenging themselves to lose weight. Seeing other people overcome their struggles to lose weight could inspire us to work toward reaching our own goals too, right? Actually, research shows that the opposite may be true. It turns out that there is a darker side to watching these shows.

A recent study revealed that when people watch reality weight loss shows they are more likely to think negatively about people who are overweight. Rather than helping develop compassion for people struggling with weight issues, viewers were more likely to negatively judge and dislike them. And these kinds of negative attitudes can actually hinder your own efforts to lose weight. How? Well, you’re more likely to pass negative judgments toward yourself as well. And negative self-talk, as you may know, can be a huge barrier toward making the kinds of changes you need to make to reach your goals.

Weight bias, which means discriminating against people who are overweight, is on the rise in our culture. This practice is not only harmful and unfair, but can also make the difficult goal of weight loss feel even more enormous and insurmountable. And this new research reveals that reality weight loss shows contribute to this already significant problem.

Additionally, these shows tend to depict people using poor strategies for weight loss that are neither healthy nor sustainable. For one thing, people lose huge amounts of weight fairly quickly.  Researchers have looked at former participants from “The Biggest Loser” and found that they have lower metabolism, lower muscle efficiency and are not only set up to regain their weight but have harmed their health.  And, of course, widely publicized stories of former contestants have revealed that most do gain the weight back.  Who needs that kind of weight loss strategy? And this only serves to propagate weight loss myths, rather than offering an educational experience where people can actually learn about healthy paths to weight loss. It’s important to be careful about where you go for information about weight loss. It’s best to go to reliable resources that are knowledgeable about the research on weight loss, like your doctor, your Weight Talk^® coach, or the Weight Talk^® website.

So if you enjoy watching reality weight loss shows, you might want to try to find some other form of entertainment. At the very least, try to maintain an awareness of how much weight bias you might be holding. Plato once said “Be kind, for everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Let’s try to remember that losing weight can be a difficult challenge and try to cultivate empathy and compassion, not judgment toward people who are overweight. And remember to stay compassionate towards yourself if you are focusing on changing your behavior to improve your health.