Has the biggest loser gone too far?

[mrzrich]

This season's winner weighed in at 105 lbs. If she is 5'4" her BMI comes in at 18, which is underweight. To go from one extreme to the other so quickly can't possibly be healthy.

 

[brockash]

This season's winner weighed in at 105 lbs. If she is 5'4" her BMI comes in at 18, which is underweight. To go from one extreme to the other so quickly can't possibly be healthy.

I just got done watching and I felt so sad and scared for Rachel especially. She looked absolutely horrible. She looks sickly, like anorexic or some type of eating disorder sickly. I couldn't believe how bad it was. I'm not sure how they could change it, but surely this is no more healthy than where they started from. I certainly hope they get her some help asap.

All I could think was that they can't possibly promote her and show her off as the newest biggest loser success. She just looked so frail and unwell.

 

[Handbag Lady]

It is just trading one addiction for another.

 

[SeaSpray]

I haven't watched the last few weeks, and I haven't watched tonight's finale' yet. Is Rachel the young woman who was a swimmer?

If that's her, then that is a drastic change. She looks older than she did before. How old is she?

When I was in my early-mid 20's I weighed 105, and I'm 5'4". I definitely wasn't "underweight". Maybe it depends on where and how you carry the weight?

At my age now (52), if I lost weight and weighed 105 again, I think I'd look sickly-thin.

Now I'm curious to watch tonight's episode...

But to answer your question, YES, I do think that in many cases, the Biggest Loser, whether the contestants on their own and/or with help from the show, goes too far. Especially since in the end, it's a contest to win money so that lends itself to "winning at any cost".

 

[mrzrich]

Bob and Jillian looked absolutely mortified. The mic picked up Jillian saying "Bob, Oh My God!" I dont think it was a good Oh my God either.

 

[mrzrich]

When I was in my early-mid 20's I weighed 105, and I'm 5'4". I definitely wasn't "underweight". Maybe it depends on where and how you carry the weight?
.

To be fair, I don't know how tall she is. I was just using 5'4" as a point of reference. According to the NHI guidelines a BMI of less than 18.5 is underweight. 5'4" 105 lbs brings a person in at 18.0.

 

[mrzrich]

Bob and Jillian looked absolutely mortified. The mic picked up Jillian saying "Bob, Oh My God!" I dont think it was a good Oh my God either.

Look at Tanya's face in the back!

 

[mrzrich]

 

[sonnyjane]

To be fair, I don't know how tall she is. I was just using 5'4" as a point of reference. According to the NHI guidelines a BMI of less than 18.5 is underweight. 5'4" 105 lbs brings a person in at 18.0.

Oh. I think it makes a big difference how tall she actually is. I didn't watch this season. When I googled, a source did say she's 5'4" but I don't know that for sure. BMI is such a weird thing. We have talked about this on the board a lot. I'm 5'7"-5'8" and weigh about 160-165 pounds. On paper, I'm "overweight", but I actually get a lot of comments frequently that I look thin. Even when I go to appointments at my doctor and they weigh me, the nurse is always surprised that I weigh "so much" because I don't look it. I'm sure Jillian has an underweight BMI too, so...

If the picture that I'm seeing of her weigh-in in the green shirt is her final weigh-in as well as the picture of her getting her makeover clothes, then I quite frankly don't think she looks too thin at all.

ETA: Since I'm on the west coast I figured I'd tune in and see it on TV... I'll post in a couple minutes.

 

[mrzrich]

I'm sure Jillian has an underweight BMI too, so that can't be the deciding factor.

If the picture that I'm seeing of her weigh-in in the green shirt is her final weigh-in as well as the picture of her getting her makeover clothes, then I quite frankly don't think she looks too thin at all.

At the finale, she looked way skinnier than Jillian. She had no muscle tone.

The makeover episode was a few weeks ago and she looked great then.

 

[mrzrich]

ETA: Since I'm on the west coast I figured I'd tune in and see it on TV... I'll post in a couple minutes.

They may edit the West Coast feed, frankly after her big reveal, they went out of there way to hardly have her on screen at all. Allison gushed over EVERYONE's weight loss except Rachel's. Allison asked the trainers what they thought of all of the transformations except for Rachel's. It was obvious to the live viewer that the format changed after the trainers saw Rachel.

Even the celebration of her win was very subdued. Only her fellow contestants came over to congratulate her.

 

[sonnyjane]

At the finale, she looked way skinnier than Jillian. She had no muscle tone.

The makeover episode was a few weeks ago and she looked great then.

Ugh blasted! I thought it was over at 10PM, not 11PM lol! I don't think I'll stay up that late. Okay, maybe the pics I'm seeing are from a couple of weeks ago then.

 

[mrzrich]

This is her makeover pictureon the show a few weeks ago:

This was her tonight

 

[mrzrich]

The still pictures look better than she did live. And if the camera really adds 10 pounds, then yikes!

 

[sonnyjane]

oh WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes. After seeing those images yeah WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIN!!!!! No wonder everyone had those reactions! YIKES! That's what you get for monetarily rewarding people for basically having an eating disorder - whether it's eating very little or just obsessively exercising! To be honest, I'm surprised we haven't had more shocking results like this one over the seasons!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I don't watch the show, but she looks terrible. And to think children out there are watching this stuff. JMHO.

 

[carriemd]

I am not a regular watcher, but I did watch tonight. Not live, as I'm in MST.
Maybe it was my imagination but she also seemed kind of out of it. Did anyone else notice this or am I just making it up? IDk if it was my imagination, her normal personality, or something else.
And I do think the show has gone too far. I actually thought that several years ago, which is why I stopped watching.

 

[sonnyjane]

Hmm yeah I didn't see the east coast broadcast but here on the west coast the host was really pretty shaken up when speaking to Rachel after the weigh in. The didn't show Bob or Jillian's reaction to the weigh-in (I missed the initial reveal, which I think is when that screen shot was taken).

It seemed like they rushed to commercial. There was music, quick congratulations, and thanks to everyone. No comments, then the whole "contestants were monitored by doctors during the process" screen popped up lol! Bizarre!

 

[pigletgirl]

Yeah she doesn't look healthy. Cannot believe she won the $250,000

 

[Viva Las Disney]

She still had some meat on her in the triathlon episode a few weeks ago but didn't even look like the same person tonight.

They have dieticians, doctors, trainers, etc on the ranch but once they go home I'm not sure how much control the biggest loser has. She looked pretty good when she left but tonight it looked like she hadn't eaten since she left the ranch. $250,000 is probably enough to encourage some pretty extreme measures to win.