If you’ve watched the early episodes – or even the TV ads – of The Biggest Loser: Families this season, you’ll know that luck is not the reason the trainers are in such good shape. They make the effort.
The trainers had to spend a week with their families, eating the same foods and doing the same exercise (or lack of). The results were then displayed for all to see, with each trainer stepping on the scales for their (or their family’s) moment of reckoning.
Michelle Bridges was “… pretty p***** off” with her weight gain of 7.6kg – or a massive 12.62% weight gain in one week! It’s hard to blame her reaction.
Shannon Ponton described his experience as “a week in purgatory”, which resulted in an extra 5.3kg, or 6.07% gain.
The Commando told his family “You’re standing here because you weren’t able to control yourselves.” In following their lifestyle habits, he gained 7.1kg, or 7.08% gain.
Tiffiny Hall, with a starting weight of 53.0kg, gained 4.5kg or 8.49%. This result moved her family to tears: as one family member said, “I feel really guilty that we put you through that in that week. And also, if that’s what it’s done to you in a week, what’s it been doing to me for the last 20 years?”
Herein lies the truth: These trainers are not fit and healthy because they’re lucky. They are fit and healthy because they make conscious decisions to be that way. Of course, luck may play a part, but the results from the week living a different lifestyle prove that daily choices play a far bigger role than luck.
These trainers know exactly where to place the blame for their weight gain. It’s not genetics, not a thyroid problem, not bad luck, not “it’s not fair”; it was purely about their lifestyle for the week.
These unhealthy lifestyles cause weight gain not just through an excess of calories, but the specific choices can also affect sleep, mood, gut bacteria, physical stress, and hydration which all affect weight.
If everyone who is unhappy with their weight could take an honest look at their daily choices with both food and exercise, they’d be in a better position to make changes that would lead to improvements in weight and health. Denial will get them nowhere. Luck plays almost no role when effort is applied.