Right on the heels of my new favorite TV show, “My Diet is Better Than Yours” (is it even still on TV?) comes a new, and even more insulting, asinine, out right dumb TV show – “Fit to Fat to Fit” on A&E (arts and entertainment, anyone?)
Before I go further on my take, I want to say when looking up the show online I came across this fantastic article by James Fell via AskMen.com. He pretty much sums up my opinion on the show, and does it perfectly.
Trainer Mike’s Take:
This show follows a trainer, who gains fat, so he can “feel what his clients are going through”. Are you kidding me?
Going from having a 6 pack, to a full on keg, then back to 6 pack is not real life obesity. No one intentionally gains fat because they directly choose to, especially over such a shirt time span.
This guy is just setting himself up for orthopedic issues, aches, pains, and all the glamour that people struggling with their weight go through everyday.
The fact that he was muscular, and lean before, also makes it easier to lose the weight in the end because of several factors:
- Muscle helps boost metabolism and burn more fat. He already ha a great metabolic foundation, which probably gets a little messed up with the rapid fat gain, but the body is fairly resilient and will re-vamp that metabolism once he gets back to his normal lifestyle.
- He already has lived the “fit” lifestyle, and he knows what to do. He already has the right mindset. Many people struggling to lose weight have never been there. They are constantly bombarded with messages and trash (like this show) which can be even more confusing and downright dangerous (box jumps for 50 reps at 300 pounds is not the best idea…)
- The time span of this transformation is nowhere near a lifetime of weight gain and struggles to lose. This is not real life.
Dietitian Mike Says:
This is such a bad idea. To gain this weight, so quickly, can set the body up for some nasty side effects. Increased blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar are all things that might very well stick with him after he loses the weight (they will improve, but he could really be setting himself up for disaster.
The bigger picture is that in NO WAY does this “teach” the trainer what its like to struggle to lose weight. Like I said before, people don’t consciously choose to gain weight and they don’t do it over such a short time span.
If I gained body fat super fast, I might look like someone who deals with obesity, and the struggle that comes with it, but I will never deal with everything that may have caused it for my real life clients.
Gaining a ton of body fat won’t make me feel like the client who lost her mother, her job, her son went off to college, or struggles with depression or menopause. I hopefully will never know what some of those feel like.
Gaining weight won’t also add the stress of being a CEO, a struggling farmer, a single parent, or someone who is dealing with the bigger issues that often push health and fitness to the back burner.
Final Points
This show is garbage, it brings fat shaming to a whole new level. “If I can do it, you can do it too!” It’s not that simple. Yes, anyone CAN do it, but it may be much harder and deeper rooted for many who have struggled their whole lives with their weight.
Save your time, please don’t watch this show.
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Stay healthy my friends,