I remember growing up and watching “The Biggest Loser,” thinking how inspirational it was to see so many people wanting to change their lives. So, when “Fit for TV” appeared on my Netflix account, I knew I would watch it. What I did not expect was to end up with my rage surrounding weight ignited. 

Former contestants came on and shared their stories. They discussed how they were expected to burn 6,000 calories a day, while consuming only about 800 calories. For reference, I know of someone who, after running for four hours and 20 miles, only burned 3,000 calories. 

The documentary reminded me of society’s obsession with weight and the philosophy that thinner is better (regardless if it is healthy or not). It reminded me of all the times I’ve talked negatively about my body and how I grew up hearing the women in my life speak ill of their own.

It broke my heart, but it also filled me with the kind of ire that is only seen when a woman is scorned. Because when I think about it, aren’t all women feeling a little scorned when it comes to their weight?

Latinas are taught at a young age that to be considered pretty, you need to be thin

If I had a dollar for every time someone in my family, mainly the women, has made an unsolicited comment about my body, I’d have a healthy savings account. The number of times I’ve asked someone how I look in something, and the response was, “Well, you’d look better if you lost a couple of pounds.”

My answer every time was to state that wasn’t what I asked and confirm that they were saying I looked bad. They would immediately backtrack with a “That’s not what I said.” I think I was 11 years old when I had an aunt explain to me that now that I was becoming a lady, I needed to suck in my stomach because boys don’t like a big belly.

Before that, I heard the “You’re eating too much, you’re gonna be fat when you grow up.” Little girls aren’t born with factory settings for thinking about their weight. It’s a learned habit that’s based on decades of Eurocentric fatphobia. Las damas son delgadas because that is what society prefers.

This indoctrination is what leads to scores of women being terrified about gaining an ounce of weight, all the while knowing that their weight fluctuates day to day. It breeds women who think that those around them are fixated on their bodies rather than their souls. 

I cannot count the number of times I had to talk myself out of thinking that the number on the scale determined my worth. Now, as a sign of rebellion, I don’t weigh myself unless I have a medical appointment. But that’s not healthy either. 

In my need to rebel against everything that was poured into me, I have tried to ignore what was in front of me. Not knowing my weight meant that I was proud of what I looked like. Thankfully, with therapy and the guidance of a nutritionist, I have learned better ways of being. Most importantly, I learned not to be scared.

“The Biggest Loser” was a show flying under the banner of body positivity, while in reality, it was obesity porn for the masses

The NBC show ran concurrently from 2004 to 2016 for 17 seasons and aired its season 18 in 2020. The show was at its peak when I was in my late middle school years and early high school years. And I knew that I wasn’t the only one watching it. 

While I watched for a few seasons, I distinctly remember crying over the stories of some of the contestants. I rooted for them regardless of whether they won the season or not. To me, it seemed so monumental that they were doing something like this for their health. 

At that point in my young life, calling yourself fat was the norm. Everyone did it. Everyone called other people fat. It was just something that was allowed because why wouldn’t you tell someone they were fat if, in the end, you were being “helpful.” 

Adult me knows different. I also understand that while there are ways to show concern over someone’s health, reducing them to their weight is not one of them. People like to think that they don’t treat those who are overweight differently. Unfortunately, that’s far from the truth. 

How many times have you looked at an overweight person and thought, “I’d never let myself go like that.” Think of all the instances you’ve judged someone for not fitting into a seat because they are probably too lazy to do something about their weight. How many times have you completely ignored someone who is overweight?

Don’t think it’s true? The former contestants who appeared in the documentary say otherwise. Sisters Olivia Ward and Hannah Curlee Young, who competed in the same season, discussed how they were treated differently when they were overweight. 

Curlee Young, who was an athlete all her life and gained weight after an accident, asked Ward, who had been overweight, why she never warned her about how differently people would treat her at a higher weight.

Like everything else in life, losing significant amounts of weight is something that comes with a massive perspective shift

When I first started with my nutritionist, I realized that I had great levels of rage surrounding my weight. I kept repeating, “I’m not doing this because I want to lose weight,” something that prompted my nutritionist to ask me if that was something I had explored in therapy. 

Big change doesn’t come from trying to mask the deeper issues and thought processes that lead you down the path you took. For me, getting healthier in a safe way required addressing the anger I felt about all the experiences that all the women in my life and I have endured.

Lasting change comes from small steps that lead you to bigger victories. Danny Cahill, winner of season 8 of “The Biggest Loser,” noted how, after the show ended, there was no direction or aftercare for the contestants on how to approach life outside of the show. 

This would eventually see Cahill regain all the weight he worked so hard to lose. He’s not alone. Most of the contestants have. Not only that, for some, the damage that the rapid weight loss caused premanently wrecked their metabolic rate. What does that mean? In order to maintain a lower weight, they would have to live “an extremely low-calorie” lifestyle.

“Fit for TV” is not only a reminder that there is always more than meets the eye when it comes to reality television, but also that society’s obsession with weight loss is toxic. I’m not referring to the kind of weight loss that helps you live healthier, more energetically, and with physical autonomy.

The weight loss I’m referring to is the kind that keeps you from living your life because you are so focused on a standard of perfection that doesn’t exist that you ultimately forget to be you. We all deserve to be happy and healthy at any weight.