The Biggest Loser

[famvir]

I can see sticking with the program with a quarter million dollar payoff. It would be like a Top Chef finalist saying, " I got the car and $25,000 in prizes, I'm good." She's a competitor, and this was a competition. The competition was to lose the most weight/body percentage. I can see the side benefit of getting healthy, but if she stuck it out a few more weeks/months, she'd hit pay dirt.

The next few months will see if she puts some weight back on, continues to exercise, and this was just to win, or if she had developed an eating disorder.

[chonies]

I suppose that's true--it's a really extreme version of dieting for an event. However, that doesn't stop me from impatiently waiting for some of my favorite fitness bloggers to chime in.

[GirlyGhoul]

It would be like a Top Chef finalist saying, " I got the car and $25,000 in prizes, I'm good."

Yeah, except a Top Chef finalist hanging in there to the end wouldn't also be potentially damaging their organs in the act of 'winning' (And heck, a Top Chef competitor would get to EAT and eat well going for that prize).

Hopefully, she can snap back to a healthy weight after this. I mean, I guess another way it could be looked at is like an actor altering their body for a role. It still could potentially cause permanent damage... but not always. Here's hoping this is something she can bounce back and that no eating disorder mindset has taken hold of her brain.

But at the moment, I'm worried for her, regardless of the giant wad of cash she currently has in her pockets.

[famvir]

It is troubling, girly. But your example of an actor losing weight for a role is apt. Her role paid out $250,000 and publicity. I hurt when I saw Dallas Buyers Club, Matthew McConaughey was a lot thinner (lower body fat ) than she is.

[Deleted]

The next few months will see if she puts some weight back on, continues to exercise, and this was just to win, or if she had developed an eating disorder.

Based on the things she said in her Us Weekly interview, I'm wondering if she might have already been predisposed to have an eating disorder.

Frederickson packed on the weight following a devastating breakup that shattered her self-confidence. "I truly came on The Biggest Loser to gain my life and get that second chance to take control and to be that confident girl again," she said. Watching a video montage of her transformation, she added, "To see it transform throughout the weeks and come back that alive, feeling, in my eyes, through that video, it was just inspiring to see it again and I know that I found that girl."
With her new outlook -- and body -- Frederickson "can't wait to do everything," she gushed. "So go out and make friends and take people up on offers to go for coffee or to the movies and just really embrace every moment of life and not hide anymore!"

She gained the weight from emotional eating and apparently socially isolated herself out of shame. Now that she's lost the weight she's talks excitedly about making friends and taking up offers for coffee. You'd think she just finished serving a jail term with the contrast in her fat/skinny life that she's expressing. There's something off about her thought process.

[smitten]

Do they do psych evals for these contestants? Her associating control with weight loss is a big red flag for an eating disorder.

[Mierin]

Based on the things she said in her Us Weekly interview, I'm wondering if she might have already been predisposed to have an eating disorder.

What worries me is that in the US magazine article Rachel mentions that now she's at the maintaining stage.

"I started as a 20 and now I’m a 0/2. I was a 6 during makeover week. It's all about maintaining now!" she told Us.

[chonies]

Yay for bloggers!

From Fit & Feminist

She played the game and she played it hard, and in doing so, she laid bare the show’s messed-up, disordered premises for all the world to see. link.

[Ella]

Doesn't People magazine usually do a cover with the Biggest Loser winner? This will be interesting.
My sisters and I were talking about this and she reminded me that yesterday was the anniversary of Karen Carpenters death. What a coincidence this scary skinny woman wins on the same day of her death.

[Deleted]

OT: I remember watching "The Karen Carpenter Story" as a kid and being absolutely heartbroken at the end. Was, and still am, a huge fan.

Someone tweeted about this gal last night and I looked her up - she does not look healthy, and her equating being thin with making friends makes me sad.