Battle Of The Weight Loss Shows

When The Biggest Loser first came out I thought it was terrible, then I started struggling with my weight.  I decided that maybe they had some advice for me and that while riding my stationary bike would be the perfect time for me to find out.  I found that the advice was solid and the repetition was helpful.  Each contestant has a different story, and while they may be heavier than I am, we are all struggling with something that has gotten us to where we are now.

The premise of the show is people are divided into teams with a trainer, they all live onsite and the environment is very controlled like a retreat.  They work out together and prepare meals together and at the end of each week they have a weigh in and the person with the lowest weight loss percentage goes home.  It's impossible not to put in my 30 minutes on the bike while I'm watching people try so hard.  Along the way you also learn things like which mall foods are the best and the worst and other helpful tips.  I find myself cheering for everyone and am almost always sad to see someone sent home.  

Now we have My Diet Is Better Than Yours  and I couldn't resist trying it out.  I was very skeptical when I started it, but I had bike riding to do so I just went for it.  The idea behind this show is each contestant picks a diet approach that comes with the creator of that method as their coach.  For example, there's the trainer who wrote a book around the Paleo style approach, and another that has a book specializing in busy families.  Then at the end of each week they have a weigh in and if you don't like the results you're getting with the trainer you chose you get one chance to switch to a new plan.  I really enjoyed learning about all the different philosophies.  I really love that the contestants do not get sent home.  The only people that can be voted out are the trainers and in that case you get to see another weight loss philosophy.  It turned out to be a really interesting show and I am definitely going to watch it again.  I also thought that the low carb Paleo approach that one of the trainers has would really be of interest to my husband so I have requested his book from the library. He said he would read it so I'll give you an update on that in the future.  

The only things I would say My Diet Is Better Than Yours has going for it over The Biggest Loser is the variety of diet approaches you get to sample at once and that all the contestants get to stay for the entire contest.  The bottom line is both of these shows can be motivating if you want to be motivated. I don't think I would enjoy watching them while just sitting on the couch because that would feel depressing, but as long as there is exercise to be done then I will keep watching both these shows while I do it.