Achievement - Biggest Loser Style

I may have mentioned before (or maybe not) that I'm a fan of the show Biggest Loser. I got hooked a couple years ago after watching a marathon of it on Bravo. Seeing those people push themselves to lose weight, many of them after years of not being able to so much as eat smaller portions, was heartening. Seeing those people, who thought they could never do it, find the motivation to at least try is heroic. True, this time it's the lure of money, and since money is a great motivator, I say more power to them.

Now, I'm not overweight by any stretch of the imagination. (Although I am trying to lose weight, that's because the more pounds my bum leg carries the worse it feels. 140 is best; 163 was too much.) So that's not why I'm watching the show. I can't empathize with those people. I can sympathize because I've had some difficult things I had to get through myself, and because my sister's been battling her weight for 25+ years.

The main reason I watch is to see people doing difficult things and succeeding. It's the same principle behind watching Top Chef or Project Runway. Given a set of things to overcome, these people put their shoulder to the wheel and get the job done.

And what I hate about any of these shows are the whiners. With Biggest Loser this season, we had Joelle, who kept whining about how she was doing her best - but you could tell she wasn't. Even her own partner yelled at her. Even Bob the trainer (who has never flown off the handle in all the seasons of Biggest Loser) lost it and screamed at her. And still she went along her lazy way. If all the rest of the people were working out, she was sure to be seen sitting and watching - unless Bob jumped all over her. Now she's gone - voted off the ranch - and no one was sorry to see her go.

Another person I couldn't wait to see go, even though she was only back for a couple weeks, was Shanon. She and her mother were a team, and every week her mother (Helen) busted her butt to lose weight, but Shanon didn't seem like she could be bothered. In the end, she asked to be voted off because she was sure she could lose weight better at home. From the glimpse at her after she left, she was right. Unfortunately, in that mother-daughter relationship, it was clear she was going to do better without her mother around, because Helen was an enabler. Sad really. In trying to improve her daughter's self-esteem, she actually was crippling her ability to work through difficulties by herself. I didn't think Shanon was going to be able to lose weight, and I'm glad she proved me wrong.

Heh. There was a point in all this... Somewhere.

Ah yes, achievement. I like to see people achieve. I want to watch them succeed at their efforts. That's part of the reason I like sports. I need to see people taking that spark inside themselves and putting forth the tremendous effort it takes to win, and then doing winning. No whining involved.

It's also the reason I celebrate the launch of new books by people I know have busted their asses to see their books in print. I know how hard it is to write a book, and how hard it is to get something published. Seeing these hard-working people get it done, make me happy. (And conversely, seeing someone fall ass backwards into it, kinda ticks me off - but shit happens.) Sure, I'm jealous, but that just spurs me to work harder so I can achieve that success, too.

Without whining. Without complaining. Accepting the obstacles life sometimes puts in our way, and succeeding in spite of them.

Now if I can just get Biggest Loser to move to Thursday night, when nothing else I want to watch is on. This coinciding with NCIS thing is the pits. ;o)