For those seeking motivation and inspiration on their weight loss journey, TV shows can be a powerful tool. These programs offer a glimpse into the lives of individuals facing similar challenges, showcasing their determination, resilience, and personal triumphs. Weight loss reality TV shows have captivated audiences around the globe by shedding fat and transforming lives. From intense boot camps to emotional journeys of self-discovery, these TV series offer a glimpse into the challenges and victories faced by individuals striving to lose weight. Here's a curated list of some of the best TV weight loss shows, each bringing a unique approach to fitness and wellness, showcasing diverse methods for losing weight with lasting results.
The Appeal of Weight Loss Shows
The mid-2000s marked a turning point in television, with reality TV gaining immense popularity. Shows that featured the lives of ordinary people, highlighting conflict, extremity, and dysfunction, became a mini goldrush. Weight loss became a subject that could be shoehorned into reality TV, leading to the creation of programs that not only entertained but also aimed to inspire. These shows can serve as a source of motivation, providing viewers with relatable stories of individuals striving to achieve their weight loss goals.
Featured Weight Loss Shows
My 600-Lb. Life
TLC's "My 600-Lb. Life" tells powerful stories in hour-long episodes, following the medical journeys of morbidly obese people as they attempt to save their own lives. The featured individuals, each weighing more than 600 pounds, confront lifelong emotional and physical struggles as they make the courageous decision to undergo high-risk gastric bypass surgery. This companion series to TLC's popular "My 600-Lb. Life" presents profiles of people who go through extensive surgeries to remove up to 50 pounds of excess skin.
Too Large
Under the guidance of Dr. Procter, morbidly obese individuals strive to lose weight and reclaim their health, facing both physical hurdles and emotional transformations. The series offers an intimate look at their battles and breakthroughs as they work toward a healthier future.
1000-Lb Sisters
Follow the dramatic weight loss journey of the Slaton sisters, Amy and Tammy, as they attempt to shed enough pounds to qualify for life-changing bariatric surgery. Their story is a blend of sibling bond and personal struggle, highlighting both successes and setbacks.
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1000-Lb. Best Friends
This heartwarming series follows four best friends battling morbid obesity, relying on each other’s support, humor, and hard work to achieve their weight loss goals. Each episode highlights their individual and collective challenges and triumphs.
Ruby
Ruby is an American reality-documentary television series on Style.
Supersize vs Superskinny
A show that explores extreme diets.
You Are What You Eat
You Are What You Eat is a dieting programme aired in various forms between 2004 and 2007 on British broadcasting company Channel 4, and presented by Gillian McKeith.
Secret Eaters
A show that uncovers people's secret eating habits.
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I Used To Be Fat
I Used To Be Fat is an MTV reality series that follows overweight teens striving to achieve weight loss through means of diet and exercise. Each episode follows one teenager who is paired with a motivational personal trainer. A trainer teaches them new exercise and eating habits over the next few months while offering emotional support. Documented students share their personal trials and tribulations in the series. Several episodes of the show have covered a high school student's last summer before college.
The Biggest Loser
"The Biggest Loser" is a weight loss competition that follows contestants living with obesity as they undergo intense workouts and challenges to lose weight. Contestants embark on a transformative journey to shed pounds, guided by renowned trainers Bob Harper, Alison Sweeney, and Jillian Michaels, with the ultimate goal of winning a grand prize. The series combines intense workouts with emotional challenges, showcasing triumphs and setbacks in the quest for fitness. The contestants are grouped into teams, each working with trainers who design comprehensive workout and nutrition plans. Each week culminates in a weigh-in to determine which team has lost the most weight, with the team that loses the least percentage having one member voted off.
The show features various challenges and temptations, such as reward challenges where contestants compete to win prizes like immunity or exercise equipment. The weigh-in is a critical part of the show, determining the amount of weight lost relative to their total body weight. Contestants facing elimination plead their case as to why they should remain on the Ranch before the vote. The show has faced criticism for its extreme methods, with some experts arguing that it provides an inaccurate picture of healthy weight loss. Former contestants have admitted to using unhealthy methods to drop weight quickly, such as fasting and dehydration. Studies have shown that many contestants regain weight after the show, and their metabolisms may slow down, making it harder to keep the weight off.
Celebrity Fit Club
Celebrity Fit Club is a reality television series that follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight for charity. Split into two competing teams of four, each week teams are given different physical challenges, and weighed to see if they reached their target weights.
Fat Families
Weight loss expert Steve Miller moves into the homes of some of the UK’s fattest families, exposing them to the risks their bulging bellies and bad habits have on their health.
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Fat Chance
They are two of the most stressful things in life - planning a wedding and losing weight. Ten overweight engaged couples will live together and battle for the wedding of their dreams over a three-month period. Every episode, the couples will face off in a big physical challenge, competing to win one element of their wedding - from the invitations, to the cake, to the rings. Whatever they win will be theirs to keep. Together, they will plan their weddings with the help of the nation's top wedding planners, they will take a vow to eat right and exercise, and world-class trainers and nutritionists will completely overhaul their bodies. At the end of each episode, the couples will step on the scale and be weighed together - the couple who lost the least amount of combined weight that week will be eliminated.
Fit to Fat to Fit
In A&E’s From Fit to Fat to Fit, fit trainers undergo a dramatic weight-gain transformation to better relate to their overweight clients. (The trainers are under medical supervision throughout the process.) After a couple of months, the trainers are reunited with their clients, and they work together to reach their goal weights.
The Big Fat Truth
In Z Living’s The Big Fat Truth, however, participants are given the tools and information they need to achieve long-term health, as opposed to radical, quick-fix solutions.
STRONG
NBC’s newest makeover show doesn’t focus primarily on weight loss, but rather on finding mind-body balance. Together with their trainer, each contestant (most of whom look healthier than they really are) works to overcome mental and physical challenges, becoming stronger, better versions of themselves in the process.
My Diet Is Better Than Yours
This ABC weight-loss competition aims to determine which diet and exercise plan is superior for weight loss. Each contestant is paired with a celebrity trainer, with each offering a wildly different approach to diet and exercise.