“I feel fat and sad…is fat an emotion?”

During the ‘off-season’ of Ballers I decided search for a new TV obsession. Naturally, I gravitated towards A & E. No, my new addiction is not Duck Dynasty (though I will recommend it!). However, it is Fit to Fat to Fit (no surprise there, right?). The premise of the show isn’t like that of The Biggest Loser where you watch the ‘weekly’ achievements and struggles of the participants while having trainers yell in their face. Instead, I find that this show really focuses on the trainers experiences to help us understand that everyone can really do it. Essentially, a top trainer will gain a significant amount of weight in order to prove to their client that they are dedicated to them, and help give them the confidence and knowledge to reach their weight loss goal.

Over the course of 4 months they train together to lose the weight. Remember all those times your PT would say “just one more rep!!” when you were lifting the most impossible weight and you wanted to scream”why don’t you do it if it’s so easy?!”? Yea, this time the trainers actually do it…and they struggle! I must admit that it is quite entertaining as you see the trainers struggle to gain weight – eating well over 3-4000 cals a day, and go through the raw emotions and mental hurdles of obesity. It isn’t just about excess fat. Moreover, it forces the trainer to understand the ‘addiction’ and how hard it is to turn off the switch.

In the first episode, JJ (who looks too beautiful to be real), started to realize the effects of weight gain including depression. He simply stated “I feel fat and sad….is fat an emotion?”. This pretty much summed it up. Most people think that obesity is just laziness and with you can just wake up one day and stop being lazy. It’s much more difficult than that. There are days when you don’t want to get out of bed, go out, try on new clothes, or even brush your hair. Believe me – I have been there. Your mind prevents you from even trying. It is so much easier to sit on your couch and eat endless bowls of cereal. However, this show proves that with commitment, motivation and a helping hand you can overcome that barrier. And at the end of the day, this barrier will seem so small. It may never go away. From personal experience, I face this barrier everyday. However, the feeling of empowerment and happiness when you don’t give in to the negativity in your mind is worth the fight.

One takeaway from the show is that the clients are often much more stronger than they believe – physically and mentally. I think this is true for everyone. I doubt myself on a near constant basis and the consequences can be bad (box jumps + self doubt = bruised shins for days). When you believe that you can do it and go in with that attitude, you will accomplish anything.

To sum it up – this show is much more motivating than The Biggest Loser. I remember watching TBL two years ago and found myself competing with Rachel (the eventual winner). We started off at the same weight, had the same background, and drive. However, I remember watching the final episode and feeling so deflated when I saw that she looked better than me and had amazing results. Of course, this was a crash diet to win. But it didn’t teach me anything except that my weight loss of 2lbs a week was not nearly good enough. That’s not the healthy way to think about this. F2F2F teaches the clients to be a better version of themselves, to challenge themselves, and to empower themselves. This, and only this, will be the key to your goals.