Shedding for the Wedding

Here it is, my long awaited, excruciatingly detailed review of Shedding for the Wedding. 

I had never watched The Biggest Loser or any of the other shows where overweight people compete to lose the most weight and win fantastic prizes. I never watched any of their motivational stories (although I do read plenty in my plethora of fitness magazines). A couple months ago, though, I started to hear radio ads for Shedding for the Wedding during my morning commute to work, and I was intrigued. When it first aired on Wednesday, February 23rd, I had no idea what prime time bliss was in store for me.

 

 In this series, nine overweight couples with nine unique wedding themes engage in competition to the win the wedding of their dreams. The big winners will ultimately be the big losers: the couple that loses the highest percentage of body weight. In addition, each week the couples will complete in challenges in an effort to win specific aspects of their wedding (the dress, the flowers, the cake, etc.).

Usually, I disagree with shows like this. Based on my research of The Biggest Loser, these shows demand immediate weight loss in large magnitudes, and do not promote healthy diets or activity levels that can be sustainable for the long haul.

At first, I thought this was true for Shedding for the Wedding as well. The trainers seemed to push the contestants way too hard, way too fast. If I had been a couch potato for years and was trying to turn my life around, being forced to go on a 5 mile run on my first day would probably kill me (in fact, I'm still having a lot of trouble with my 2 minutes of jogging at a time)!

Furthermore, it looked like they were all eating nothing but celery and protein shakes, and were all losing weight at an alarming pace. At the first week's weigh in, most couples (they're weighed together, how adorable!) lost anywhere between 20 and 40 pounds. Granted, that's impressive, and I would be totally psyched to lose 10-20 pounds in a week. However, fitness experts, medical professionals, and dieticians all agree that weight loss numbers that large are unhealthy and unsustainable. Most people agree that a sustained loss of 2 pounds/week is really the most you can lose without risking problems.

 

I would have stopped watching then because I disagreed so much with the basis of the show, but as you may have seen on my Ode to Sara Rue, I absolutely adore the host, Sara Rue. To be honest, though, I would have watched anyway. These were 9 cute couples trying to get over the obstacles of their weight and plan the wedding of their dreams, how could I resist?

I'm really glad I stuck it out. After week one, things calmed down. The workouts were still brutal, but not so bad that the contestants were hurting themselves (Taylor only almost threw up twice during week 2!). Also, through listening to some of the couples bicker about food preparation, it was clear that they had normal calorie and nutrition goals they were supposed to meet each day, so all of my fears of them semi-starving themselves were quelled. They've even sustained an average weight loss of 2-4 pounds per week each, so they're not too far out of the healthy weight loss range.

I suppose the week one numbers can be attributed to the dramatic lifestyle change and water weight. I know that when I was on the South Beach Diet, I lost 12 pounds in the first two weeks, because it was meant to hit you hard in the very beginning. After that, the book told me to expect and aim for a loss 1-2 pounds a week, because the sheer shock to my system of the first couple weeks had worn off. In fact, I am really glad that it hit me so hard in the beginning, because it meant that I had immediate results that I could focus on to keep me motivated!

I still maintain that their weekly challenges demand too much (two weeks ago they hung onto a ring dangling mid-air for over an hour and one girl had to go to the hospital for back spasms because of it) but overall, I think the show is helping more than it is hurting the long-term results for the contestants.

My favorite part of watching the show, other than getting to see Sara Rue look super cute all the time, is listening to the couples talk with each other and plan their weddings. They are all so sweet (well, most of them), and such individuals. As I mentioned before, the show consists of 9 couples with 9 unique wedding themes, and I do mean unique! Some of the themes are as follows:

• Greek Week - complete with Beer Pong Table (that will be monogrammed with their initials to make it classy for a wedding)
• Eco-Friendly - the Maid of Honor's dress is biodegradable
• Final Fantasy - the couple met playing online and want to recreate the wedding scene from the game
• Football - they support rival teams but have come together regardless
• Fairy Tale
• Hollywood
• Beach Paradise
• Fun and Games - complete with foosball table and board games
• Big Band - this one is my personal favorite, as I absolutely adore brass instruments and swing dancing

What I dislike about Shedding for the Wedding is that it is an elimination show. I would prefer if it was a fitness reality show that just helped everyone make positive life choices and work together. Unfortunately, that doesn't have nearly enough pizzazz for television. You see these couples work so hard, and then have to go home because they didn't lose copious amounts of weight. The couples spend so much time terrified of being sent home that they don't realize how much they've accomplished in their time on the show. One girl started crying because she only lost 4 pounds in a week (which, may I remind you, is still more than recommended by health professionals).

The worst part, bar none, is that in the past two weeks, my two favorite couples have gone home. Lindsay and Chase (Team Greek Week) are so cute and enthusiastic (and from Texas!) and they were sent home week 4. Valerie and Dave (Team Big Band) are an interracial couple that faces so many challenges today, and we got to see them work through so many emotional boundaries. They were sent home week 5. Allison (part of Team Fairy Tale) does nothing but hypocritically and rudely bash other couples and walk all over her fiance David, and she's still in the game. Bummer.

Hopefully, Team Football or Team Eco-Lovers will be able to make it to the end and win the wedding of their dreams, as they are my next favorites. I also wouldn't mind if Team Fun and Games won... just not Team Fairy Tale.

On tonight's episode, they will be getting makeovers, and I imagine having their engagement pictures taken? I can't be sure as the previews just say that there will be a surprise for the contestants. I can't wait!

Does anyone else watch this show as avidly as I do? Do you think the couples that have been sent home will be able to sustain their progress in an attempt to win the honeymoon at the end? Is it strange that I have never watched The Biggest Loser but have done a lot of research on it?

Shedding for the Wedding airs Wednesdays at 8pm (CT) on the CW.