On February 4, 2014, Rachel Frederickson, a former national competitive swimmer, was announced the winner on the NBC hit show, “The Biggest Loser.” I believe her weight loss is acceptable and approve of her lifestyle change.
Winning a quarter of a million dollars, the winner lost a shocking 155 pounds (56 percent body fat), bringing her down to 105 pounds. Many are shocked and disapprove of her dramatic weight loss as Frederickson is the first in 15 seasons to end up underweight at the finale.
For an aspiring actress, the 24-year-old fits right in with the Hollywood crowd. Looking at her dramatic journey seems to warp her health view for everyone. She was highly trained in nutrition and physical fitness, therefore, she as a national winning athlete and winner of “The Biggest Loser,” is capable of maintaining a healthy status.
Part of being on “The Biggest Loser” is overcoming inner criticism as well as the outer. With reality television, it is hard to dictate the inner psychological feelings of the contestants. Maybe the contestants lost the desired weight, but what internal feelings were overcome? Frederickson may have been sent home a healthy weight, but a healthy mind is something a reality show cannot illustrate.
What viewers forget is that the contestants undergo rigorous psychological exercises along with physical. The non-stop exercising can create an obsessive behavior without proper care from a professional caretaker. On “The Biggest Loser” ranch, the contestants are under the constant eye of professional psychologists, nutritionists and doctors.
Frederickson spent over seven months on the show, and was sent home for three and a half months before the season finale, which is where she lost the extra 45 pounds.
Though audience viewers argue that she doesn’t deserve the prize since she went overboard, I speculate that she accomplished the show’s goal. Just because she is not a “supermodel” does not mean that she should be banned from being a certain weight.
Her small frame and height allows her to be a small weight. I feel the outcry from viewers comes from a point of unprofessional opinion.
According to Katie Brady, a physical fitness trainer at Crunch Fitness in Fair Lawn, N.J., Rachel’s weight is nothing abnormal for Hollywood.
“Compared to the other contestants, yes, it’s a crazy weight, but next to actors and other Hollywood celebrities, she fits right in. It’s funny that people are complaining about her and not Blake Lively, or someone like that,” Brady says. “Jillian Michaels even recommends the 18-17% body fat for healthy living! It’s funny that her reaction was [seemingly negative].”
I feel Katie Brady got it right. If you saw Rachel in a movie or commercial, she’d be an average girl. But because of the show she was on and the visual of her “before body,” she seems underweight.
At the end of the day, Rachel Frederickson accomplished an amazing life goal and is living a healthy lifestyle. She should be encouraged and applauded for her courage for being on the show in the first place.
We live in a society in which we are either too thin or too fat; there’s never a “just right.”
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nnigro@ramapo.edu
