Disclaimer:  These are my thoughts and opinions and observations.  If you respectfully disagree, that is fine, but please keep the comments civil.  I am just curious if anyone else has noticed these patterns, or if I am in the minority.  I also know I have no business judging anyone on their behaviour.  

Now this may sound ridiculously hypocritical and it is way beyond me to say what is right for someone other than myself (and given I’ve been a lazy sloth for the past month and a half, I really have no right, but…)  I am going to write about it anyways.

I am not usually a fan of reality tv.  It really isn’t my cup of tea.  But I did watch the biggest loser for a few seasons, and I really liked season 10 and 11.  I haven’t watched any of this season b.c when I was home it was on the same time as NCIS and well Mark Harmon > The Biggest Loser.  :)  Enough said.

Anyways I do follow some of the previous contestants on twitter.  They look fab.  I wish I could look so good.  But one thing I have noticed is their exercise habits seem rather extreme some days.   Not every day, as I am sure I miss tweets and nor does everyone post about eveyrthing they are doing.  But some days it is extreme, like 4-5 hours of working out.  What I like about the BL is that it does teach healthy habits and exercise.  Now granted they work out all day there on the show, and I would assume, as they get fitter and more toned and after the show is over, they wouldn’t need to have such extreme habits to keep the weight off, am I right?  (granted it is what *I* should have done after losing 85 lbs and then stopped, but well I was stupid and in a bad relationship, blah blah blah)

How can you go back to your real life, and still work out that much?  How do you have time to work, deal with family, errands, etc, sleep, and still manage to work out 4-5 hours a day?  That is not feasible for most people I know.  No, everyone I know.  Granted, I am not working and don’t really have a scheudle.  I feasibly could work out that much, if I were trained and toned and in shape.  But would I want to?  Would I want to spend that much time to keep working out after I have achieved the body I want?  Wouldn’t I want to MAINTAIN it healthily with daily workouts of 30-60 minutes?

Unless I am training for a marathon I don’t think I would have the patience, tenacity or desire to.  I would want to go back to my life feeling better about myself, and not have to spend as much time in the gym.

Am I wrong here, or have perhaps some of them gone from a “food addiction” to a workout addiction?

I am not a personal trainer, and I am not in shape and in order to get to the correct weight for my height to have a normal BMI I would need to lose nearly 100 pounds, so I am really not one to be harping on what someone who has done that is currently doing.  I just think it is something to think about.  I wouldn’t want to lose weight again, and have to go through still having to work out to excess after I have done it all.  Am I making sense?

I know when I lost 85 lbs, I didn’t do it in the healthiest of manners.  I ate little and worked out a lot.

It looked like this food wise:  ( I was a vegetarian at the time)

Breakfast: egg white omelette w/ veggies and sometimes some cheese, coffee

lunch: big salad

snack: coffee

dinner: pasta with sauce and faux mince

I was hungry ALL THE TIME.  I never felt satisfied.  I never let myself have a treat and if I did splurge on half a cookie, well I had to work out MORE.

Then I would go to the gym and hit the elliptical/weights or take a Tae Bo class and a weight class and then workout on the treadmill (about 1.5-2 hrs per day)

So yeah I lost weight, but I wasn’t happy.  I ended up in a relationship that was harmful.  I thought once I had hit 140, I was golden. I began eating more at my boyfriend’s house; his mom was a great cook, and ended up back at 160 in about 3 days.  I still worked out, but not to the same level.  I was back up to nearly 200 within a year or so gaining and losing the same 10-15 pounds year after year.

>So…..would I have been better off maintaining and working out like a fiend?  Or being a little bit happier to eat good food and not care?

It’s one of those things that I just can’t get my head around- the balance of it all.  (That and just being lazy.)