It concentrated on eating well and exercising. It didn’t concentrate on the weight loss as a necessary aspect as a source of appearance but showed how losing weight is beneficial to the your overall health and body by showing how many years your body is as opposed to your actual age.

“Good luck Shaun – suffice to say that there isn’t alot of money to be made in saying “eat healthy foods in moderate amounts, and do more execriseâ€?.”

What should be in place?

How about An Australia’s Funniest Home Video style show programmed with a bit of that ABC show about young people making docos around the world, but with its sole focus on following REAL people lose weight. People send in a weekly video tape in diary format of a maximum of 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes you need to represent what you have done over the last week to lose weight (bit of food prep footage, working out, buying healthy food maybe, refusing to eat crap, bit of talking head about mental work or something, etc…). Your 10 minutes then gets compiled with however many others and probably gets combined and edited down to a short 20 sec grab about something of interest to fit a segment about everyone who uses, say, rowing machines. This gets turned into a 30 minute show, with each segment organised around particular themes (food, exercise, fun, trials, etc)

Rest of footage then gets put online to fulfill broadcasters broadband/digital TV content quota (just attended a workshop today at USyd and listened to what the ABC is currently doing re: research, broadband and digital TV).

Call it “Real Health”. You get to demonstrate to the rest of Aus you are losing weight and putting in the hard yards and they get to support you.

The first cohort would have to be organised, but if you build it, they will come.

Cultures of amatuer media production spring up on the internet. Companies start selling cheap software and cameras, entry costs to the activity are lowered. MOre people get involved. Sponsorship for fitness clubs who become ‘film friendly’ begins. so on and so forth…

The ethics of selecting grotesquely obese people for the sake of all the ‘normal’ people to goggle is atrocious.

Just like the ethics of selecting “grotesquely thin people for the sake of all the ‘normal’ people in shows such as Australia’s Next Top Model?

If that were so Sacha, you would expect fat women to be at a premium in the mating stakes – obviously well fed, able to get through 9 months of a pregnancy without straining the tribal food resources too much, well provisioned in the old lactation department.

I don’t think this is true. I’ve read recently how a lot of OB/GYN are worried about the mothers who were obese and then get pregnant and how it places much more added pressure on the body especially the heart and lungs.

And to the people who have said to me to try WW. Have you seen how much it costs to take the programme? I’m a vegetarian and don’t spend that much on fresh food let alone their chemically loaded WW specials.

I was much bigger when I had both knees replaced (cartilege problems not weight) and my specialist used me in his lectures as an example of how humour and attitude aids in healing. So *rasberries* to the thin is everything people.

I don’t doubt that obesity is considered beautiful in some cultures. All I was suggesting was that there might be some instinctual aspect to peoples attitudes to obesity – maybe there is – maybe there isn’t – I don’t know! As I said, I’m all in favour of all the prejudices against fat disappearing forthwith, and for people to feel they’re ok whatever their body size/shape.

So the whole evolutionary basis for our cultural ideal is pretty weak if you ask me. Having a bit of body fat is an evolutionary advantage: stored for the lean times. That’s why people put on weight so easily: life on the savannah is harsh and so you need to be able to store energy in your body for use when you just can’t find dinner.

Anyway, across cultures the idea of what is considered attractive is so varied, so diverse and so ‘unnatural’ that it’s just not a theory that holds much water. Chinese foot binding, Burmese neck rings, lip extending discs, body paint etc.

The main preference, across all cultures, seems to be to exacerbate the differences between the sexes as much as possible.

My reading tends to suggest that the African savannah was hardly a garden of eden, either – which perhaps lead to selection for genes which helped people store as much energy in their bodies as possible as fat.

Anyway, I used to be a lean 69.5 kg for many years, and when I started being a sedentary office worker a year ago I porked up to 71kg. Recently I grew to about 73-74 kg which was quite unhealthy (for me), and I’ve been gymming quite hard every day – and now I’m down to 71 kg and feeling much better. It’s not 25kg, but it was a lot!

So I’m buying into the whole fat-is-evil idea as well although I know it’s not a good way to be – but I want to be healthy and also feel good about my body. It’s definitely the dominant paradigm in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney within and without Gayville.

The point I was making was that there appears to be a fair bit of research indicating that a lot of what we do, especially in the mating game, is strongly influenced by evolutionary things.

Perhaps some fat is good in this regard (as you mention), but far too much (eg morbid obesity) might be a sign of ill-health? I don’t know – they’re just ideas. I wonder how many morbidly obese people lived on the African savannah? Possibly not too many!

If that were so Sacha, you would expect fat women to be at a premium in the mating stakes – obviously well fed, able to get through 9 months of a pregnancy without straining the tribal food resources too much, well provisioned in the old lactation department. Fat guys? Obvious winners in the dominance game – whatever their hunting prowess, they obviously have what it takes to get a bigger than average share of the spoils.

Let’s stop swapping Desmond Morris “tits are pretend bums stuck on a woman’s chest” fantasies and just deal with the fact that the whole fat obsession is cultural. As evidenced by the paintings of Reubens and others and possibly a bit of anthropological research that I’m too damn lazy to go looking for. But I’m sure that it exists – according to the standards of one of LP’s most prolific commenters that’s enough to win me the argument.

Roy Morgan recently did a survey of voting preferences of TV show audiences. The show with greatest percentage differential of LibNP viewers was “Business Sunday” while “Passions” had the greatest percentage differential of ALP voters. Nothing unexpected there.
The whole list is at http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2005/428/

Gallstones: Doctors used to say it’s the “Four F’s” = fat, female, fertile and forty.

The Biggest Loser fits within the “instant” self-improvement reality format. Physical makeover shows have been wildly popular on daytime TV – Oprah has 4 or 5 each season – her stated mission in the 90’s, was to get rid of ‘big hair’ in the mid-west. Her usual format is hair/make-up/clothes. She has fat/fitness makeovers when her favourite fitness gurus are spruiking their new books. Dietary fads feature as Oprah has a yo-yo-ing weight problem.

Queer Eye extended the m/over formula to grooming/clothes and home improvements/romance/lifestyle tips.

“Dr Phil” the ‘instant life-coach and counsellor is an Oprah guest spin off, and gives instant closure/instant family/personal counselling.

“What not to wear” is a British ‘clothes only’ makeover show – featuring two Sloanes who prod and push the make-over victim’s bits including breasts. “Doesn’t she have nice big ones, Trinny – here, have a feel. OOh.”

But the winner is:

“Extreme makeover” – the plastic surgery m/over show that cut away big noses, saggy jowls, fat arses, realigned jaws, evened out jagged smiles and lifted drooping lids – all at once! “I’ve always hated my ……” (Plastic Surgeons are some of the strangest looking men with or without surgery.)

Good luck Shaun – suffice to say that there isn’t alot of money to be made in saying “eat healthy foods in moderate amounts, and do more execrise”.

Which is why the CSIRO decided to cash in, their diet is a huge seller. It’s a great improvement on Atkins and other weird diets. (It’s still a diet.)

Re: Feeders – that the human body can even function at those extreme weights was amazing. The obsessive men who fed the women were controlling creeps, the women were less psychologically damaged than the feeders.

I’m with Kieran, there are some good looking people in the show. They should be allowed to accept themselves for what they are now, not what they can be. I’d like to see more good looking people of size on my TV- rather than the headless fat people.

Kate I have the same problem. I have yo-yoed with weight over the past ten years. The thing is that when I do exercise it does seem to shift easily. The trouble is as soon as I relax it call comes back on. The thing I like about Weight Watchers is that is seems to be desgined to educate as well. What I hope is that I’ll have better eating habits.

Also have a partner doing the same thing as well helps. It was The Beloved who signed me up as she was doing WW as well. We have our seperate exercise routines but get up early together to work out. The support is a great help for motivation.