Remember The Biggest Loser? I was obsessed. That show was appointment TV if there ever was such a thing!

That show was everywhere in the 2000s—17 (!!) seasons of extreme workouts, starvation diets, and public weigh-ins packaged as “inspiration.”

Netflix just released a three-part documentary about it. And while it covered some drama behind the scenes, I was more shocked about what it didn’t cover:

• The food. Contestants were eating as little as 800 calories a day—yet the show framed it as “healthy” and barely glossed over it.
• The fallout. What did that kind of treatment do to contestants’ self-worth, body image, and relationship with food? (Spoiler: the doc barely touched it.)
• The viewers. Millions of us—including me—were glued to it every week. What did that obsession do to us culturally? And what echoes of it are still shaping diet culture today?

I share what I think the documentary missed, my own (kinda shocking) memories of being obsessed with the show, and the ripple effects we’re still living with.

Because the real story isn’t just about a TV show. It’s about the way we’re taught to believe weight loss equals happiness—and how that belief is still sold to us in new packaging today (including by this documentary). 

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