Testing Willpower

Last week’s temptation challenge on The Biggest Loser show seemed rather cruel on the surface.

Contestants paired up to take turns walking around a room filled with shelves of unhealthy food. Not just any kind of junk food either. It was their favorite dishes that they couldn’t stop eating before coming onto the show.

Giant slices of pizza. Chicken wings. Barbecue spareribs. Bowls of macaroni and cheese.

Viewers waited to see if the contestants would remember what their personal trainers have been telling them the past month. It was the first time their willpower was really tested.

It won’t be the last.

Although the trainers on the show complain mightily about the temptation challenges, they serve a good purpose by revealing weaknesses amongst the contestants.

If you can’t spend a few minutes alone in a room filled with cheesecake and hamburgers, how are going to survive when you leave The Biggest Loser ranch? The real world isn’t going to isolate you from making poor food choices. It’s every where you go. When you drive to work, you will probably pass a fast food restaurant. During your workday, someone may offer you a donut. After school, the kids will beg for cookies.

And some of the contestants fail when they move home. It’s disappointing to see them during reunion shows. A few gain all the weight back that they lost before millions of viewers.

It’s sobering to think how much of a problem Americans have with their diets. One in three of us is now obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Still there’s hope. Of all the contestants who walked into that temptation room, only one gave in. (Arthur ate a chicken leg for a total of 150 calories – an easy amount of calories to burn in the gym, but enough for him to win game advantage.)

Arthur might have won the temptation challenge, but it’s the others who ate nothing who rule.

Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.

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