🎙🍿I made a video on Supersize Vs Superskinny last week as well if you haven't already seen it!: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rV55Ocz-jII.html
Hey have you ever heard of the show secret eaters? I’d be interested in what you think about it, and if you’d consider doing a video on it. I always like to watch your content since I’m on my own weight loss journey. You are very informative and fun to watch💜
are you sure that the people actually followed through with eating only what was shown? TV isn't always what it seems. I seriously doubt anyone, much less a FAT PERSON who eats a lot would WILLINGLY starve for a week.
The whole show, and specifically the food swap is not meant to show the participants that they should adapt each others diets, but rather show them how wrong is there own diet. Take for example the girl who had to swap with the tea+sugar guy. She was pre diabetic because she was eating too much sugar but didn't really notice it in her food. But suddenly when she had to drink 5 cups of tea with sugar she got sick. That's how she could realize what the sugar does to her body.
@@jborrego2406 24 cups of 5 teaspoons of sugar every day is a lot more than one coke every now and then. addition: or shit, a coke every day wouldn’t be that much sugar.
@@Udontkno7 I can't speak for everyone but nearly every beverage I consume outside of the occasional plain water has sugar in it. You severely underestimate how much sugary drinks are available and outside of special occasions I don't even eat desert so for me I can comfortably say that at least 80% of my sugar intake is in my beverages. I might start the day with a cup of coffee (16-20 oz), then an iced tea at lunch(32oz), followed by a soda a few hours later (16oz)(at my work I have Dr. Pepper, coke, and fanta orange to choose from), then when I get home I might make some hot tea(12oz). Is it really that unbelievable for beverages to contain most of your sugar intake. I really doubt that it's just an occasional coke. My routine isn't even that far off from the average American either except maybe less tea and more soda.
I think the show can work - there is an insidious, but ironically helpful part of any mental delusion (be it self-harm, eating disorders or anything self-destructive): that is, it can be easy to dismiss 'it's okay when it happens to me', but when you see someone else go trough exact same thing, it suddenly is 'they should never go trouh it'. Something like that can break the mental barrier and just like you showed, make someone realzie 'holy shit, I don't deserve this either'.
During my diet, I always do what I've been calling the "treating myself like my best friend" approach. Basically, I won't do anything to myself that I wouldn't do to my best friend. That doesn't mean forgiving every mistake or going easy on myself, if my best friend had a goal they were desperate to reach, and they were deluding themselves, I'd give them a slap and tell them to get over themselves. But I would never tell my friend that they're wrong or bad or unworthy for making mistakes, so I don't let myself do that to myself either. I wouldn't let my bff starve themselves, so I won't let myself do that either. I wouldn't tell my friends not to have "cheat meals" or to never eat a cookie, so I don't do that to myself either. It's so easy to be mean to yourself, I think because we're the only ones who know every bad thing we've ever done, and every failure we've ever had. It's easy to think we "deserve" our own self-criticism. It really takes work and self-awareness to be kind to yourself. :)
My therapist talked to me about an aspect of this. Talking to yourself like your a good friend or someone else is a lot easier if you have issues with self esteem, or really bad negative self talk because it really helps you to see your situation a lot more realistically. That personally helped me so much with my self image and self talk. So I can see the positive aspect of making two people with opposite issues switch meals, it can be supremely eye opening to realize how destructive you have been. Honestly the most unrealistic aspect is that all of these habits changed after just a few days. I really hope that they were given a lot of follow up, and care for their mental illness. Because if you've ever suffered with an ed. It doesn't change in just a day. It's been a year for me since things have been really bad with my restrictive Ed. I'm a ton better, but those thoughts still appear. But I can eat without fear and can listen to my body way better. That took so long and I know I still have a long way to go.
I think the logic behind it is that british people dont want to be like Americans and are basically like "if you continue you'll be like an american instead a healthy british person" goes off of national pride but also general hatred of america
I actually think going the to US helps the “super size” person more. Makes the trip more memorable than going on a five minute drive and meeting someone else extremely fat.
Nobody is that obese. Being obese to the point where you can't even get out of bed or have to use a wheelchair in the UK is extremely rare. We have obese people but our obese people can still walk around and care for themselves.
@@pinkdiamond1847 oh honey. Britons are too embarrassed to leave their homes once they get to a certain weight. Morbid obesity in the UK is considerably less than in the US, but it's not nonexistent. It's at a rate 1/3 the times of the US... In both countries it would be considered "exceedingly rare," though you'll certainly have more very large people in the South of the US. It's very cruel to say these people don't exist. They're already hiding from society. If we're talking about another degree of obesity I haven't considered, lmk. I don't know terminology for over morbid obesity tbh
@@sitcomchristian6886 People always say this but then you've got shows like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and the like, which are super popular and loved.
you're so on point with the commentary re:fear. I can't comment on what it's like to have an eating disorder, but as an alcoholic, staying sober requires basically relearning how to cope with everything without resorting to the bottle. When relapse happens, it's because the person is still acquiring the tools and support necessary for their new lifestyle. I imagine the same is true for people with disordered eating; there are a lot of adjustments to make and more importantly, to maintain. Fear can spur someone on, but it's not a sustainable solution long term, merely a starting point.
I remember watching this show in RU-vid. It triggered my bulimia, I was "proud" of the underweight person because he/she/they achieved what I wanted to look. I know it's messed up. My ED was (and is) messed up. Now I can watch it without thinking "I must not eat" or "I must purge"
Our brains are like the parasite hosts of these human bodies we’re given to hold accountable and it’s difficult to have full control for a long time. I’m proud of you for being able to mold your mindset.
I hope you get the help! I know it's very tough and sometimes it consumes your whole life but once you get out of that bubble you'll soon realize that eating isn't an earth-shattering experience. I know this will not help because I've been having an ed for 2 years and I've heard the same thing but seeing things from a further perspective helps for a while. lots of love and support
one of the things that was always difficult to watch with this show was when the super skinny had the option to stick up their nose to the super size's food and not eat much. It's so much easier to fake being full and eating less as someone who is used to starving themselves than to be starved for a week when you are used to eating so much. I always felt that was a bit unfair.
Eh, most of the skinnies were more active than their swap partners and aside from maybe one session of excercise the people in the show didn't have to do any excercise. So, it balances out
I watched this as a kid. The food swap was silly, just swapping one terrible diet for another. There was one young man on there who spoke about his experience on the show and said there wasn't any support after. He ended up losing a lot of weight through LighterLife (ultra low-cal crash diet thingy).
They get diet plans afterwards but I don't know if they get any other support. I do remember superskinnys quite often had struggles gaining weight during the ending weight in. The super fats seemed to fair much better after the show.
the point of it is for the other to understand the harm of their own diet once it’s put onto someone who cannot handle it. that’s why they’re swapping their terrible diets lmao. they got meal plans afterwards that they were supposed to focus on.
Was that Rob? I think he had one of the highest BMIs Dr. Christian had ever seen. I don't think this show was equipped to help people like him who are on the extreme end of over/under weight. I heard he'd lost a lot of weight, hopefully he's kept it off.
I've always been skinny and unable to eat a lot (as a child borderline underweight but as an adult maintaining a healthy weight). It's so interesting to me that you pointed out feeling bad for the overweight participants during the food swap, because I always felt bad for BOTH sides. The portions for the superskinny person would be so insanely big that the idea of having to eat all of that makes me feel sick by proxy, especially those scenes where people would come in at night for a bedtime snack and it would be a full on take-out. Having said that, though, I do think that the BEST thing about supersize versus superskinny, and something MANY more shows on food SHOULD do, is the fact that being skinny doesn't equal being healthy. I would assume that some of the superskinny people probably suffered from eating disorders, but others definitely seemed surprised at how much better they felt once they ate more. That doesn't surprise me! I've been looked at strangely for being on a diet because the assumption is that diet = lose weight. In reality I've been doing FODMAP for IBS, which includes eating more often and healthier, and has also made me feel much better and gain some weight simply because my appetite is higher.
I remember watching this and wondering how people’s meals were so consistent XD (My appetite is kinda wonky- some days it’s huge, others non-existent- and texture issues and not being able to have the same thing multiple days in a row without getting sick of it add on to the issue)
This show, the biggest loser and secret eaters really open my eyes... the biggest loser really got me shock therapy to lose weight as I was probably close to 200lbs and panicked. I'm now in the 160lbs but I wanna be 130lbs in reality but my endo and adhd makes it difficult. I'm a hermit and jobless which doesnt help.
i weigh 210lbs rn & for me its the same, i watch these shows cause they encourage me even more to lose weight. I really can‘t understand how those ppl can live with such a high weight..really wishing the best for them and I hope they get/got on the right path. Also, congratss🎉🎉🙌🏼 you‘re amazing!! So inspiring, -keep going 💪🏼
TW: Eating disorder I have OSFED (other specified feeding or eating disorder) where I have experienced characteristics of most eating disorders. I've never been small, currently I'm obese. I'm currently recovering with professional treatment. All I can see though is myself on this show and I know it would throw me back into restricting and purging everything I eat. This can't be healthy for them.
They always, ALWAYS gotta work in a dig at the States, every episode. it kinda cracks me up 'Britain is getting fatter---Almost as fat as our neighbors in the States!"
One thing i adored about the show was the Emma Wolff segment!! I used to use Supersize v Superskinny as media to further my eating disorder habits (as a LOT of people do), but the section about Emma and real people with eating disorders and how it affects their lives usually snapped me out of it for a bit. Her emotional phonecall to her parents that one episode where she thanked/apologises to them lives in my mind rent free 💞
I remember watching this show when I was 12. I had just quit gymnastics and had discovered sweets…I’d put on maaaaybe 5lbs at most… lost my child abs and had the slightest softness in my belly, and my mum turned to me when they showed the obese person and said “if you’re not careful that’s how you’ll end up.” …safe to say I ended up with an ED that I’m still battling the urge to relapse back into lmao 🙃🙃 (That being said, I’m sorry but this show is still my guilty pleasure)
4:20 one of the “super skinny” women on one season commented that she couldn’t eat an ice cream with her husband and kids because the caloric intake was too great for her. Massive red flags there, as opposed to the other super skinny people who sometimes worked too much and genuinely just forgot to think about food properly and/or had a reduced appetite due to using caffeine to get them through the day. I don’t know what her psyche was like after the show and after she did put on a bit of weight but I hope she was ok 😞
I'm curious about your thoughts on the underweight people- especially their 'extra segments' where they shifted from weight loss and body modification to eating disorder awareness and recovery. Like when they had 3 people with different EDs undergoing a series of exposure treatments, or when that journalist spoke to people who had or had survived or in one case had a child that did not survive and eating disorder this show has massive flaws but I also don't remember anything mainstream that was so open about eating disorders being on telly when I was a kid
Terrifying people into changing their behaviour is probably the last option they are going to get. A wake up call before it is too late. And to get confronted with the opposite extreme, because both sides, over eaters and under eaters are in danger. They need to face the reality that what they got used to as being normal for them isn't actually normal at all. And it sends the message to countless people in their living room facing the same struggles.
Lol, the fact that you put subtitles on the chap from the north cracked me up 😂! Sometimes dialects up there can almost be considered another language hahaha
As someone who doesn’t eat breakfast/lunch/dinner I always feel bad about myself I claim that I only get to eat when I FEEL like it I just relaised how awful my diet is this really was a wake up call to me thank u from the bottom of my heart :’]
There may be as many "obese" people in the UK as the US - but obese starts at 90kg (about 200LBS) for a 5'9" man, barely even noticeable, and there's no upper limit.. there aren't many people in mobility scooters or needing cranes to be lifted out of bed. That's why it's shocking for British people.
Everytime I was this channel, I'm so glad that I started forcing myself to workout daily back in sept. '22. It was never for weight loss, just to maintain my health. The workout may only be 30-45mins./day, but my emotional regulation & well being, my cognitive reasoning, and my flexibility/mobility have improved greatly. Even though most of the exercises I use are for balance, & range of motion, I've managed to gain a small amount of muscle weight & muscular endurance along the way. My only regret is that I didn't start sooner
I will say at least the show hoarders gives after care (meaning therapy and organization help). I don’t know how you’d be willing to change without that help. They should be sent to either a rehab place for an extended stay or set them up with therapy/ dietitian.
I like this show because they give them a diet with small changes. They don't expect them to come back & lose 100lbs in a few months. The diets are doable & encouraging. Plus, the later seasons they only switched meals for 2 days. I was upset they got rid of the feeding tube though.
I remember watching this show a few years ago. Seeing the amount of food that the supersized people ate was always so incredible to me. I thought there were some times in which I ate too much, but I've never been close to the size of their meals. Unreal.
Gotta put notifications on with how regular these videos are getting. Loving the channel and your work. Your videos are rapidly getting better each time! You’re heading in the right direction 100%, keep all the effort up as I can’t stop coming back
I've just found ur channel randomly through recommendation and I fell in love immediately. Thank you so much for talking about the real-sides to these kind of shows, I just wish you'd be a little less optimistic and more realistic, maybe look at research about what happened to the people after the show/get in contact with them. Just hoping they are being helped wont bring anyone anywhere
I used to hate this show as someone who refused to eat but appeared fat in school it really upset me and triggered disordered eating when my mum would put it on during dinner time
Hello Kiana, my name is Jawaad and I was once overweight in my teenage years. After moving on, I feel a lot better but still doing better. I live in the uk and I really enjoy the show thanks to the real people I get to see in there. But as a British person, there are lots of obese people there and junk food is every where including sugar loaded products.
I have been waiting for you to make a video on this! I only ever watched a few episodes as it made me uncomfortable, especially the food swaps. Great video as always!
I dunno, fear motivated me, I got a prediabetic scare and poor circulation in my legs and it immediately made me change my diet and start exercising. (though it turns out I only had the first stages of poor circulation) Felt absolutely horrible and got a little sick the first week from going cold-turkey of cutting all sugar and carbs but honestly I'm feeling way better now and I feel like I'm going down the right path. Every time I eat I always watch videos like these to keep reminding me to stay on the right path because I always crave sweets and greasy foods
This show is helpful it shouldnt have been cancelled ive found it helpful in helping me lose weight and changing my diet and its helpful in finding a base to start because u see others who go through it
I really liked the look at annorexia they did, for me it was always a hard illness to understand, and the doctor is such a compassionate guy. I'm assuming there was more doctor follow ups? I know people use it as a trigger but really they will use almost anything and the treatment for ED will remove them completely from their triggers and teach them to avoid them, deal with them, because they will have to learn. They feed into the disease on their own on pro-ana forums.
I think the UK > US difference isn't because of the amount of obese people, but the number of morbidly/severely obese people in the US; in the UK the number lies at 3.3% of all adults, but in the US, it is just over 9%.
Also, i know Ireland is not the same as the UK but we just don't have the same amount of bareatric services as they do in the US. I've never seen a bareatric ambulance and never heard of someone getting some of those bypass surgeries. In fact, a friend of mine needed a scan at one time and he is a very tall morbidly obese man, the poor chap was sent to a veterinary machine because we don't have the machines here. Surely the UK's system is similar to ours. I think that is why the show ended up in the US.
As a thin, conventionally attractive person - the show was really unfair towards the supersizers. Beside the comments, they were portrayed as disgusting, even by the camera work and editing. The superskinnies got ten times less shade and shaming, even though strictly speaking, their diets were just as bad.
If I remember correctly they started doing more focusing on super skinny issues because they got criticism for always focusing on super fat. I THINK. I haven't watched the show in a realy long time but I do remember there was an episode focusing in an anorexia/bulimia recovery centre, and the training they go through to learn healthy behaviour. It was incredibly interesting, much more interesting than the America trips.
I am also thin and the thing that really stuck with me were the close up pictures of what malnourishment was doing to their skin already, while they were young, and obviously would continue to do so, though it wasn't visible under clothing. I do have an issue with deficiency that I have to take supplements for, also part of why I am thin is that I have intestinal issues, although my BMI is perfect so I really think what gets to you is about who you are. They didn't take up close photos for the overweight people.
I don't think so. Supersizers struggled with lack of control, super skinnies with too much, obsessive control. Anorexia is way more severe than being fat.
tbf obesity is a bigger problem in the us and uk than anorexia, i dont mean they're not both unhealthy, i mean the majority of the population is overweight or obese, meanwhile a much smaller amount of people are anorexic
@@silverplug it depends on the person and the seriousness of their illness, not the illness itself. And shaming someone/portraying them in a negative light on national television will not help anyone with their illness.
An important take away from this show for me as a younger person was that I shouldn't feed myself anything that I would apologize to someone else for feeding them.
the shock therapy parts of this show (showing the supersize their potential future by sending them to the US to meet someone larger and unhealthier, making the subjects watch the other person struggle with they diet they thought wasn't that extreme, etc.) were the best parts, but some of the nutritional advice is a little outdated. Like i remember how hard this show pushed orange juice as a healthy drink choice like it doesn't have a shit ton of sugar. the one thing i always thought was interesting was how sometimes the superskinny's diet was much less nutritious in theory than their supersize counterpart, because so many of them were addicted to sugar while the supersizes often liked to cook with vegetables and drink water, but what made them smaller and the supersizes bigger was the portion size, the activity level, and the sheer amount of oil in the supersizes' food.
As someone who has been on the side of super restricted food intake (one meal a day barley a portion size sometimes not eating at all) if I had to sit down and watch someone eat how I used to eat it would break me.
When I was 18 years old, the doctor said that I would never have children if I continued to gain weight. When I was 20, I had already lost 40 kilograms (gym + nutrition). At the age of 28, I gave birth to a healthy daughter. Sometimes fear works.
When they have the people come back after a few weeks, the super skinny people always look much healthier and happier. The supersize people also look better and say they have more energy etc. I do hope that the participants are still getting enough nutrients for the week they're in the clinic though, some of them have to go from eating a lot of calories to having only a few cups of coffee and a little sandwich or something like that for a whole week. It's no surprise they get so sick :(
I'm a recovering drug addict. Which means I'm sober and have been for quite a while. But now I've turned to shopping and most recently food. I over shop and I over eat. As someone who has now become addicted to the food and the feelings it gives me it's much harder to change the behavior than someone who is eating because the food just tastes good. Being addicted to something is a whole other animal. And it's not always something that can be "cured" or helped over night. I used drugs for 29 years and most of that time I wanted to stop. I now have the longest period of Sobriety ever. But I also have help. I'm considered obese. But I don't have the help or the guidance when it comes to healthy or better eating. I'm flailing on my own. It's another addiction to me that I have to either overcome or accept and move on and be okay with myself.
"Supersize vs Superskinny" is an absolute classic in the regard of EDers coming together in the comments to watch some episodes when things in their life get worse again. And we ALWAYS watch the food parts only :D
Right, trust me, we have obese people in the UK....but when I visited the US I was SHOCKED by the size of fat people there. Literally couldn't believe it. That was about 13 years ago, when supersize vs superskinny was booming. The UK is gradually becoming fatter but I promise you the number of amberlynn reid sized units here are still lesser than the US. It's impressive how fat you can become. It rains all the time here and people don't exercise much at all but our large fats are your small fats lol
Not consuming anything but coffee or tea for a full week is dangerous. Its a miracle nobody passed out. Also, a good friend of mine who had any eating disorder used to watch that for "thinspo." She claimed after watching the overweight person's feeding tube, she said she'd lose her appetite everytime. I have a hunch she isnt alone...
This show actually was a major factor in creating my anorexia. I envied the superskinnys bodies really bad. This was back in October 2011. And I’ve been counting calories obsessively for over 12 years.
We don't have this in my country but feeding a prediabetic all that sugary tea seems like a game of Russian roulette. Frightening people absolutely does work. A diagnosis of irreversible ill health scared 31kgs of pure fat right off me with a newly adopted healthy diet.
Lol I didn't see the one with the guy drinking tea but I saw a lady that had the same issue. They put the sugar she was eating and weighted it and all her calories were from the tea, sugar.
Yes there are lots of obese people in the UK, but obese people in the UK are nothing like obese people in the US. When I went to Florida I was shocked by how many blatantly 350+ lb people I saw
I think at 3:54 it’s not for the benefit of the person throwing up - it’s for the benefit of the other person watching them throw up the food (or lack thereof) given to them. At least that’s how I always took it.
I love that empathy is a key factor in this show. People realize how wrong their diet is by watching someone else consume it. they’d never do that to another person.
The issue is that the challenge is significantly more in favor of the super skinny, super skinnies can eat as much or as little as they want having the large portion where as the super size gets nothing to work with.
"Is fear effective at motivating people to change?" Well, yes. I got to the age my obese father was when he started to get serious health problems--diabetes, eye problems, then Alzheimer's. Made me lose 40 lb. and keep it off for over 3 years now. Primal fear is essential, but often not sufficient--you need something, and/or someone, to look positively forward for. That, and a ton of self-discipline.
I mean, you can go a week without food at all and only water. It's not a problem to not eat for that long as long as you're hydrated. I've fasted for 11+ days before. They're just doing the week long diet swap to shock them, then they go on a real and sustainable diet plan afterward.
Caveat: I haven't watched the video yet but I would just like to say I loved this show, especially in the later seasons where they went into depth with people on the anorexic side of the spectrum and going to the states and looking at some of the costs of obesity that aren't really discussed.
I like this show, but I wish there was a similar show who would give participants (or make them prepare) healthy, wholesome and well-portioned meals to eat, instead of forcing them to eat the other participant's diet. It would help them give them an image of what an actually sustainable diet looks like, as well as teach them the cooking skills to make it all.
I also really loved this show when I was younger, I watch it now and again when I need motivation to stop eating badly. The Pros: Dr. Jessen's ugly shirts, the gross food tube, and how they make the Supersizers go to the U.S. to talk to someone even bigger as a scare tactic. The Cons: I think tho that the issue with the show was that some of the "super skinnies" actually had perhaps the beginnings of anorexia, where as they were really meant to only be people who were too busy to eat, or didn't make time for proper nutrition and under-ate without really realizing it. The whole point is for them to gain weight, and have a healthy appetite again, but obviously if the contestant actually had an ED, they would not participate or try to gain weight. I would love to see a follow up on all these contestants, most of the supersizers did a fab job!
Also - isn't it the case that while the US and the UK have similar rates of obesity, in the US people are heavier overall. Meaning: same amount of obese people but those who are obese are worse so in US than the UK.
From what i know they follow them for 2 months, which is enough to create a food habit to someone, plus if you have friends that help you it might be really good ! imo ofc
