Couple Lose Weight on Shedding for the Wedding

I've always found shows about weight loss kind of strange. The are inspiring to an extent, but most of the time the shows that focus on weight loss use such extreme measures that many of the contestants are suffering through workouts and often end up gaining the weight back after they have left. Despite this, I watched the premiere of The CW's Shedding for the Wedding last night.

Basically, it was Biggest Losers Couples with a wedding planner. Nine couples compete in challenges and each week the couple that loses the least amount of weight is sent home. The winner of the show receives a dream wedding.

It might have been the fact that this was the first show, but I wasn't that impressed. The focus on weight loss and gaining a healthy lifestyle didn't seem as apparent as it could have been. The first half of the show was spent giving the back story of the couples. It turns out all of them want a theme wedding. This baffles me. Especially because some of the themes are promoting the very un-healthy tendencies that made these couples gain weight the first place. I'm no expert, but I would imagine Greek Week themed wedding complete with a bedazzled beer pong table doesn't scream "healthy lifestyle". Neither does a Gaming themed party. (What is that anyways?)

Also, the challenges were just weird. The main one was a dance marathon, which turned into a let's run around in circles until our heat rate drops below the required amount competition. Sure, that activity was great exercise, but it isn't going to be something that these couples will do on a daily basis. Also, the meeting with the nutritionist was about 5 minutes long. All I remember was hearing everyone talk about how much they hate vegetables. Overall, I didn't see the beginnings of a lifestyle change-which is what is most important. These couples, and anyone who wants to find a healthier way of living, need to be presented with the tools to change their lives and maintain the weight loss.

One thing that I did appreciate was the focus on the couples as a one unit. The challenges were team-based and the weigh in numbers were made up of the combined weight of both teammates.

I'm going to tune in next week just to see if the focus on health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle grows stronger. The couple who loses together stays together? Maybe. But are these couples really going to learn what they need to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle? I'm not so sure.