Losing it for the new year

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right," said Oprah Winfrey, one of this generation's biggest pusher of the self-improvement movement. That was quoted a dozen times on my Facebook Wall and Twitter feed during the New Year weekend.

I completely embrace that spirit, even if I've long given up on New Year's resolutions—something I did because I've since resolved to live life moment by moment and focus mostly on the now. This system works out better for me, because I don't get the urge to throw out the entire year just because I'd broken a resolution I'd made on its first day.

I'm obsessive like that, you see.

However, it's still hard not to get all hyped up with the usual "New year, new you" blitz. And weight being a constant issue for me, I'm once again more inspired to win the battle of the bulge, thanks to reruns of The Biggest Loser and its spin-off, Losing It With Jillian, which I watched over the break.

Losing It With Jillian debuted last June. It features Jillian Michaels, the female fitness coach of The Biggest Loser, who, with her tough love, pushes everyone hard to lose the extra weight. I think of her as The Biggest Loser's Paula Abdul on steroids.

I caught the reality show's third episode, which featured Ruth May, a 54-year-old 5'11" woman whose life practically stopped after being hit by couple of misfortunes: her husband cheated on her and then divorced her, she lost her job, and she fought ovarian cancer.

After being confronted by all those troubles, it was easy for Ruth to fall into the self-pity trap. She quickly lost her self-confidence and held on too tight to the wrong things, like useless clutter, and let loose on many important things, like the need for effective communication with her children.

Ruth's life was a manifestation of all the baggage she was carrying inside: her two daughters had also put their lives on hold and were overweight, her garage was filled to the brim with stuff, and she weighed 300 pounds. Most importantly, she was a simmering volcano of anger that ready to explode at any given moment. Even if it was apparent that they deeply loved each other, Ruth and her kids would shout constantly at each other.

Luckily, Jillian is best known for two things: her tough love and her tendency to shout at her coaches. And did she shout at the Mays to get them back in shape!

As Jillian bade the family goodbye, she asked them to set goals for the next eight weeks—in time for the big reveal in front of Jillian and the Mays' family and friends. Ruth said she wanted to lose 20 pounds (Jillian pushed it to 40), daughter Rachael wanted to be a size seven (Jillian told her to go for a size six), and other daughter Ashley said she wanted to lose 40 pounds.

It's not a weight loss reality television show if you don't get results, so you can guess that the Mays lost the weight and transformed their lives. At the end of two months, Ruth had lost 74 pounds, Rachael was wearing a size size, and Ashley had lost 34 pounds.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Until you consider that all this happened in one episode. Cramming at least three months' worth of lifestyle changes into a 40-minute episode has plus and minuses to it. The main plus is that viewers are spared of the drawn-out dramas that are so typical of shows like Starting Over. The main minus, however, is that losing weight is no easy feat, and pushing the fast-forward button on the whole process deprives the audience of a valuable learning experience.

Then again, it's reality television. Everything's fast-tracked.

Note to self: slow, but steady does it.

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