I was thinking of some other ones that could work. i.e.,....
1) Age range. i.e., *all* contestants for one season are in say their 18-29 range.
All contestants after that are 30-39, next 40-49 or something like that.
Reason why?
While I totally understand some in their 20's have been overweight for most of their lives, it's also MUCH easier for them to lose (typically) because they have the younger metabolism still.
Those in their 30s and 40s (and up) typically have a much slower metabolism.
Proof in point: I'm 38. My scale when I bought it, said I have the metabolism of a 50 year old. (
) The expert at the fitness store said it will probably take me about a month to see that start to drop if I worked out daily.I got back into working out 5 days a week for a minimum of an hour a day doing cardio plus 3 x a week weights (usually turbojam). (6th day was usually walking, but I don't count it).
Anyway, after five months of solid working out daily, no cheating, doing really well - I lost a few clothes sizes (17/18 down to 13/14) plus roughly 20+ pounds. (My previous scale wasn't accurate, and I'd been losing before I bought this one).
After all that time of being really consistent, my scale *still* said my metabolic age is 50.
(Granted, they said that the scale only goes UP to 50 - not higher, so its possible my age was even higher to start with - but pretty discouraging after all that time!)I know its not broken... because my hubby (who is a soccer player), has the metabolism of a 25 year old (and he's 43), and a body fat% of 16%. Makes me sick LOL.
My point: most people in their 30s and 40s are a lot slower than in your 20s... (my hubby is the exception to the rule
)It would be nice to see teams of similar ages play because of that.
Also - if they were in a similar age range, (or even smaller ranges - like 19-24, 25-29), remember some of the older ones complained that the younger ones were getting rid of the older ones. This would stop that from being able to happen.
2) well I'd say all women and all men - i.e., women on one team, guys on the other - but not really playing against each other, more like the last woman standing and the last man standing win the prizes.
3) I really liked the one from each state, even the ones that had the opportunity to be at home. That would be neat to do again, or even one man and one woman from each state, rather than just one each.
4) All in a specific profession... i.e., all Office workers (since we sit most of the day!!)... all bank employees... all doctors... (LOL)... all stay at home parents... Just being hypothetical here.
From a challenge or elimination standpoint, it would be kinda neat to do something to twist the eliminations like this:
Instead of having one person voted off each week from the start...
What about having it wait say 3-4 weeks, give EVERYONE a fair shot to start losing, and then at say week 4, 3 people are eliminated. Kinda like they would have been possibly at week 1, but they got more time to be there. Some people might be slower at getting started, but can do pretty good as time goes. (Look at Kelly!).
Two reasons why I thought that one:
- first, if you look at the results shows, the people who got voted off within the first 1-2 weeks rarely lost as much as everyone else. (I just rewatched the couples finale the other night when I was switching it from our DVR over to tape).
- second, it might be easier to see who's slacking and *should* be voted off rather than it just being for one week. i.e., couples (season 5?) the white team, the husband seemed lazy - Alison even mentioned it at the finale. Yes, he'd lost about 60+ pounds for the finale, but all the other guys lost more (except the green team who went home first). They convinced people to keep them around - the brown team was voted off before the white team. (Yes it saved yellow I know). White should have been next - I admire the wife, not the husband. He just looked cocky.
Another thought for eliminations..
If doing the couples, instead of eliminating the entire couple, why not do what they did later - just one from the couples went? That way for example, the white team's husband, the green team's father - would have gone home, but the wife of white and daughter of green (who were actually trying!) could have stayed longer.
Alternately... hold eliminations all together and kind of do it at a half way point, who has lost the most % of body fat - half stay to remain to the finale for the $250,000 prize, the other half go to finish at home.
Perhaps instead of the weekly elimination, do prizes for the biggest loser of the week, and/or penalties for the worst. (of course, that's not always their fault metabolically, but when you see some who cheat with the temptations then wonder why they didn't lose... those ones could deserve the penalty!)
Temptations ideas...
Each of the temptations holds rewards...
but what about PENALTIES?? i.e., rather than the "winning team" being able to add a 5 pound penalty to the team who lost the temptation, what about a 1 pound penalty for everyone who DOES eat the junk??
I realize the rational for the temptations is because people will have to face these things in every day life - very true.
But from a logical standpoint, if a person "gives in" to their tempation (in the real world), they then have repercussions from it too! i.e., they've gained a few pounds, or they're hurting their health (i.e., had too much sugar, salt, water gain etc).
So why not make a temptation / challenge that rewards those who abstain AND penalizes those who participate, since they will in life have it affect them somehow?
It would be a good way to teach people that overdoing it in those challenges/temptations is like real life: it hurts rather than helps, so why give in?
Could be set as a limit - i.e., one cookie doesn't give a penalty, because let's face it, no one is perfect... but eating say 2-3 cookies etc. IS for a penalty because then it starts to affect a person without them realizing the calorie/fat intake etc. (Keeps people within portion control!)
Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts / ideas for the show.
Anyone else have any thoughts while we're (not so) patiently waiting for the next season?
(oh - and I'm thrilled that Slice is showing the first season of TBL here in Canada on Thurs nights - I never saw the first season, didn't know about it till part way into season 2, so now I can recap
)