My Recent Epiphany--Part 2

Again, I apologize for my delay in blog posts. This last week was my brother's graduation and my other brother's Eagle scout court of honor. Many of my extended family were in town, and I'm sure you can imagine the drama and stress in my household before and during their stay. But, now that the family events are over and done with, it's time to get down to business.

I had a previous post about a recent realization that I had. I had just had a horrible experience at the doctor's office, and it started getting me thinking. This next part was the second "event" that led to my epiphany:

I've never really be a huge fan of "reality" TV shows. I think I watched a few episodes of the first few seasons of Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race, American Idol, and the Bachelor (and perhaps a few others I can't remember now). These types of shows did't really grab my attention like it has for others. However, this past season of The Biggest Loser (Season 7) had obtained my faithful viewership every Tuesday. I had heard of the show before, but I'd never actually watched an episode. For some reason, I had been hooked, along with my family, and we watched every episode (occasionally on Hulu a week later if we missed it).

While, like any other reality TV show, the Biggest Loser has it's fair share of drama and build up of suspense between commercial breaks, it also has the feeling of inspiration and hope that some reality television shows lack. Sometimes it was a bit much, and boy did NBC lay it on thick with a few episodes (especially towards the end of the season), but it still got to me. I watched this show week after week thinking that while I wasn't secluded on a ranch with exercise equipment and my own personal trainer, I could still be doing something. Of course, I thought this as I was sitting on the couch watching the show eating dinner or ice cream/cake.

Every episode ended with a call to action for home viewers to loose weight at home and report their weight loss online. For every pound the American public lost (and reported) they would donate one pound of groceries to Feeding America (the Pound for Pound challenge). Not only would you be doing a good thing for yourself (losing weight), you would also be helping your fellow man. I mean, who really needs that double cheeseburger: your obese self, or the starving single mother with three kids? Yeah... really gets you thinking.

So after episode after episode, the cheesy inspirational music and admonitions from newly ejected contestants that "if they could do it, so could you," I decided I really could do it. It wasn't quite enough just yet (no this was not the epiphany), but it was the slope that helped the ball continue rolling.

Stay tuned, the final "Aha" moment is coming...