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.
I love this show because they realise their diets are a form of torture because they don't like themselves very much. They don't feel guilty hurting themselves but they feel guilty torturing other people. It brings out empathy. Its the complete opposite of people like Tammy in 1000lb sisters who is entirely self absorbed.
Wow that woman apologising because she let the other guy eat only 5 french fries and then realising how much she was actually punishing herself was such a powerful moment.
I remember this episode. She had one of the worst diets I’ve ever seen, but she did put weight on at the end of the show and became best friends with the guy
A girl I met in college was severely underweight while I was severely overweight. I can't count the amount of times we've cried in each other's arms and talked about how much we hate ourselves and want to get better. We both got the help we needed, but that body dysmorphia is so real still. I love you Emily!! Thank you for your help
If she was prediabetic she was probably already eating too much sugar in her diet - but in forms she didn't notice, because they weren't obviously sweet foods. A lot of pre-packaged, SAVOURY foods (especially those containing tomato-based sauces, refined white flour products, etc.) and foods marked as 'low FAT' have a ton of hidden sugar in them - but you'd never know, because they don't taste obviously sweet. Whereas a ton of sugar in a cup of tea would taste *very* obviously sweet - and yet it was probably still less than she'd be eating in an average pre-packaged ready meal.
Yeah, for that one I feel like they really should have paired her with someone else. I'm sure there were superskinnies with diets that would have been much safer.
@@Maerahn yes I agree with you. I am just wondering that they aren't really HELPING her in a dangerous matter if they are giving her large of sugar still to eat and tea. Though it may of been the artificial sweeteners
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.
THIS SHOW HELPED ME LOSE 140LBS. I know it can be extremely problematic, but there was a scene where they explain how super morbidly obese people need special coffins and creations and suffer indignity after death.. my BMI was like 50 or something, I was completely motivated to get my shit together.
This show is crazy popular among people with eating disorders (me included). It’s even been described as “ED Culture” to binge this show on TH-cam. Thanks for shining a more objective, critical light on this show.
is "ED Culture" just a term revolving around this show? i definitely think im misunderstanding your comment a little. if i am, what else is part of "ED Culture"?
They pissed me off, because there was a time I didn't have food to eat, and that was so wasteful. So I'd fast forward past that part and just watch the rest.
When i was a child and i saw those tubes i hateeee them, because it was such a waste of food. Right now 50% of families in my country has trouble to find something to eat everyday, since i was a child i knew the importance of food, i just had to look at my relatives situation to see i am and was privilige to buy whipped cream when i was a child. Even now my mom talks about his friend in USA and how his grandchildren WASTEE food even water it makes me angry 😕
Its so odd, for some people this show triggers their ED, for some people, like me, it encourages me NOT to skip meals or obsessively control my portions. Especially during times I needed to gain weight like after major surgery or pregnancy
I think it’s important not to ignore the vast audience that doesn’t struggle with an ED and gets the appropriate message from the show about having a good diet. It’s not all or nothing.
My ED loved everything about this damn show for some reason. Since I’ve been recovered for several years I’d probably be fine watching a full episode now but since I watched it so much while my ED was active I I’m probably gonna leave this show in the past since Its so closely associated with my ED
@@mooyspoon5040 you're wording isn't off, he's just being a friggen troll bc he has nothing better to do. But def agree that this show was wicked triggering for me back in the day
It kind of freaks me out seeing some of the women on the superskinny side and thinking they look pretty normal. Like a goal I know a lot of women have. A goal I've had before. Seeing that makes me really acknowledge how so many women are "supposed" to be super skinny.
@@KianaDocherty It's not unhealthy to be lean as fuck. Plenty of people are just lanky naturally. What's unhealthy is to force it and become a walking skeleton person while being hungry all the time. Also "health" is relative to your goals. If you want to be able to wrestle a bear, you should everything you can get your hands on. If you want to fit through air vents, the walking skeleton approach isn't bad.
@@MrCmon113 I feel there are healthy body standards for male and female Darwin'd through the ages. Male would be strong and lean, and a female would have more fat
I get some people find this show triggering but I frankly don't think this discredits the show. I found it interesting and educational and I appreciated they talked about the problems of under eating as well. So many of the super skinnies had no energy and were crabby all the time because of it and we're sugar and caffeine addicts to keep themselves going. It was helpful to me. If something triggers you please be responsible and don't watch, we can demonize perfectly helpful media to others just because it triggers some.
@@dianeshannon7988 I mean it's not like the biggest loser that did harm it's clients. If the clients gained weight or lost weight it was on their own time with them changing their own habits independently for this show after being educated a bit on what a more balanced approach is.
The setup is already absolute bs, only fit to get reactions out of people. No reason to "swap diets", no reason to show people in their underwear, no reason for the tube thing, no reason to continuously provoke people. I don't know why anyone would ever participate in such an undignified circus.
It triggers us but not all triggers are the same for me it's just a easy one where i feel uneasy, it's normal to feel this way if u been trough something ,but if it goes further than that u shouldn't watch it
Bringing then to America is like the scared straight thing that they used to do with juvenile delinquent to try to keep them from committing crimes by having prisoners talk to them about how much it sucks
As she said, it's not like we don't have obese people here in the UK. But there are levels of obesity, and that seen in the US is a whole different level. But then how much of what we get shown is realistic or just freak show stuff for entertainment, I haven't a clue.
@ForeverDreamWithinADream I agree with you tbh but I think the point is that we really don’t even see people that big over here, especially all those years ago. (Not that there aren’t any because obesity is increasing becoming a problem. Pretty sure, the Uk is the fattest country in Europe or something like that). But there is a culture shock whenever my family and I have been to the US (like Florida, NYC, Boston in the central areas), we see super obese YOUNG people using mobility shooters. The only people in London who I’ve seen use those are old/disabled people. 3 years ago, (pre-pandemic), when my aunt needed a shooter she had to wait 6 months to ship a special one from France because she was overweight and they didn’t stock any that could handle her size at the time. And she was nowhere near the size of some of the Americans on this show.
I don't think people outside of America can be that super morbidly obese even if they try because the food they eat is fundamentally different. There are no/less hormone disrupting pesticide and antibiotics in European countries.
@@DDoubleEDouble I can't see how young people would use mobility scooters in NYC considering how narrow most of our sidewalks are and how disability-unfriendly the subway stations are. I rarely even see elderly people in mobility scooters here, and I've only ever seen one obese person here (we attended college together before she lost a lot of weight due to necessity of living in a city where no one drives but walks / takes public transportation).
As someone who was on supersize Vs superskinny kids, I can bring a little to light in the production experience. After back and forth emails with channel 4, they arranged for some of the production team to come film me for an interview at my house and they were eager for me to be on the show. If this is to display me for help to others as they claimed or for TV shock value is up for debate, possibly a bit of both considering my weight for my age and mental illness. Again please note that this was an outlook on anorexic kids, so I wasn't gonna be doing any diet swaps or feeding tubes. The first thing they did when they wanted me to take part in the show was get my doctor's approval. In hindsight it was both safeguarding themselves on their part but equally for my safety to as I wasn't exactly a picture of health. My doctor was reluctant but said fine. They then sent a production crew to film me and my mum for 3 days who were very considerate of me. I was sent to London to see a phychiatrist with channel 4 to discuss how I feel about the show and if I feel like I will be triggered into going backwards, she then phoned me once after the show aired. That was it. To say this show isn't exploitation is a lie, but I felt care within the production and while I didn't have to diet swap, I can believe that others had probably the same or similar experience so make what you will of it.
I actually like this show. Unike many other shows where the main focus is always obesity, they focused on the dangers on both sides. They would show information about the dangers of undereating and anorexia recovery. Sure people may use this for triggers but anything can be used for that. I could never watch a fashion show with plus size women because it messes with my mind but I don't think it's bad. If it helps other women it's good enough for me. I just know I shouldn't look it up for my own mental health.
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.
Shock therapy/trying to change behavior through fear can seriously backfire. When I was 14, they pulled my high school class into this assembly designed to scare us into not drinking & driving. They showed us incredibly gory photos and had 1/3 of the class leave the room to show us how many of our friends would likely die from a car accident. They asked us to imagine our parents arranging our funerals. I'm 23. No driver's license. I've had nightmares and a phobia of driving ever since. It's still something I'm trying to overcome.
I was 9 then my class had a field trip to museum with a lot of died people organs. Smokers, alcoholics, Ill people ect. I did not smoke a single cigarette in my whole life. I had nightmares 3 days in a row just from pictures of alcoholic pregnant women's deformed babies.
It's not an unreasonable phobia to have. Look at how many people die in car crashes every year. I have the same thing, but it's not something I was able to overcome even after going to driving school. I dropped out right before the exams - it was not worth it. And with the gas prices, yeah, I'm taking a bus. Fear of driving doesn't get in the way of your everyday activities with the amount of public transport there is, and plus, you are actually helping the environment by having a much smaller footprint then an average person. Having phobias is normal, as long as they don't cause too much suffering. If you have a fear of driving, you don't drive. What's the issue here? Are you feeling less of a human because you can't? Then the problem is a bit deeper and has nothing to do with cars really.
There were a few pairings on the show, who I found quite lovely, compared to the parade of "eww, that's disgostin!" "so gross!" "how can you eat so much/little?". What I took away from the show, suffering from BED myself, was that change was possible. I remember some of the overweight contestants even turned their life around after the show. Yes, there are problematic parts, but I chose to look at the good side of the show :)
There's people dieting down to dick skin shredded every year, of course it's possible. And TV shows routinely portray it to be harder than it is on average.
I could be wrong but I believe after the first couple of seasons, they shortened the diet swap down to 2-3 days, before I think it may also only have been 5 days, not a full week :)
I'm currently trying to gain weight back (I lost 15 pounds in two weeks cus I was malnourished), and applying some of the things you talk about on here with behaviour changes has been helping. Idk why but weight loss related channels help me more, weight gain channels usually just tell you to eat more but don't explain the science behind changing your diet.
Hey Jax I had the same problem as you and I went to my doctor and I had a thyroid issue so maybe you should talk to your doctor because its not so simple somtimes.
i think each their own, since i had ED and smelling food used to make me angry and nauseous i start watching mukbangs and food videos i started enjoying the visual of healthy food and started by only eating greens with few meet and stuff like that, and slowly but surely i started feeling hungry again, ofc i was followed by a psychiatrist and a psycologist in a clinic
The few episodes I've seen, I've read the comments and people saying that they watch this while struggling with an ED, normally a few "pro-ana" comments aren't uncommon, it's sad we still struggle with both extremes of unhealthy weight.
When I first developed my ED I watched this show religiously. It's like the base of ED media content. I don't think it does a good job of scaring people who want to be underweight into not losing weight, people see it as inspiration: both to never become obese and to be disgusted by the super sized meals, as well as to be like the super skinny and eat like them. Not to mention the parts where they show people with diagnosed EDs, it felt like a shout out to the ED community watching, lol. I have a hard time relating to watching the show outside of a disordered context because to me it really is one of the big ED shows. I would love to hear other people's perspectives to see why it appeals to non disordered people
Ppl are gonna idealize what they wanna idealize. There is ppl that go into this show to simply reason their ed by focusing on the negatives of what they fear but not the negatives of what they are doing. It also doesn't help that starving eds are seen as competitive on who can eat the least
I watched this show and to me, it did make me more aware of the dangers of a poor diet and being too skinny. Not to be mean, but most of the "super skinnies" were far from my own personal aesthetic ideal: dry skin, thin hair, and very little muscular definition. As a woman, I like to be lean, but still shapely. I've probably gotten close to disordered eating habits at times in my own quest for the "perfect" body, but I would never want to go as far as the people on this show. I am not sure exactly what the appeal of it is, but I also like shows like Hoarders and Intervention and My 600-Pound Life. Part of it is a fascination with abnormal psychology but also I genuinely want to see people get better and turn their life around.
Back when I was in the early phases of my ED (around 13 years I think) I used to obsessively watch this show, and I totally agree! I looked at the super skinnies as inspiration, and the fact that they showed exactly how much they ate gave me an idea of how to lose weight. And also the fact that the super skinnies were typically pretty mean to the overweight contestants kinda made me feel like I never, ever wanted to be considered fat or overeating by others. So for me, this show played a huge part in developing my ED.
Like many superskinnies on the show I've been underweight for a while without having an ED (just low appetite & almost no passion for cooking & eating). I watched it because it was partially relatable, it helped me to eat more & I like how health focused & educational it is.
As someone who was very underweight when I first watched it, it really helped me understand why I should eat more and become healthier by gaining weight. The show is great for people watching it for the right reasons as it had a lot of sections that discussed the danger of EDs and poor diet.
As someone in the UK, just a quick FYI that we really don't have many, or hardly any, of the sort of people who are so obese as the ones they fly them out to see in the US. That's not to say we don't have obese and morbidly obese people - we're the fattest nation in Europe. However, 'morbidly obese' as a category has no upper limit. So yes we have morbidly obese people, but the US almost needs a new category for the ones who are 200+ lbs past that (something like 'cripplingly obese'). In the UK, that level of obesity is truly rare; so much so that a scenario like that might make the papers. Whereas in the US, it's at least common enough to have part of your medical system dedicated to managing it. So flying our 'morbidly obese' folks out to see it isn't so much to 'dunk on the US', but because we have so few people at that extremity of size.
I was glad to see a comment like this lol…I think our concept of obesity in the UK is inherently very different, and while huge amounts of our population are overweight (many enough to be obese) we don’t have as many people pushing 600…largely because of the smaller population just leaving less chance of having extreme cases, and because it’s only in recent years that we’ve started having access to to the endless variety of different intensely engineered junk food available in the US which more or less programs eating disorders into people if you aren’t super careful. If I had to, I’d guess Brits are bigger on average, but Americans have more weight extremes
Gonna have to call BS. The fattest man on the planet is British, maybe they should have taken the participants to see him instead. Would have been cheaper too.
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
I really wish they would have done follow ups with the folks on this show. I did see that one of the girls on the show passed away shortly afterwards, she was only 21 (I think?). Thanks for this video, Kiana.
Yeah I think she was part of the group of anorexic people they were showing. Not one of the main participants. They did have a trained eating disorder therapist working with them but she probably needed to be fully institutionalized.
@bina nocht probably because I’ve watched pretty much every episode and I don’t recall even one person saying the reason they were overweight was because they couldn’t cook. They get meal plans with recipes. Pay attention
I actually really enjoy this series, at least from a viewer stand point they make it educational. Both sides of eating disorders are dangerous and I feel like they at least show both and the dangers. It is a better show than “My 600 Pound Life”
I started being serious about my "weight loss + healthy lifestyle journey" after I saw an episode of Supersize vs Superskinny where they showed how diabetes can lead to amputation 😰 it shocked me so much! My parents both have diabetes so I am at high risk of having it, I'm in the healthy weight range now but still struggle to eat in moderation but am working on it.
I really appreciated this show... the focus on trying to achieve a better balance, no matter what end of the extreme one found themselves on. Additionally, the theme of acknowledging underlying trauma beneath eating patterns at both end of the spectrum was important & very revealing. Certainly there was massive shock factor in this show -as triggering as it may be it was also very effective.
I find it really out of place that they sent people to the States, in England there are plenty of fat people and it's just stereotypical. If they wanted to go to the fattest country in the world they would've sent them to Nauru.
@@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.
Honestly, while I can see the benefits of this show (so many tend to only view overweight people as people with weight problems; this show absolutely debunks that), all it did for me was teach bad eating habits while I was attempting to battle my ED.
man same. the skinny people diets made me think, "If they can do it, I can do it!" I can also see people watching it and going, "Well I'm not as bad as blahblahrandomname so I'm probably fine"
To be fair, everyone is responsible for their own triggers. I battled with a ED regarding overexercising and I knew that if I looked at pictures of people with really nice muscles who were obviously using steroids would make it worse. That's why I tried to avoid it as much as possible. However, there's nothing wrong with posting your physique online.
Troy Shin yeah as far as triggers go I totally get you. I guess I just worry about what a show like this does to pple who don’t have the kind of self knowledge of triggers necessary to know to avoid it. At the same time, that doesn’t necessarily mean the show should go away, or that it doesn’t have some benefit, y’know? It’s a conflicting thing for me.
@@sagez9422 Yeah, I agree with you. I definitely don't think the show should be banned, but as you said, being considerate of the people who are triggered by this is 100% understandable obviously.
I agree. Generally, I don't think fear is a very good tool at all. Fearful people risk becoming better at hiding their behaviour or being overcome with guilt and losing all hope. I'm thinking that it's the same as with teaching a child. If you beat up a child when they do something wrong, they'll only learn how to hide the behaviour from you or doing it when you're not around, instead of learning the reason why they shouldn't do that thing. I don't have an eating disorder, but I have found that in other areas of my life I'm much more motivated by thinking about what I _should_ do than what I _shouldn't_ do. For example, for me it's much more powerful to try to get a better health than to avoid getting worse health.
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)
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.
as an anorexic teenager... I loved this show for the opposite reason lol. I do still watch it occasionally regrettably for the same reason I started watching it. but I'm extremely critical of its portrayals of disordered eating, specifically anorexia/restrictive EDs, especially in the earlier seasons. the group therapy segments for the anorexics they had appear on the show just seem like trauma porn for non-disordered people to gawk at to me now. And they definitely, definitely gave me tips and triggered me to engage in behaviors especially when I was younger. It comes across incredibly callous, they encouraged people who were very sick, a lot of whom seem to have been disordered for 10+ years and had seemingly exhausted all their options, to appear in a reality TV show that in itself is built around gawking at "extreme" eating habits. it just makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn't want my most vulnerable moments broadcast for the entire world to see, but I can understand how they ended up in that position. At my worst I still use those segments of the show to trigger myself, but now they just make me sad too, because almost a decade after I started watching the show I unfortunately find myself in a similar position to those people.
The insanity of this show in a nutshell is that while yes, obesity has health consequences, being underweight will do you in way way faster. We NEED energy to live. And for the over-eaters this "program" is just a recipe to binge, as you pointed out.
Being "underweight" doesn't do shit. If you literally stop eating, yes that will kill you faster. But being "underweight" doesn't mean anything. Plenty of athletes are under or overweight according to health organizations.
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!"
I remember watching this show in TH-cam. 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
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.
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 💪🏼
When I watched it a lot I always noticed how with the skinny contestants their story was always “I’m just too busy to eat” and they didn’t really talk too much about eating disorders and the psychological reasons for undereating like trying to have control over something in a stressful life. I would always watch because I wanted to hear about that side of things, but it was more so for scaring away obesity and grossing out the participants by showing them how much syrup they eat in a week in a big vat.
I like this show! I am an extremely skinny person who's been struggling since basically forever and I honestly don't see on social medias people bringing up the issues of being skinny like that, it's extremely dangerous just like obesity is, but obesity is talked about more (but also frowned upon more...)
This show helped me stop and prevent me from fully developing an ED (back in 2020), so I owe this show a lot. And I think that's what this show is about? Usually (from the one or two episodes I remember) as soon as they discovered any of the participants had an ED, they offered psychological help, provided resources, send them to a rehabilitation clinic to start recovery etc, but the show itself is mainly focused on those that havent yet developed an ED but are on their way to it and need a wake up call to help them realized what they're doing. (I might be adding depth where there isn't any but this is what the show always felt like to me.)
Haven't finished the video yet but a lot of people with EDs use this show to help them continue with their EDs. If you check the uploads on TH-cam the comments sections are often full of anorexics. (haven't finished this video to know if she goes into this though)
@Bla Bla by pro ana I mean lots of comments like 'I use the super skinnys diets for inspiration', 'this show helps me not eat', etc, things like that &, those comments would always have lots of people agreeing.
Is fear really the best approach? I’ve always looked at building long lasting habits as requiring positive reinforcement vs relying on scaring someone (which eventually leads to desensitization, making the stimulus less effective the longer you use it)
I found "Secret Eaters" was a much better show. Supersize vs. Superskinny is great for shock value, but I found Secret Eaters was much more relatable to me as I couldn't figure out where I was going wrong, and that show highlighted that a lot of us aren't paying attention to how much we eat (or how many calories are in alcohol alone; yikes!) and really helped me pay more attention.
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
Watching this growing up it almost encouraged me to avoid being on either extreme end of the spectrum. Always eaten healthily and grown up so that was unlikely to happen but seeing what obesity and being too underweight could do to your body definitely keeps you in check somewhat
In fairness the show did a great job at giving people a realistic plan to change their behaviour long-term. Most of the overweight people lost a significant amount of weight without much effort. I love that they recommend portion control and self control instead of over-excercising
I seem to remember an episode with a girl who it became clear had a genuine, psychologically based eating disorder and they did address it and helped set up an outpatient treatment consultation for her to attend. But I don't think they said what happened there. I remember another woman who was clearly suffering from orthorexia and was obsessive about being "healthy" and her food choices were technically fine but there wasn't enough. They totally overlooked the fact that she was actively obsessive about her food and that it was having a negative impact on her.
The thing about science is that there actually is a link between food restriction and longer life. The super skinnies will still live decades longer than the superfats. Also, let's be honest and admit that people being underweight in the UK or US is almost unheard of compared to the deadly epidemic that is obestiy. Over indulging in food is more destructive than under indulging, even if our emotions say otherwise.
In the midst of my ED, this tv show was so triggering and to this day it still is somewhat. I feel like the shame factor they used on the supersize contestants pushed me so hard into undereating. I didn't want to be like those fat Americans!
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)
I recently binge watched (pun!) Supersize vs Supportskinny. It's done really well. But as all reality shows, they feature the dramatic bits. You have a lot of obese people in the UK, but the US (especially in the south) it's just so much more noticeable. The food portions are also that much larger/cheaper/unhealthier, not to mention selling sugary drinks by the tray when you walk into Walmart. Have a look at the videos from the TH-camr Boogie2988 where he talked about his experience with the film crew/Dr Jesson (he was one of the Americans that was visited)
I also used to love this show...the food tube etc. But mainly, because it highlighted the dangers on both sides. I liked the earlier seasons though- before the visits to the US ect. There was 1 ep I particular remember standing out because they noted how the fat person ate good - well balanced diverse meals with lots of vegetables etc and that their only big issue was just portions. (Steak oversized, pasta oversized) I thought that was good- because I always have fruits and vegetables in my diet and I think so often people assume fat people eat nothing but fast food and junk.
I remember when I was struggling with bulimia and binged the shit out of this show. At first, I had just found it interesting then it turned into me basically wanting to be like the superskinnys and using the supersizes as motivation to not eat. It got toxic but I didn't realise it at the time and ended up picking up on what I thought were "tips" from the superskinnys but in all reality was digging me deeper into the ED hole. This show was entertaining but very toxic and potentially harmful.
I think the difference between the USA and other obese countries is the severity of the morbidity. Like, Australia may have a few hundred 300pound ppl, but the USA has thousands for 300, 400, 500 pound. I wonder if there's a statistic on it somewhere because I'm just guessing here
It’s interesting to see all the comments that mention the appeal of this show to people with ED. That has been my experience as well, it fuels my obsession with weight loss when I’m at my worst. This show is why I used to replace meals with energy drinks. 😰
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.
The thing about the food swap that gets me is the duration changes almost every season. They have done anywhere from 2 days to 7 days without explaining why the change was made. Do some people get it quicker then others, sure? But since it is the same for the whole season it really makes no sense.
This show was and is so dangerous. It was the first thing that taught me how to survive off very little and I would come back to watch it to get tips. But seeing the mass amounts of food would trigger a binge and I’d just think, oh but I’m not as bad as this person so this isn’t bad. Took me years to realise how toxic it was for me.
Dude during my ED days I watched this every single day. Super effective trigger for some reason. And yea if you look at the comments under these videos on youtube I definitely wasn't the only one lol
1:40 this worked for my dad and smoking. He spent around 30 years smoking 4-6 packs a day and blew off doctors, nurses, his parents, and anyone else who told him to smoke. He eventually tried patches, gum, and pills to no avail because he didnt really care. Then when i was about 4 he caught me trying to smoke one of his cigarettes "like you da" and he pretty much shit his pants. That day he threw all the nicotine gum and the cigarettes in the trash and quit.
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 😞
This show, in my opinion, has helped a lot of people. If you get triggered, that's on you to not watch. For the majority of people it's a warning or a wake up call. The whole idea of the show is to hold up a mirror for these people and the audience. They have to see the toll their choices take on someone else and reflect on what they did to themselves. Mirrors don't show a pretty picture, they show what's there. Warts and all. If your too "triggered " to see that then don't look and keep burying your head in the sand. I like this show as it doesn't make excuses for these people or for itself.
as someone who suffered from an ED, this show felt like a form of triggering both the people in and out of the show more than helping anyone. as a viewer, i and other people i knew in the ED community were getting tips from one super and fearing the other super. i think there are much more effective ways of getting their message across to the people. i think maybe they could have swapped one meal or 1 days meals just to get that realization piece, but maybe separate the people for the rest of the diet swap and then work one-on-one with Dr. Christian to show how he wouldve went about their unique diet plans so the viewers could see the changes they needed to make for each side of the spectrum would've been a much better approach for both the contestants and the viewers while still being "entertaining." I'm curious to see if they have data for how many contestants their methods actually worked for. I imagine it wasnt many considering the show stopped airing in 2014 i think.
I was never diagnosed with an ED but was in therapy for disordered eating. I would watch this all the time when I needed a trigger to stop me from eating. this and My 600-pound life.
@bina nocht i understand what you’re saying but the show is already diet focused. they spend like 5 show minutes actually pinpointing where their issues with food came from. if they had spent the money on the food swaps and tubes and trips to america and spent that on therapists and nutrition professionals that specialize in each person’s food and lifestyle needs, they could’ve been more ethical and probably more successful. dr christian never really shared each persons personal plan, which is where the real progress and education would be in this show, so how do we know he even tried to work with them on the bigger mental/lifestyle struggles
This show wasn’t for people with an ED. It was for the average person. We are responsible for the content we choose to consume. Swapping one day wouldn’t work the same, it takes a while for the message to sink in for many people.
I like this show when I'm cutting weight, but a diet swap between 2 extremes isn't as good of an idea as just having them there for a few weeks to learn the diet plans they get at end of it. The trip to America is good too.
oh my god, i remember when i was in the worst time of my eating disorder and i was watching it all the time. the fact that they are starving larger people, not teaching them how to eat healthy and making skinny people eat that much, when it's physically impossible is scary
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.
I loooove that you covered this show. It doesn’t approach the topics perfectly but I think it is definitely effective for making people reconsider their choices.
When you were talking about motivational tools.. I experienced something similar before when I heard someone say "Look at your plate and imagine all of that food in your stomach". For some reason that always stuck with me and has helped me eat more sensible portions. I struggled my whole life with overeating and then I heard that and it really put everything into perspective.
as if being overweight isn't wasteful? think about it, someone eating more than they need for absolutely no real reason, and that's 70% of the united states
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
I think Kiana is missing the point that while there's no shortage of overweight or even obese people in Europe (especially the UK), the super-morbidly obese people at the very high end of that spectrum are much more common in the US. I've seen more of those people in 2 weeks in the US than I've seen in 30 years in central Europe.
I always thought the difficulty behind Supersized vs Superskinny was that the more engaging moments (i.e., the viral moments) overshadowed the important messages that the show tried to put across. For example, the segments where they introduced individuals to others who were experiencing their own weight problems, but at an even more extreme end, were super helpful and informative. As a psychologist myself, I would even comment on a few of those clips when I discuss eating disorders with others I also appreciated that the show pointed out a lot of inconsistencies with diet culture, or so much so "snacking culture?" Like when the individuals on the show would openly discuss their food diaries, it was clear on numerous occasions that the food diaries were not correct, and were instead a representation of what the individual thought they were eating as opposed to what they actually were eating. I remember this playing a part in helping me understand a few years ago that a lot of weight based problems are not solely responsible on food choices (though it plays a massive part) and that the more extreme weight concerning issues, like for those with ED, involved a plethora of other issues such as binge eating or continuously putting off food intake
I remember they literally made us watch the kids version of the show in high school! But I seem to remember for the kids it was slightly different? Instead of swapping food they just each had to eat the same meal together & watch each other eat
I think the problem with this show, and most like it, is it can come across as a sort of modern day 'freak show'. Come see the 500lb woman or the 80lb man vibes. A big part of why it feels so invasive and exploitative is because they spend so much time doing dramatic shots panning over someone's fat rolls or their protruding ribs while these people have to stand together in a room in just their underwear, it feels very dehumanizing. Another problem I have is that the show seems to treat EDs like anorexia or bulimia much more seriously than something like binge eating, I've seen them do segments where they spoke to people recovering from ED's but only the ones that made them skinny. But I do like the meal swap as a tool to help each person see where they might be struggling. It could be a good way to subjectively look at a part of yourself, I just wish the show wasn't so heavily focused on scaring the fat person into losing weight :\
I used to watch the show a lot (like you said--it's mesmerizing sometimes haha) and one of the things I loved about it is that it seemed to focus on "be healthier"; not a specific size, not a specific goal, etc. Compared to shows like Biggest Loser or My 500lb Life etc., it felt like SSVSS was more focused on 'here are some very manageable changes you can make to improve your health'. I also like that it included both ends of the unhealthy eating spectrum, and always ended with an educational bit. For a reality TV show I think it was pretty good.
No, the principle upon which this program is based is "making money." It's exploitative. I don't know how much the participants were paid to humiliate themselves like this (parading around in their underwear, confessing bizarre habits and intimate secrets, weeping helplessly, etc.), but I hope it was considerable. "Dr. Christian" is a bit of a prat: despite being a doctor, he ignored the obvious signs of appendicitis because he was terrified of an anaesthetized operation and didn't want an appendectomy scar. Seriously. His appendix burst, and he could easily have died.
🎙🍿I made a video on Supersize Vs Superskinny last week as well if you haven't already seen it!: th-cam.com/video/rV55Ocz-jII/w-d-xo.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.
Kiana what do you use on your hair? It looks so healthy
Finally someone talked about this
Ironically, Kiana Docherty is skinny now (Yeah, Kiana, I said it. Be proud of your beautiful image).
“that tastes horrible.”
“it’s WATER.”
charlene is an icon.
"not five sugarssss" lol so cute
My mom in law also hates the taste of water. But she's a meateater so i think the water just brings out her own taste somehow.
Water reminds me of slime I have to put lemon or some tea in it no sugar or has be super ice cold for me to be able to drink it
@@jborrego2406 *_prepared_* to drink it.
You are fully ABLE to drink it, as waterboarding would immediately demonstrate ;)
@@jborrego2406 Slime? That's a weird one xD
I love this show because they realise their diets are a form of torture because they don't like themselves very much. They don't feel guilty hurting themselves but they feel guilty torturing other people. It brings out empathy. Its the complete opposite of people like Tammy in 1000lb sisters who is entirely self absorbed.
Wait a minute. You're 100% right.
True!
iconic introduction voiceover: "because it's not what you're eating.... it's what's eating you."
exactly!
Very good point.
Wow that woman apologising because she let the other guy eat only 5 french fries and then realising how much she was actually punishing herself was such a powerful moment.
I actually started crying because I recognize myself from the past while my ED case was really bad.
I remember this episode. She had one of the worst diets I’ve ever seen, but she did put weight on at the end of the show and became best friends with the guy
@@tardishousemafia5246
Holy crap that’s so wholesome
I cried though I suffer food addiction but still, it hurts seeing pain
@@sarahk13peacesending prayers 🙏🤲 love and strength to you 💕🙏💕
A girl I met in college was severely underweight while I was severely overweight. I can't count the amount of times we've cried in each other's arms and talked about how much we hate ourselves and want to get better. We both got the help we needed, but that body dysmorphia is so real still. I love you Emily!! Thank you for your help
❤️
I'm so happy that the both of you found help and stood up to your issues together. Huge respect!
I’m crying, that’s so sad 🥺
❤❤❤❤❤
this is so cute i hope u guys are better now
That short clip cracked me up.
Him: "It tastes horrible!"
Her: "It's water..."
If I remember rightly it was fizzy water which is rank
@@Sewingbee23 I'm afraid of water because my kidneys don't work can gain 3 pounds a day
@@soniczforever5470 well that a special case. why do you keep commenting this lol
@@lalaishappyyy because they're spreading awareness that not everyone is privileged to have a fully functioning, able body.
Yeah water is nice but sparkling water is disgusting 🤢
That sugar tea for the prediabetic seems just much more dangerous then someone else they could of paired her up with
They may have used a non-sugar sweetener. They do change items sometimes to make them safe.
Maybe very well be less sugar than they eat in a normal day innit? She didn't get to that size skipping the syrup.
If she was prediabetic she was probably already eating too much sugar in her diet - but in forms she didn't notice, because they weren't obviously sweet foods. A lot of pre-packaged, SAVOURY foods (especially those containing tomato-based sauces, refined white flour products, etc.) and foods marked as 'low FAT' have a ton of hidden sugar in them - but you'd never know, because they don't taste obviously sweet. Whereas a ton of sugar in a cup of tea would taste *very* obviously sweet - and yet it was probably still less than she'd be eating in an average pre-packaged ready meal.
Yeah, for that one I feel like they really should have paired her with someone else. I'm sure there were superskinnies with diets that would have been much safer.
@@Maerahn yes I agree with you. I am just wondering that they aren't really HELPING her in a dangerous matter if they are giving her large of sugar still to eat and tea. Though it may of been the artificial sweeteners
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.
i think any normal person would get sick too
@@pepperet5216 Of course, because that's what the sugar does to EVERY body.
@@pepperet5216 I don’t see how because most people like soda I’m pretty sure it has way more than 5 teaspoons of sugar
@@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.
THIS SHOW HELPED ME LOSE 140LBS. I know it can be extremely problematic, but there was a scene where they explain how super morbidly obese people need special coffins and creations and suffer indignity after death.. my BMI was like 50 or something, I was completely motivated to get my shit together.
The rate 'm going my thighs would need a special coffin if I didn't get cremated I'm 7 stone 12 but take a UK size 22 the last size
woah congrats
Wow congrats
Congrats🎉
This show is crazy popular among people with eating disorders (me included). It’s even been described as “ED Culture” to binge this show on TH-cam. Thanks for shining a more objective, critical light on this show.
I’ve been trying to fight EDs for 10 years now. SSvSS definitely is a huge trigger for me too.
I don't have an ED but I've heard people who have it say they use this show to motivate themselves to starve.
@@supermegaultrazdivek for me it’s the reverse, first I relapse, THEN I start watching again
Yepppppp
is "ED Culture" just a term revolving around this show? i definitely think im misunderstanding your comment a little. if i am, what else is part of "ED Culture"?
the feeding tube gave me NIGHTMARES as a kid, I couldn't fathom anything more gross
the feeding tubes make me happier about my own diet. also i’m just fascinated by what and how much they eat
The sound alone was just AWFUL. It is the most unique and vile noise.
They pissed me off, because there was a time I didn't have food to eat, and that was so wasteful. So I'd fast forward past that part and just watch the rest.
When i was a child and i saw those tubes i hateeee them, because it was such a waste of food. Right now 50% of families in my country has trouble to find something to eat everyday, since i was a child i knew the importance of food, i just had to look at my relatives situation to see i am and was privilige to buy whipped cream when i was a child. Even now my mom talks about his friend in USA and how his grandchildren WASTEE food even water it makes me angry 😕
@@zxyatiywariii8 We still have grandmas who say that throwing away bread is a sin. Yeah, it's painful to watch.
Its so odd, for some people this show triggers their ED, for some people, like me, it encourages me NOT to skip meals or obsessively control my portions. Especially during times I needed to gain weight like after major surgery or pregnancy
@@SpyderT22 she triggered my ED after battling it for years for no reasons.. but this show made me empethize with myself
I think it’s important not to ignore the vast audience that doesn’t struggle with an ED and gets the appropriate message from the show about having a good diet. It’s not all or nothing.
@@SpyderT22 same I literally get an appetite when I see her wrist bones mostly I feel hungry
@@SpyderT22 Same.
My ED loved everything about this damn show for some reason. Since I’ve been recovered for several years I’d probably be fine watching a full episode now but since I watched it so much while my ED was active I I’m probably gonna leave this show in the past since Its so closely associated with my ED
This show is literally crack for ED sufferers, it’s addictive
Erectile Dysfunction?
@@MrFuggleGuggle ED stands for eating disorder
@@mooyspoon5040 but ED also stands for Erectile Dysfunction…
@@MrFuggleGuggle I was trying to say in this case it meant eating disorder, my bad if the wording was off
@@mooyspoon5040 you're wording isn't off, he's just being a friggen troll bc he has nothing better to do. But def agree that this show was wicked triggering for me back in the day
It kind of freaks me out seeing some of the women on the superskinny side and thinking they look pretty normal. Like a goal I know a lot of women have. A goal I've had before. Seeing that makes me really acknowledge how so many women are "supposed" to be super skinny.
I actually thought that exact thing! Half of them have model-esque bodies. Shows how unhealthy the media ideal really is.
@@KianaDocherty
It's not unhealthy to be lean as fuck.
Plenty of people are just lanky naturally. What's unhealthy is to force it and become a walking skeleton person while being hungry all the time.
Also "health" is relative to your goals. If you want to be able to wrestle a bear, you should everything you can get your hands on. If you want to fit through air vents, the walking skeleton approach isn't bad.
@@MrCmon113 I feel there are healthy body standards for male and female Darwin'd through the ages. Male would be strong and lean, and a female would have more fat
@@MrCmon113it is unhealthy to have a bmi under 18. Look up the weight j-curve. Mortality increases the lower your bmi gets below 18.
@@MrCmon113sorry I just realised your comment was from a year ago. Please disregard this and I hope you've had a good year
I get some people find this show triggering but I frankly don't think this discredits the show. I found it interesting and educational and I appreciated they talked about the problems of under eating as well. So many of the super skinnies had no energy and were crabby all the time because of it and we're sugar and caffeine addicts to keep themselves going. It was helpful to me. If something triggers you please be responsible and don't watch, we can demonize perfectly helpful media to others just because it triggers some.
Quite frankly it's debatable whether it' benefits the clients longterm that's her main point it's not entertainment for those struggling.
@@dianeshannon7988 I mean it's not like the biggest loser that did harm it's clients. If the clients gained weight or lost weight it was on their own time with them changing their own habits independently for this show after being educated a bit on what a more balanced approach is.
The setup is already absolute bs, only fit to get reactions out of people.
No reason to "swap diets", no reason to show people in their underwear, no reason for the tube thing, no reason to continuously provoke people.
I don't know why anyone would ever participate in such an undignified circus.
@@MrCmon113 I mean you don't have to like it or participate in it, doesn't mean it's terrible just because it's not for you.
It triggers us but not all triggers are the same for me it's just a easy one where i feel uneasy, it's normal to feel this way if u been trough something ,but if it goes further than that u shouldn't watch it
Bringing then to America is like the scared straight thing that they used to do with juvenile delinquent to try to keep them from committing crimes by having prisoners talk to them about how much it sucks
And those programs don't even work.
As she said, it's not like we don't have obese people here in the UK. But there are levels of obesity, and that seen in the US is a whole different level. But then how much of what we get shown is realistic or just freak show stuff for entertainment, I haven't a clue.
@ForeverDreamWithinADream I agree with you tbh but I think the point is that we really don’t even see people that big over here, especially all those years ago. (Not that there aren’t any because obesity is increasing becoming a problem. Pretty sure, the Uk is the fattest country in Europe or something like that). But there is a culture shock whenever my family and I have been to the US (like Florida, NYC, Boston in the central areas), we see super obese YOUNG people using mobility shooters. The only people in London who I’ve seen use those are old/disabled people.
3 years ago, (pre-pandemic), when my aunt needed a shooter she had to wait 6 months to ship a special one from France because she was overweight and they didn’t stock any that could handle her size at the time. And she was nowhere near the size of some of the Americans on this show.
I don't think people outside of America can be that super morbidly obese even if they try because the food they eat is fundamentally different. There are no/less hormone disrupting pesticide and antibiotics in European countries.
@@DDoubleEDouble I can't see how young people would use mobility scooters in NYC considering how narrow most of our sidewalks are and how disability-unfriendly the subway stations are. I rarely even see elderly people in mobility scooters here, and I've only ever seen one obese person here (we attended college together before she lost a lot of weight due to necessity of living in a city where no one drives but walks / takes public transportation).
As someone who was on supersize Vs superskinny kids, I can bring a little to light in the production experience. After back and forth emails with channel 4, they arranged for some of the production team to come film me for an interview at my house and they were eager for me to be on the show. If this is to display me for help to others as they claimed or for TV shock value is up for debate, possibly a bit of both considering my weight for my age and mental illness. Again please note that this was an outlook on anorexic kids, so I wasn't gonna be doing any diet swaps or feeding tubes. The first thing they did when they wanted me to take part in the show was get my doctor's approval. In hindsight it was both safeguarding themselves on their part but equally for my safety to as I wasn't exactly a picture of health. My doctor was reluctant but said fine. They then sent a production crew to film me and my mum for 3 days who were very considerate of me. I was sent to London to see a phychiatrist with channel 4 to discuss how I feel about the show and if I feel like I will be triggered into going backwards, she then phoned me once after the show aired. That was it. To say this show isn't exploitation is a lie, but I felt care within the production and while I didn't have to diet swap, I can believe that others had probably the same or similar experience so make what you will of it.
Thank you for sharing that.
I actually like this show. Unike many other shows where the main focus is always obesity, they focused on the dangers on both sides. They would show information about the dangers of undereating and anorexia recovery. Sure people may use this for triggers but anything can be used for that. I could never watch a fashion show with plus size women because it messes with my mind but I don't think it's bad. If it helps other women it's good enough for me. I just know I shouldn't look it up for my own mental health.
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. :)
That's exactly it! They literally force people to treat someone else like they treat themselves. Which often is abuse, but we don't see it.
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.
Shock therapy/trying to change behavior through fear can seriously backfire. When I was 14, they pulled my high school class into this assembly designed to scare us into not drinking & driving. They showed us incredibly gory photos and had 1/3 of the class leave the room to show us how many of our friends would likely die from a car accident. They asked us to imagine our parents arranging our funerals.
I'm 23. No driver's license. I've had nightmares and a phobia of driving ever since. It's still something I'm trying to overcome.
i'm sorry that happened to you
you can over come it i believe in you
sorry its off topic but I love your username
- another ADHD D+D nerd
I was 9 then my class had a field trip to museum with a lot of died people organs. Smokers, alcoholics, Ill people ect. I did not smoke a single cigarette in my whole life. I had nightmares 3 days in a row just from pictures of alcoholic pregnant women's deformed babies.
It's not an unreasonable phobia to have. Look at how many people die in car crashes every year. I have the same thing, but it's not something I was able to overcome even after going to driving school. I dropped out right before the exams - it was not worth it. And with the gas prices, yeah, I'm taking a bus. Fear of driving doesn't get in the way of your everyday activities with the amount of public transport there is, and plus, you are actually helping the environment by having a much smaller footprint then an average person. Having phobias is normal, as long as they don't cause too much suffering. If you have a fear of driving, you don't drive. What's the issue here? Are you feeling less of a human because you can't? Then the problem is a bit deeper and has nothing to do with cars really.
There were a few pairings on the show, who I found quite lovely, compared to the parade of "eww, that's disgostin!" "so gross!" "how can you eat so much/little?". What I took away from the show, suffering from BED myself, was that change was possible. I remember some of the overweight contestants even turned their life around after the show. Yes, there are problematic parts, but I chose to look at the good side of the show :)
I especially like the episode where the guy literally ate EVERYTHING and realized he never ate an actual meal because he was too lazy
@@jacquelinehawkins3887 Was that the guy who lived of caffeinated drinks and occasional doner kebabs?
There's people dieting down to dick skin shredded every year, of course it's possible. And TV shows routinely portray it to be harder than it is on average.
I could be wrong but I believe after the first couple of seasons, they shortened the diet swap down to 2-3 days, before I think it may also only have been 5 days, not a full week :)
That’s correct, the full week was too much for a lot of people
Yes, it's very important to point this out. 3 days is ultimately not harmful. A week would be crash-dieting, 5 days was pushing it.
I remember always watching this show when I had some diet or fitness routine to start. It kept me on track AND entertained
Same. I still rewatch my favorite episodes when I’m trying to kickstart some progress haha
Same. Each show is about 50 minutes, which is how long my exercise routine is. The tubes of food though do gross me out.
I'm currently trying to gain weight back (I lost 15 pounds in two weeks cus I was malnourished), and applying some of the things you talk about on here with behaviour changes has been helping. Idk why but weight loss related channels help me more, weight gain channels usually just tell you to eat more but don't explain the science behind changing your diet.
Hey Jax I had the same problem as you and I went to my doctor and I had a thyroid issue so maybe you should talk to your doctor because its not so simple somtimes.
i think each their own, since i had ED and smelling food used to make me angry and nauseous i start watching mukbangs and food videos i started enjoying the visual of healthy food and started by only eating greens with few meet and stuff like that, and slowly but surely i started feeling hungry again, ofc i was followed by a psychiatrist and a psycologist in a clinic
@bina nocht it really did help me
@@prolapsrunner I've gotten blood work done, no thyroid problem thankfully!
@bina nocht agreed! I have to understand the why of me doing something, not just be told to do it yk
The few episodes I've seen, I've read the comments and people saying that they watch this while struggling with an ED, normally a few "pro-ana" comments aren't uncommon, it's sad we still struggle with both extremes of unhealthy weight.
Me too! :( It's sad
When I first developed my ED I watched this show religiously. It's like the base of ED media content. I don't think it does a good job of scaring people who want to be underweight into not losing weight, people see it as inspiration: both to never become obese and to be disgusted by the super sized meals, as well as to be like the super skinny and eat like them. Not to mention the parts where they show people with diagnosed EDs, it felt like a shout out to the ED community watching, lol.
I have a hard time relating to watching the show outside of a disordered context because to me it really is one of the big ED shows. I would love to hear other people's perspectives to see why it appeals to non disordered people
Ppl are gonna idealize what they wanna idealize. There is ppl that go into this show to simply reason their ed by focusing on the negatives of what they fear but not the negatives of what they are doing.
It also doesn't help that starving eds are seen as competitive on who can eat the least
I watched this show and to me, it did make me more aware of the dangers of a poor diet and being too skinny. Not to be mean, but most of the "super skinnies" were far from my own personal aesthetic ideal: dry skin, thin hair, and very little muscular definition.
As a woman, I like to be lean, but still shapely. I've probably gotten close to disordered eating habits at times in my own quest for the "perfect" body, but I would never want to go as far as the people on this show. I am not sure exactly what the appeal of it is, but I also like shows like Hoarders and Intervention and My 600-Pound Life. Part of it is a fascination with abnormal psychology but also I genuinely want to see people get better and turn their life around.
Back when I was in the early phases of my ED (around 13 years I think) I used to obsessively watch this show, and I totally agree! I looked at the super skinnies as inspiration, and the fact that they showed exactly how much they ate gave me an idea of how to lose weight. And also the fact that the super skinnies were typically pretty mean to the overweight contestants kinda made me feel like I never, ever wanted to be considered fat or overeating by others. So for me, this show played a huge part in developing my ED.
Like many superskinnies on the show I've been underweight for a while without having an ED (just low appetite & almost no passion for cooking & eating). I watched it because it was partially relatable, it helped me to eat more & I like how health focused & educational it is.
As someone who was very underweight when I first watched it, it really helped me understand why I should eat more and become healthier by gaining weight. The show is great for people watching it for the right reasons as it had a lot of sections that discussed the danger of EDs and poor diet.
As someone in the UK, just a quick FYI that we really don't have many, or hardly any, of the sort of people who are so obese as the ones they fly them out to see in the US.
That's not to say we don't have obese and morbidly obese people - we're the fattest nation in Europe.
However, 'morbidly obese' as a category has no upper limit. So yes we have morbidly obese people, but the US almost needs a new category for the ones who are 200+ lbs past that (something like 'cripplingly obese'). In the UK, that level of obesity is truly rare; so much so that a scenario like that might make the papers. Whereas in the US, it's at least common enough to have part of your medical system dedicated to managing it.
So flying our 'morbidly obese' folks out to see it isn't so much to 'dunk on the US', but because we have so few people at that extremity of size.
My theory is still that the producers of the show wanted paid vacations to the States :D
@@WildZephyr lolol
I was glad to see a comment like this lol…I think our concept of obesity in the UK is inherently very different, and while huge amounts of our population are overweight (many enough to be obese) we don’t have as many people pushing 600…largely because of the smaller population just leaving less chance of having extreme cases, and because it’s only in recent years that we’ve started having access to to the endless variety of different intensely engineered junk food available in the US which more or less programs eating disorders into people if you aren’t super careful. If I had to, I’d guess Brits are bigger on average, but Americans have more weight extremes
I call BS. The U.K definitely has enough morbidly obese people for the show. After seeing cities in the U.K.. they’re around, more than I expected.
Gonna have to call BS. The fattest man on the planet is British, maybe they should have taken the participants to see him instead. Would have been cheaper too.
I never understood the whole "going to America" thing, when they could easily find severely obese people in the UK
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
@@pinkdiamond1847 Exactly, being obese is a LARGE range of weights. Being obese and 200 pounds isn't the same as being obese and 600 pounds
I really wish they would have done follow ups with the folks on this show. I did see that one of the girls on the show passed away shortly afterwards, she was only 21 (I think?). Thanks for this video, Kiana.
Some of the contestants had YT channels. Mostly regained the weight back. Never seen any of the super-skinny ones.
There are follow ups at the end of the 6th and 7th seasons. Also many former participants post there progress online.
@@Lunchladydoyle oh thank you! I am really curious as to how people are doing.
Yeah I think she was part of the group of anorexic people they were showing. Not one of the main participants. They did have a trained eating disorder therapist working with them but she probably needed to be fully institutionalized.
@bina nocht probably because I’ve watched pretty much every episode and I don’t recall even one person saying the reason they were overweight was because they couldn’t cook. They get meal plans with recipes. Pay attention
I actually really enjoy this series, at least from a viewer stand point they make it educational. Both sides of eating disorders are dangerous and I feel like they at least show both and the dangers. It is a better show than “My 600 Pound Life”
I started being serious about my "weight loss + healthy lifestyle journey" after I saw an episode of Supersize vs Superskinny where they showed how diabetes can lead to amputation 😰 it shocked me so much!
My parents both have diabetes so I am at high risk of having it, I'm in the healthy weight range now but still struggle to eat in moderation but am working on it.
I really appreciated this show... the focus on trying to achieve a better balance, no matter what end of the extreme one found themselves on. Additionally, the theme of acknowledging underlying trauma beneath eating patterns at both end of the spectrum was important & very revealing. Certainly there was massive shock factor in this show -as triggering as it may be it was also very effective.
I find it really out of place that they sent people to the States, in England there are plenty of fat people and it's just stereotypical. If they wanted to go to the fattest country in the world they would've sent them to Nauru.
@Bla Bla Yep sad times I wish it wasn't the case but people lack discipline
This show was a product of its time, the 2000's were not as emotionally loaded as today.
True, I can't see producers getting away with a show like this nowadays. Now that I think of it, Seinfeld probably wouldn't fly either lol
@@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.
Honestly, while I can see the benefits of this show (so many tend to only view overweight people as people with weight problems; this show absolutely debunks that), all it did for me was teach bad eating habits while I was attempting to battle my ED.
man same. the skinny people diets made me think, "If they can do it, I can do it!" I can also see people watching it and going, "Well I'm not as bad as blahblahrandomname so I'm probably fine"
To be fair, everyone is responsible for their own triggers. I battled with a ED regarding overexercising and I knew that if I looked at pictures of people with really nice muscles who were obviously using steroids would make it worse. That's why I tried to avoid it as much as possible. However, there's nothing wrong with posting your physique online.
Troy Shin yeah as far as triggers go I totally get you. I guess I just worry about what a show like this does to pple who don’t have the kind of self knowledge of triggers necessary to know to avoid it. At the same time, that doesn’t necessarily mean the show should go away, or that it doesn’t have some benefit, y’know? It’s a conflicting thing for me.
@@sagez9422 Yeah, I agree with you. I definitely don't think the show should be banned, but as you said, being considerate of the people who are triggered by this is 100% understandable obviously.
@@sagez9422 lol I feel guilty because I totally thought that. “I’m not as bad as them so I can keep doing it “
Fear may be "motivating" for a short time. But I highly doubt it will be the catalyst for any real, lasting change
I agree. Generally, I don't think fear is a very good tool at all. Fearful people risk becoming better at hiding their behaviour or being overcome with guilt and losing all hope. I'm thinking that it's the same as with teaching a child. If you beat up a child when they do something wrong, they'll only learn how to hide the behaviour from you or doing it when you're not around, instead of learning the reason why they shouldn't do that thing.
I don't have an eating disorder, but I have found that in other areas of my life I'm much more motivated by thinking about what I _should_ do than what I _shouldn't_ do. For example, for me it's much more powerful to try to get a better health than to avoid getting worse health.
I think it’s important to point for non-UK subs of yours that this show stopped being made in 2014 🙂
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)
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.
as an anorexic teenager... I loved this show for the opposite reason lol.
I do still watch it occasionally regrettably for the same reason I started watching it. but I'm extremely critical of its portrayals of disordered eating, specifically anorexia/restrictive EDs, especially in the earlier seasons. the group therapy segments for the anorexics they had appear on the show just seem like trauma porn for non-disordered people to gawk at to me now. And they definitely, definitely gave me tips and triggered me to engage in behaviors especially when I was younger. It comes across incredibly callous, they encouraged people who were very sick, a lot of whom seem to have been disordered for 10+ years and had seemingly exhausted all their options, to appear in a reality TV show that in itself is built around gawking at "extreme" eating habits. it just makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn't want my most vulnerable moments broadcast for the entire world to see, but I can understand how they ended up in that position. At my worst I still use those segments of the show to trigger myself, but now they just make me sad too, because almost a decade after I started watching the show I unfortunately find myself in a similar position to those people.
All of reality tv is "trauma porn", or making fun of people stupid enough to appear on reality tv.
The insanity of this show in a nutshell is that while yes, obesity has health consequences, being underweight will do you in way way faster. We NEED energy to live. And for the over-eaters this "program" is just a recipe to binge, as you pointed out.
A slightly fat person who eats a varied diet is more healthy than a skinny person who eats only sugar.
@@kazzfuchsia1073 preach! 💐
Oh please bull fucking shit
Being "underweight" doesn't do shit.
If you literally stop eating, yes that will kill you faster.
But being "underweight" doesn't mean anything. Plenty of athletes are under or overweight according to health organizations.
@@MrCmon113 professional athletes aren't necessarily healthy; ballerinas get osteoporosis and fucked up joints as an example. Very low BMI is harmful.
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!"
I remember watching this show in TH-cam. 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.
@@tinycals 💯% agree. Thank you very much
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
@@chuuzaiii322 thank you very much! Lots of love and support to you too💙
I don't understand the problem.
Lots of people have dumb goals, I don't see why yours is a disorder.
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.
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 💪🏼
Unrelated to the video but, KIANA YOU LOOK SO GOOD! I hope you feel/are doing as well as you look because you’re STUNNING
i was thinking the same thing😱
When I watched it a lot I always noticed how with the skinny contestants their story was always “I’m just too busy to eat” and they didn’t really talk too much about eating disorders and the psychological reasons for undereating like trying to have control over something in a stressful life. I would always watch because I wanted to hear about that side of things, but it was more so for scaring away obesity and grossing out the participants by showing them how much syrup they eat in a week in a big vat.
I like this show! I am an extremely skinny person who's been struggling since basically forever and I honestly don't see on social medias people bringing up the issues of being skinny like that, it's extremely dangerous just like obesity is, but obesity is talked about more (but also frowned upon more...)
This show helped me stop and prevent me from fully developing an ED (back in 2020), so I owe this show a lot. And I think that's what this show is about? Usually (from the one or two episodes I remember) as soon as they discovered any of the participants had an ED, they offered psychological help, provided resources, send them to a rehabilitation clinic to start recovery etc, but the show itself is mainly focused on those that havent yet developed an ED but are on their way to it and need a wake up call to help them realized what they're doing.
(I might be adding depth where there isn't any but this is what the show always felt like to me.)
Haven't finished the video yet but a lot of people with EDs use this show to help them continue with their EDs. If you check the uploads on TH-cam the comments sections are often full of anorexics. (haven't finished this video to know if she goes into this though)
@Bla Bla by pro ana I mean lots of comments like 'I use the super skinnys diets for inspiration', 'this show helps me not eat', etc, things like that &, those comments would always have lots of people agreeing.
It's about making fun of people stupid enough to appear on reality tv.
Is fear really the best approach? I’ve always looked at building long lasting habits as requiring positive reinforcement vs relying on scaring someone (which eventually leads to desensitization, making the stimulus less effective the longer you use it)
I found "Secret Eaters" was a much better show. Supersize vs. Superskinny is great for shock value, but I found Secret Eaters was much more relatable to me as I couldn't figure out where I was going wrong, and that show highlighted that a lot of us aren't paying attention to how much we eat (or how many calories are in alcohol alone; yikes!) and really helped me pay more attention.
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
Back when I was struggling with an ED I would obsessively watch this show... It still is slightly triggering.
Okay so real talk, do people without an ED watch SS vs SS or is it really just us with ✨quirky food habits✨ that are obsessed with it?
no ED (that ik of lmao) and i watch it. so at least one person
i dont think i have an ed and i watch it
I watch it but it only comes in my recommended when I am fasting or trying to lose weight. Which just makes me hyper-fixate more on diet and exercise.
Watching this growing up it almost encouraged me to avoid being on either extreme end of the spectrum. Always eaten healthily and grown up so that was unlikely to happen but seeing what obesity and being too underweight could do to your body definitely keeps you in check somewhat
In fairness the show did a great job at giving people a realistic plan to change their behaviour long-term. Most of the overweight people lost a significant amount of weight without much effort.
I love that they recommend portion control and self control instead of over-excercising
I seem to remember an episode with a girl who it became clear had a genuine, psychologically based eating disorder and they did address it and helped set up an outpatient treatment consultation for her to attend. But I don't think they said what happened there.
I remember another woman who was clearly suffering from orthorexia and was obsessive about being "healthy" and her food choices were technically fine but there wasn't enough. They totally overlooked the fact that she was actively obsessive about her food and that it was having a negative impact on her.
Aw that second story sucks :( I hope she’s doing well
I absolutely love this show, but I've also gone from Bulimia to binge eating disorder over the last 16 years. So.....🤷♀️
Lol when I was deeeeep into my restriction ED, this show was like dinner to me most nights 💀💀
I think a general rule of thumb. Any attempts to deal with mental health issues via reality tv are not actually gonna be helpful to people.
The thing about science is that there actually is a link between food restriction and longer life. The super skinnies will still live decades longer than the superfats. Also, let's be honest and admit that people being underweight in the UK or US is almost unheard of compared to the deadly epidemic that is obestiy. Over indulging in food is more destructive than under indulging, even if our emotions say otherwise.
In the midst of my ED, this tv show was so triggering and to this day it still is somewhat. I feel like the shame factor they used on the supersize contestants pushed me so hard into undereating. I didn't want to be like those fat Americans!
I think being there would trigger me in the worst ways , because when i was into my ed i couldn't stand being forced to eat a fear food
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)
I recently binge watched (pun!) Supersize vs Supportskinny.
It's done really well. But as all reality shows, they feature the dramatic bits.
You have a lot of obese people in the UK, but the US (especially in the south) it's just so much more noticeable.
The food portions are also that much larger/cheaper/unhealthier, not to mention selling sugary drinks by the tray when you walk into Walmart.
Have a look at the videos from the TH-camr Boogie2988 where he talked about his experience with the film crew/Dr Jesson (he was one of the Americans that was visited)
My anorexias favorite show
I also used to love this show...the food tube etc. But mainly, because it highlighted the dangers on both sides. I liked the earlier seasons though- before the visits to the US ect.
There was 1 ep I particular remember standing out because they noted how the fat person ate good - well balanced diverse meals with lots of vegetables etc and that their only big issue was just portions. (Steak oversized, pasta oversized) I thought that was good- because I always have fruits and vegetables in my diet and I think so often people assume fat people eat nothing but fast food and junk.
I remember when I was struggling with bulimia and binged the shit out of this show. At first, I had just found it interesting then it turned into me basically wanting to be like the superskinnys and using the supersizes as motivation to not eat. It got toxic but I didn't realise it at the time and ended up picking up on what I thought were "tips" from the superskinnys but in all reality was digging me deeper into the ED hole. This show was entertaining but very toxic and potentially harmful.
Any show around weight loss and gain and diet will be potentially harmful to someone with an ED. Really not much to be done about that.
I have LITERALLY been waiting for u to make a video on this 😮.. I remember binging all seasons when I was deep in my ED
Me too!
I think the difference between the USA and other obese countries is the severity of the morbidity. Like, Australia may have a few hundred 300pound ppl, but the USA has thousands for 300, 400, 500 pound. I wonder if there's a statistic on it somewhere because I'm just guessing here
It’s interesting to see all the comments that mention the appeal of this show to people with ED. That has been my experience as well, it fuels my obsession with weight loss when I’m at my worst. This show is why I used to replace meals with energy drinks. 😰
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.
The thing about the food swap that gets me is the duration changes almost every season. They have done anywhere from 2 days to 7 days without explaining why the change was made. Do some people get it quicker then others, sure? But since it is the same for the whole season it really makes no sense.
The day that Kiana uploads a new video is a good day
This show was and is so dangerous. It was the first thing that taught me how to survive off very little and I would come back to watch it to get tips. But seeing the mass amounts of food would trigger a binge and I’d just think, oh but I’m not as bad as this person so this isn’t bad. Took me years to realise how toxic it was for me.
Dude during my ED days I watched this every single day. Super effective trigger for some reason. And yea if you look at the comments under these videos on youtube I definitely wasn't the only one lol
I use to binge watch these deep in my eating disorder.
1:40 this worked for my dad and smoking. He spent around 30 years smoking 4-6 packs a day and blew off doctors, nurses, his parents, and anyone else who told him to smoke. He eventually tried patches, gum, and pills to no avail because he didnt really care. Then when i was about 4 he caught me trying to smoke one of his cigarettes "like you da" and he pretty much shit his pants. That day he threw all the nicotine gum and the cigarettes in the trash and quit.
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 😞
This show, in my opinion, has helped a lot of people. If you get triggered, that's on you to not watch. For the majority of people it's a warning or a wake up call. The whole idea of the show is to hold up a mirror for these people and the audience. They have to see the toll their choices take on someone else and reflect on what they did to themselves. Mirrors don't show a pretty picture, they show what's there. Warts and all. If your too "triggered " to see that then don't look and keep burying your head in the sand. I like this show as it doesn't make excuses for these people or for itself.
as someone who suffered from an ED, this show felt like a form of triggering both the people in and out of the show more than helping anyone. as a viewer, i and other people i knew in the ED community were getting tips from one super and fearing the other super. i think there are much more effective ways of getting their message across to the people. i think maybe they could have swapped one meal or 1 days meals just to get that realization piece, but maybe separate the people for the rest of the diet swap and then work one-on-one with Dr. Christian to show how he wouldve went about their unique diet plans so the viewers could see the changes they needed to make for each side of the spectrum would've been a much better approach for both the contestants and the viewers while still being "entertaining." I'm curious to see if they have data for how many contestants their methods actually worked for. I imagine it wasnt many considering the show stopped airing in 2014 i think.
I was never diagnosed with an ED but was in therapy for disordered eating. I would watch this all the time when I needed a trigger to stop me from eating. this and My 600-pound life.
yep. i even had to stop watching this video cause i was getting super uncomfortable.
@bina nocht i understand what you’re saying but the show is already diet focused. they spend like 5 show minutes actually pinpointing where their issues with food came from. if they had spent the money on the food swaps and tubes and trips to america and spent that on therapists and nutrition professionals that specialize in each person’s food and lifestyle needs, they could’ve been more ethical and probably more successful. dr christian never really shared each persons personal plan, which is where the real progress and education would be in this show, so how do we know he even tried to work with them on the bigger mental/lifestyle struggles
This show wasn’t for people with an ED. It was for the average person. We are responsible for the content we choose to consume. Swapping one day wouldn’t work the same, it takes a while for the message to sink in for many people.
I like this show when I'm cutting weight, but a diet swap between 2 extremes isn't as good of an idea as just having them there for a few weeks to learn the diet plans they get at end of it.
The trip to America is good too.
I wish they would show what a proper human diet should look like as a third control plate in addition to their own plates.
oh my god, i remember when i was in the worst time of my eating disorder and i was watching it all the time. the fact that they are starving larger people, not teaching them how to eat healthy and making skinny people eat that much, when it's physically impossible is scary
My favourite moments are when supersize will wake superskinny out of a dead sleep to eat again but they are already stuffed to the gills.
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.
I loooove that you covered this show. It doesn’t approach the topics perfectly but I think it is definitely effective for making people reconsider their choices.
When you were talking about motivational tools.. I experienced something similar before when I heard someone say "Look at your plate and imagine all of that food in your stomach". For some reason that always stuck with me and has helped me eat more sensible portions. I struggled my whole life with overeating and then I heard that and it really put everything into perspective.
“ugh that tastes horrible”
“it’s water…”
LMFAOOO
I love this show but I hate the food tubes - I hate that in other shows too. Its so wasteful.
as if being overweight isn't wasteful? think about it, someone eating more than they need for absolutely no real reason, and that's 70% of the united states
Did you think that was a good point or something?
This show helped me so much when I was losing weight.
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
I think Kiana is missing the point that while there's no shortage of overweight or even obese people in Europe (especially the UK), the super-morbidly obese people at the very high end of that spectrum are much more common in the US. I've seen more of those people in 2 weeks in the US than I've seen in 30 years in central Europe.
I always thought the difficulty behind Supersized vs Superskinny was that the more engaging moments (i.e., the viral moments) overshadowed the important messages that the show tried to put across. For example, the segments where they introduced individuals to others who were experiencing their own weight problems, but at an even more extreme end, were super helpful and informative. As a psychologist myself, I would even comment on a few of those clips when I discuss eating disorders with others
I also appreciated that the show pointed out a lot of inconsistencies with diet culture, or so much so "snacking culture?" Like when the individuals on the show would openly discuss their food diaries, it was clear on numerous occasions that the food diaries were not correct, and were instead a representation of what the individual thought they were eating as opposed to what they actually were eating. I remember this playing a part in helping me understand a few years ago that a lot of weight based problems are not solely responsible on food choices (though it plays a massive part) and that the more extreme weight concerning issues, like for those with ED, involved a plethora of other issues such as binge eating or continuously putting off food intake
“I drink about 23 cups of tea a day”
Average British person
I remember they literally made us watch the kids version of the show in high school! But I seem to remember for the kids it was slightly different? Instead of swapping food they just each had to eat the same meal together & watch each other eat
I think the problem with this show, and most like it, is it can come across as a sort of modern day 'freak show'. Come see the 500lb woman or the 80lb man vibes. A big part of why it feels so invasive and exploitative is because they spend so much time doing dramatic shots panning over someone's fat rolls or their protruding ribs while these people have to stand together in a room in just their underwear, it feels very dehumanizing. Another problem I have is that the show seems to treat EDs like anorexia or bulimia much more seriously than something like binge eating, I've seen them do segments where they spoke to people recovering from ED's but only the ones that made them skinny.
But I do like the meal swap as a tool to help each person see where they might be struggling. It could be a good way to subjectively look at a part of yourself, I just wish the show wasn't so heavily focused on scaring the fat person into losing weight :\
The whole show relies on negative reinforcement through conditioning, and when conducted badly it can be very psychologically damning
I used to watch the show a lot (like you said--it's mesmerizing sometimes haha) and one of the things I loved about it is that it seemed to focus on "be healthier"; not a specific size, not a specific goal, etc. Compared to shows like Biggest Loser or My 500lb Life etc., it felt like SSVSS was more focused on 'here are some very manageable changes you can make to improve your health'. I also like that it included both ends of the unhealthy eating spectrum, and always ended with an educational bit. For a reality TV show I think it was pretty good.
Do I understand that SSvsSS is inherently flawed and honestly triggers me still as an adult? Yes
Will I keep watching it? Absolutely yes ✨
No, the principle upon which this program is based is "making money." It's exploitative. I don't know how much the participants were paid to humiliate themselves like this (parading around in their underwear, confessing bizarre habits and intimate secrets, weeping helplessly, etc.), but I hope it was considerable. "Dr. Christian" is a bit of a prat: despite being a doctor, he ignored the obvious signs of appendicitis because he was terrified of an anaesthetized operation and didn't want an appendectomy scar. Seriously. His appendix burst, and he could easily have died.