Older Gals and weight loss inspiration

On Tuesday nights, my family loves to watch NBC’s The Biggest Loser together. We’ve watched it since the first season and have found the contestants and their struggles to be so compelling. By the end of the season we almost feel as if we know these people!

I was particularly excited this season to hear that they had an older contestant on the show, Jerry who is in his early 60s. Although Jerry is the old man of the group, he won his spot as team captain and he lost the most weight in the first week! He has really been an awesome contestant.

But what bothers me about the show, is that there are no older women contestants. The oldest female competitor is only 34. There are quite a few 20 something gals, but no one who is going through perimenopause let alone gone all the way through the change of life. And I wonder why? Are they afraid an older middle aged woman or senior citizen couldn’t compete or doesn’t have what it takes to drop a lot of weight after a certain age? Or do they think that American will watch fat young women in workout clothes, but the sight of an older women in the same outfits would just be too much?

I don’t know but speaking as a middle aged mom, it’s a little discouraging.

Luckily, some of the celebrity girls that I grew up with have taken the middle aged bulge by the love handles and decided to do something about it.

First of all there is my favorite daytime actress, Genie Francis, who set out to show the powers that be at ABC she can still draw the viewers, win an Emmy and look just as lovely as we always remember her.

See Genie’s weight loss blog: Genie Francis and Medifast

Then Maureen McCormick aka Marcia Brady, at age 50 went on Celebrity Fit Club and WON! In fact she got to her goal weight first of all the contestants.

Maureen McCormick: Weight Loss and Diet » iFitandHealthy.com

And then perpetually perky Valerie Bertinelli did the Jenny Craig thing and dropped 25 pounds. She looks great too.

The Official Weight Loss Blog for Valerie Bertinelli — Jenny Craig

I think advertisers and weight loss companies picked these ladies to represent them because they knew they could be successful and also because they know middle aged women really do want to see other women overcoming the struggles we face in our own lives. It’s great to see that it can be done.

Now if only someone could convince the producers over on The Biggest Loser!

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