I caught the premiere of Losing It With Jillian last night, the spinoff of The Biggest Loser starring the screamiest trainer of them all, Jillian Michaels.
She visited with the Mastropiestros family of Massachusetts to try to get them out of their rut and help get them healthy.
But as always with Jillian, it was a bizarre mix of screaming and belittling along with reassurance and empowerment. If I were hanging around with her, I would feel like I would never be sure which Jillian I was going to be dealing with, and that would be stressful.
After a screaming, last-chance-seeming workout for an introduction, Jillian joined the Mastropiestroses at home to see how they eat. (Short version: They didn't have anything green in their house, "except maybe mold.") She upbraided them and then started talking with them about their various issues.
The parents and the daughter had had gastric bypass, but only the daughter lost weight and maintained it. She tearfully explained that she still had a "fat mentality," and realized talking with Jillian that she was afraid to truly succeed and be happy and take compliments.
We also learned that the parents had had a son who lived only one month and one day and that the father had virtually shut down and wouldn't discuss him with his wife, who felt like she was grieving alone. These issues surely fed (no pun intended) their usage of food as comfort, and thankfully Jillian seemed to help them understand this.
This isn't Biggest Loser, though. Jillian stays with families for about a week, then returns a few weeks later to see how they're doing.
In this case, she returned in time for the daughter's wedding, and everyone in the family looked thinner and, more importantly, happier.
Which was gratifying, but I can't help but think that future episodes are going to feel fairly formulaic: Family has issues, Jillian shows up and yells, Jillian calms down and talks to them, painful past is brought to surface, less yelly workout ensues, Jillian hugs everyone and leaves, then returns a few weeks later to find the family much improved. I guess we'll see.
