And I love the implied premise that your fiance fell in love with you just the way you are now, but your marriage won't be a healthy and fulfilling one unless you force yourself to fit into some ridiculous beauty standard. And the flip side of this is the assumption so many people make that after you've landed that husband or moved in with that domestic partner you will automatically "let yourself go" and regain the weight you had lost to catch-a-man/fit-into-the-wedding-gown-of-your-dreams. How fucked up is that?

I would just like to say, your wedding should make you HAPPY. YEESH.

But how will the network cope with having a tight budget and no writing talent? Will it boldly break with the failing trend of reality shows? Or will it scrape the bottom of the barrel one last time for some sexist plot premise that lacks even a conflict?

shit! I'm not a big woman, but I'm not skinny either. MAYBE I SHOULD KILL MYSELF ALREADY

*sarcastic*

Gillian McKeith isn't a much respected person over here in Britain. The article below explains why.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/feb/12/advertising.food

This is sort of in the same vein as a deoderant commercial that I keep seeing on television, featuring an ostensibly newly-married couple (woman in wedding dress, man in tux) and the man kissing the woman's shoulder while the ad goes, "it doesn't take much to ruin a moment like this." Because seriously, if you forgot to put on deoderant, he'd probably have the marriage annulled.

I think that these shows are crazy. Lots of women want to look extra good on their wedding days, and many use weddings as a good reason to get in better shape, but to have some sort of imperative for weight loss is insane and sends the totally wrong message. And you'll note that there aren't any "beer belly grooms" shows on TV.

Eight weeks is so not enough time to get skinny in any healthy manner, either. Not that 16 pounds is anything to sneeze at (being that 2 pounds a week is the suggested amount) but what do you want to guess it's more than that?

sarah haskins has a great "target women" episode on the absurdity of wedding shows: http://current.com/items/88988193_target_women_wedding_shows

FashionablyEvil:

I would just like to say, your wedding should make you HAPPY. YEESH.

Apparently you didn’t get the memo, but, no matter what they may say, fatties can not be happy – even on their wedding day. Because they are fat! And fat is the worst possible thing anyone can be, eva!

I know this because I, myself, am fat and many people have felt the need (out of some faux “concern,” of course) tell me that I am deluding myself into believing I am happy with who I am (some of those people have been commenters right here on Feministing!). This fatty is happily going back to stuffing her face with the nachos she bought for lunch now.

I almost postponed my wedding, in part, because I secretly hoped that if I held it a year later, as originally planned, I'd be thinner. I have a history of eating disorders, but shows like this only serve to remind me just how disordered a culture we've become.

Our wedding was kind of hastily decided -- we got married a month after deciding to do so. When I made the decision to go through with it, I thought I could diet my way into a smaller size within that month. I quickly found that this triggered my past eating disordered behaviors and so I just stopped and instead, had my dress fitted to fit my current weight. In the end, I was worried for nothing. I wore a corset, which made me look instantly slimmer and proportionate, no crazy dieting required. And our photographer knew how to take the most flattering of photographs without me even mentioning my body insecurities to her. My husband and I celebrated our one-year anniversary this summer and I'm so glad I didn't put our lives and happiness on hold.

Many studies have documented that new spouses gain some 10 - 15 pounds within the first year of marriage. I wonder how much of his is due to the cult of dieting nearly every bride seems susceptible to. Women diet like mad to fit in a smaller dress and then when they resume healthy eating habits after the wedding, their weight returns to one that is healthier for them.

As Nightingale says, losing weight that quickly can't be healthy. But hey, the show will get more mileage by tsk-tsking about how those fat brides all gained back the weight they lost once they were off the abusive crash diet!

It's Procrustes as wedding planner: "No, don't go find another dress. This one here is perfect. It's you that is the problem. But we shall fix you. Oh yes."

Wal-Mart, of all places, had a commercial with a plus-sized bride being so happy that she found a dress which fit and suited her and didn't break the bank.

And our photographer knew how to take the most flattering of photographs without me even mentioning my body insecurities to her.

Maybe it wasn't the photographer or the photographs (though, I'm sure your photographer was good). Maybe you are gorgeous just the way you are and that's why you looked so good in the photos. It was all you and your beauty and your glowing happiness that made those pictures gorgeous (oh, and your husband, too!).

Wazzamatta, they couldn't find any fat grooms to claw each others' eyes out over a skinny-size Armani tux?

oh wait, I forgot that dudes just have to get through the wedding. It's the lady's job to obsess over every aspect of it, including her own approval of herself on what she will ironically refer to as the "happiest day of her life"!!!

What.The.Fuck.
Can we pleeeeeze stop reinforcing these negative stereotypes and shallow obsessions? People should get married and have a wedding to be a display of their love (if that's your thing) - not watering it down and making it a show off contest of who can spend the most and look the best.
Guh.

Didn't you hear? Large dresses were outlawed by the fashion police!

It's a shame that health only applies to thinness. We care so little about overall health except for fat and not being that way. If we had less stress, more time and easier access to gyms and activities, if eating healthy was fashionable instead of simply dieting (and note that eating unhealthy is a form of keepin it real) etc. etc...

We just have to be thin... and even then, thin for show. Thin for a specific event or outfit. No, I'm not working out to tone my body for health. I'm just trying to fit in this bikini for summer.

You know I have no problem with women, or anyone for that matter, who want to lose weight because they feel that their quality and quantity of life is in danger. But they shouldn't use a wedding as an excuse to lose weight.

We are taught that beauty is one of the few ways you can be valued as a woman. We are also taught that weddings are the most important day of a woman's life (the day you finally snag/trick/bag yourself a man to take care of you forever). The convergence of these ideas has some horrifying results, particularly when sprinkled with a healthy dose of reality television trash.

Aside from all of the social issues here, it's extremely irresponsible to suggest that significant weight loss can be achieved in a healthy, sustainable way in 8 weeks. While people who are extremely overweight may be able to lose upwards of 2 lbs a week in a healthy manner (under the guidance of a doctor), that number decreases as a person's weight decreases. I'm guessing these women tend to be more on the 'chunky' side than immobilized by morbid obesity. And even if we are just taking a shallow point of view, rapid wait loss will lead to a poorer ratio of muscle to fat loss than smaller, sustained calorie reduction. This leads to a "skinny-fat" appearance, where the person weighs less but because of decreased muscle mass, they still appear mushy.

the man kissing the woman's shoulder while the ad goes, "it doesn't take much to ruin a moment like this." Because seriously, if you forgot to put on deoderant, he'd probably have the marriage annulled.

That stuff has always really annoyed me too -- what kind of crazy vision of love are we promoting such that forgetting to put on deodorant Ruins Everything Forever? If and when I get married, I'm telling you, it will take a metric shit-ton to ruin the moment.

If and when I get married, I'm telling you, it will take a metric shit-ton to ruin the moment.

True.

And, after you've been together for a while, you just say to your spouse or SO: "Hey, baby, I'm just lettin' you know you got some BO going on there."

My husband and I consider that a perk of being together - someone to check for things like BO, bad breath, food on your clothes, etc before a co-worker/boss/carpool buddy notices - all without passing judgement.

This just goes into my belief that if everyone put as much time and effort into their marriage as they did their wedding, a hell of a lot less people would get divorced.

Being in two wedding parties in the last year and seeing how much money and stress go into the planning and how fast it's all over with hardly anyone paying attention to the details that were stressed over has really, really gone a long ways toward my decision to not have a wedding in the event that I ever get married. It's not about THAT DAY, it's about the life with your partner afterwards.

Should family pressure require me to have a wedding, it will be small (REAL small, not the "200 people small" that my friends have had) and I will wear bright red in whatever size I happen to be.

why do they need to be skinny??! They already have a man!!!1 That's all you need you be happy, and the fact that he loves you despite your awful fatness means he's surely a keeper, even if he cheats on you because you're so fat that he'd rather be with another, skinnier, woman./sarcasm

This is just one of the many awful messages we get in this jumble of wedding misogyny.

Landing a man is the best thing ever. Marry anyone who will have you.
If you don't get married, you're a bitter spinster.

Quick, You have to get married before you start showing.

The camera adds ten pounds, so you have to be 20 pounds skinnier so that you'll look 10 pounds thinner on camera.
You're kids are going to look at those pictures someday, so be hot so they don't think their mommy was some unworthy mess.

If you don't let daddy walk you down the aisle, and/or you don't take your husband's last name, you're not really serious and the wedding is doomed to end.

fuck it,
I'm not getting married.

Nora-
I find that sad too. Considering, if you're really in love with and attracted to your partner, a little funkiness isn't a deal breaker. In fact, you should really like the way the other one "stinks". BO brings out natural pheromones which is basic for sexual attraction. If you love someone, you shouldn't be in love with how their deodorant or perfume smells. Or it's only a matter of time before you get a rude awakening one of these days. No one smells good ALL the time!

Re: the deodorant ... what exactly is the moment that COULD HAVE BEEN ruined? Is it the wedding-night virginity loss? I kind of got that impression.

Good grief! These brides have grooms who already love them for who they are! The whole premise of this show is completely absurd.

I have nothing to contribute except for my only source of information about Gillian McKeith and You Are What You Eat: Dara Ó Briain's comedy special from the Theatre Royale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiN5Wbv1tpo&feature=related

Relevant bit is about 1:35 to 4:50.

(And then go back and watch the entire nine-part video series because it is amazing and wonderful.)

Shows like this always fascinate me, in a horrified "train wreck" sort of way. The deliberate attempt to make women feel badly about themselves because they don't fit into a "skinny" dress is both misogynistic and sadistic; why would anyone watch and enjoy such an unpleasant, hateful and hurtful spectacle?

...Right, well. A lot of people apparently enjoy that sort of thing, strange as it is.

Another interesting show to watch re: bridal issues is TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress". In some ways it is just as bad as every other bridal show out there: some brides are portrayed as very selfish, some as very psychologically 'waifish' in that they are far more concerned about what everyone ELSE in the room thinks about the dress, than about how THEY feel.

On the other hand, the overarching message, if it can be called that, appears to be that what's most important is that brides on the show find a dress that suits them, and that makes them feel good.

Say Yes to the Dress is not without its flaws - and perhaps I am so forgiving only because sometimes I just really need a "pretty wedding dress" fix.

Getting away from the whole "you're not worthy if you're not skinny" thing, these shows make no practical sense. I ordered my wedding dress in the size I was at the time, and I then did my best neither to gain nor lose weight before my wedding day. You can only take a dress in so much before it looks like crap--besides, I didn't want to spend the money for extensive alterations as I was on a tight budget (I ended up not getting any alterations at all, not even the hem, as I'm 5'11".) I learned this with my prom dress, after I went on a starvation diet the days before my prom and spent my prom night with my dress sliding off my shoulders.

MLEmac28--it is quite possible to be a married feminist and be very happy. Helps if you marry another feminist! I waited until I was 40 and knew I had the right one before I got married, I had both my parents walk me down the aisle, I didn't take my husband's name, and I wasn't particularly skinny, even for me, on my wedding day, but I was gorgeous. I loved my wedding, small and relatively inexpensive as it was, and I love being married. Don't let all the crap associated with weddings and marriages put you off--both can be wonderful if you do it your way.

I think a more overt message in these shows (besides fat women not deserving love) is that fat women don't/can't/shouldn't feel beautiful the way they are. It also reinforces the idea that a woman's perception of herself and her own beauty is based on how other people think of her.

Disgusting. This fixation on skinny=healthy brings tears to my eyes; My mom's getting remarried soon, and she's been obsessed with losing weight too, even though she's already unnaturally thin and delicate for her age. I'm at a loss at what to do, it's so sad to see her go through all this, along with women on shows like these.

i've always hated the way that you "have" to be when getting married. they always say the bride has to look her best; meaning thin and layered with make-up. why can't you just marry how you truly are?
and another thing...why is it that it looks as if the brides are just an object at their own wedding? that whole tradition crap bugs me. it's like the dad walks his daughter down the aisle then hands her over to the groom. it's like saying "i'm done taking care of her, now she's your responsibility." i'd like it better if she walked down the aisle alone. or they both, bride and groom, walk down the aisle together. you know? like they are beginning something new, together...
hmmmm...or maybe it's just me...

"it's like the dad walks his daughter down the aisle then hands her over to the groom. it's like saying "i'm done taking care of her, now she's your responsibility."

Well, it is a tradition rooted in marriage-as-property-transfer. This is not to say that you can't find some way of including that part of the ceremony in your own spirit -- making it clear that it's "accompanying" the bride and/or groom rather than "giving away".

Personally, I was not interested in including the "accompanying" bit, nor did I even have an aisle to walk down. The minister said something to the effect of, "No one is being given away; both of these people are here of their own will."

I read the comments and now I feel like a social outcast when I don't find myself beautiful while fat and when I'm on a diet.

Not to fit a wedding dress, though.

I read the comments and now I feel like a social outcast when I don't find myself beautiful while fat and when I'm on a diet.

Not to fit a wedding dress, though.

This skinny woman facade is getting a little old. There were times when women who were full were much more attractive and the sticks wouldn't even get looked at twice.
I just don't understand - if your husband has agreed to marry you, it means he likes you the way you are.

Shockingly enough, once again I disagree with the majority of you. The tv show is providing and incentive for these women to persue what they want. Much like the show "The Biggest Loser", the women who participate are doing so voluntarily. The only thing that the show itself is doing is trying to create a sense of competition about the whole thing.

Do you not think that these women would be trying to lose weight anyway? At least in this situation they'll be supervised by medical professionals (assumption based on the idea of liability if anything went wrong). Even the two women who "lose", still are doing what they want in losing weight.

I don't even see the fact this show is going to air as a problem with society and fat-hating (mainly because I highly doubt that this show will be on more than a season).

I'm curious what's next. Are you going to tell me that "What Not To Wear" is a horrible show because they encourage people to dress better (OMG! They aren't accepting people for who they are!).

kt
Re: the deodorant ... what exactly is the moment that COULD HAVE BEEN ruined? Is it the wedding-night virginity loss? I kind of got that impression.

So you're saying that a tv commercial, aimed at the general public (keeping in mind that most people read at what, a 5th grade level?) is telling me to assume that a woman who doesn't wear deoderant is therefore not a virgin and who is therefore "ruined".

That's a bit of a stretch.

It's a deoderant company. Their marketing department has a template that they follow. [Important event or happening] [introduce problem] [tout product as solution] [show happy outcome].

No, James. kt is pointing out the outdated and ridiculous implicit assumption that the bride (not the groom) will be a virgin on her wedding night, which is why the wedding night is such a big deal and why it would be so tragic to ruin it with some nasty horrible, unfeminine sweat. Of course, he can be sweaty and fat, but she can't, because that would ruin the moment.

As for your other comment, this kind of programming is disturbing because it's based on the following assumptions:
1) you can't be beautiful if you're fat
2) you don't deserve to be loved/married if you're fat (this only applies to women)
3) every bride want to lose weight and fit into some ridiculous dress, and this kind of body-hating and fat-shaming is perfectly appropriate
4) every groom wants a super-skinny bride, so even though he fell in love with her when she wore a size 14, she damn well better get down to a size 2 or he's gonna kick her to the curb...
5) health=skinniness.

Is this the kind of message you would want a daughter of yours to internalize? If not, then it's problematic.

Rachel,
I've never known a single person who, on their wedding day/night, is that obsessed with virginity. I agree with you saying it's outdated and rediculous, but I wholeheartedly disagree with your idea that it's an implicit assumption. You stating that it's an implicit assumption is the same as an "I feel" argument. You think it's an assumption that's made while the vast majority of people out there do not. Your reality doesn't match with mine. If you stopped believing that it existed, then this commercial loses all offensiveness.

Same thing with your second argument. You are saying those assumptions are there, but you are the only person making those assumptions. I am assuming that it is a drama filled competition between women who want to lose weight for an event (their wedding) - ergo, to me, you are wrong.

And about me having a daughter: I don't have one. If I ever do, I'll do the best as I can as a parent, but the world she lives in will largely be up to her to shape and mold to her outlook. The things you say will be problematic, won't - not unless I teach her to think those things about herself (or sit idly by when I see others teaching her those things).

Wow, James. You're right. Since I'm a woman, even though I teach Symbolic Logic, Critical Thinking, and other courses in which the students are taught (from the TEXT BOOK) how to identify implicit assumptions and premises, I must just be talking about my feelings. Because my ovaries exert such a strong force on me that I can't think rationally. It's funny, because I thought the Victorian era was fucking over already. So, let's see here...

I also don't know a lot of people who think a bride should be a virgin, except for my sister's crazy purity-ball friends. However, if you look at the wedding traditions in our culture, there's a lot of the virginal-bride crap still there. White represents sexual purity. The veil is a symbol of chastity. The father walking the bride down the aisle is symbolic for him transferring the protection and ownership of her sexuality to the groom. The "something blue" in the bride's outfit represented purity back in the day. Do I need to continue? And I disagree with you that the vast majority think that the bride's sexual past has the same status as the groom's. Why is it not OK to even hint at a sexual relationship the bride may have had prior to her relationship with the groom while wedding receptions are often filled with jokes about the groom's past? Why is the Bachelor Party full of sexual innuendo about giving up other women while there's no counterpart for the bride? And why is the wedding night such a big fucking deal if they've already slept together 800 times?

As for my second argument... I don't tend to have strong feelings about fat-shaming from a personal perspective, because I've never had trouble with my wieght. If anything, people have at times criticized me for being too thin during periods when I was very athletic. Last year when I was pregnant people felt that it was appropriate to constantly remark on my lack of weight gain and then ask if I was eating enough. I was high-thyroid during the pregnancy and eating every healthy thing I could get my hands on, but I still only gained 17 pounds. Granted I didn't eat any junk food, but I consumed close to 3500 calories a day. Seriously. So if anything, I've been shamed for being too thin or being perceived as a bad mom who would jeopardize my child's health in order to preserve my own appearance. My personal experience aside, I think it's more than obvious that our culture associates thinness with beauty, and has very strong fat-shaming tendencies. I am not the first to say this, and I doubt I'll be the last. So you can do the patriarchal-male thing and say that whatever I think or argue is just based on emotion, since I clearly can't be rational, having a vagina and all. The thing is, having earned a PhD in the brutally-argumentative Philosophy department, I'm just not that easily intimidated. Good try, though.

One more thing: if you really think your hypothetical daughter could "shape and mold" the world to her outlook then you are seriously tripping. Children are taught from a very young age what is expected from their gender, how to perform masculinity and femininity, and what roles they are suposed to embrace as the get older. The parents can have a great impact on this, but regardless of what you say to them and the example you set, they still absorb a lot of this from the culture around them, primarily from media they're exposed to. So, as the parent of two girls, I continue to take the media seriously as a formative influence on their lives, and think that feminist critiques of it are both useful and relevant.

@ kultakutri, nobody here is saying that you have to find yourself beautiful no matter what your weight is, although it's sad that we live in a culture that makes it hard to do that. If you want to lose weight then that's fine. Being healthier is a great goal. But if you're pressured into dieting in an unhealthy way for a ridiculous reason by our culture, then there'e a problem. Not with you, but with our culture.

And on the dieting for health topic, I was a personal trainer for 3 years and it was disturbing how many of my clients didn't care about their health as long as they were thin. Generally speaking, when you focus on being in good shape and forget about the scale, you'll be amazed by how great you'll look. You'll sleep well, your hair and skin will glow, and you'll stop being all stressed out. Generally speaking, healthy, happy people are attractive people.

Rachel,
Educate me on what an implicit assumption is. Does implicit mean 'implied'? If so, then isn't it a valid comment that you can assume something is implied even when it isn't? So you are seeing something you claim is implied. I disagree that it is implied. My position still stands that you are creating this argument, when it doesn't exist.

I wasn't talking about all people with vaginas being angry and unreasonable. I was strictly referring to you. You still sound angry.

I hope my statements aren't intimidating you as I enjoy our discourse.

James,

If I seem angry it's only because it feels really delegitimizing to have your arguments and positions attributed to emotion. I realize that this is not an experience that's easy for men to relate to, since we don't generally do this to men in our culture. So I will dial it back a notch and start over. =)

Yes, implicit does mean implied. Implicit (or hidden) premises are statements that are not explicitly stated but that must be true in order to make your conclusion true, or your statement or question make sense. For example, the classic question “when did you stop beating your wife?” rests on the implicit assumption that you did in fact beat your wife, and the question doesn’t even make sense without that assumption. Arguments often have implicit premises like this: "Giving people grades is a form of punishment, in fact, sometimes quite a severe form of punishment as far as their career or scholarship plans are concerned. Therefore, grades should be abolished." The conclusion doesn’t follow from the one explicit premise. You have to add the implicit one: "If something is a form of punishment, it should be abolished." The problem is, usually the speaker (and often the audience as well) takes an implicit assumption or premise so much for granted as being true that s/he doesn’t think it’s necessary to state it explicitly.

So, how is this relevant? All of the TV shows, movies etc. that make up pop culture rest on our shared implicit assumptions about how things should be, what people value, what's the norm and who's the "other," etc. A show like this rests on the assumption that there is one right way for women to look, and to desire to look, and all the women who don’t fit this profile are/should be trying to change themselves to fit. In this case the show doesn’t even make any sense unless we agree with the implicit assumption that thin is better and that fat women are less attractive and will be stressed out and unwilling to go through with their planned wedding ceremony in their fat, miserable condition. If this isn’t an implicit assumption then how does the show even make sense?

I guess another way to think about implicit assumptions is this: what do I have to assume in order to agree with/understand/participate in this statement/question/argument/phenomenon? Whatever you have to assume in order to be "on board" is an implicit assumption.

So given this framework, explain to me how the assumptions I listed above do not apply to this TV show? If you reject them would the show still make sense? I don't see how. And the fact that so many other people here have identified this as a troubling aspect of shows like these indicates to me that I'm not just making up an argument.

I can easily come up with a single assumption that would make the show work, in fact - I've already stated it a few times.

"It would be interesting to watch the drama and/or stress that arises from competition between three women attempting to lose weight for their wedding."

What I believe in, that you don't seem to, is Occam's Razor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockham_razor). You are making assumptions that don't need to be there and that overcomplicate other people's intentions.

And here's a question for you. Is it possible to want change without being unhappy with your current situation.

And the fact that other people on this board agree with your position doesn't indicate the intentions or assumptions of the people producing the show, nor does it indicate popular opinion. All it shows is that there are other people who have the same perspective as you do.

OK, so why do they want to lose weight? Why are there so many shows about women losing weight? Why is the weight-loss industry in our country so, so huge ($58 billion)? If these assumptions aren't there, and in fact everyone in our culture thinks that it's just great to be fat, and there just happen to be a few people who love the way they look now but have decided to lose weight as a sort of hobby, then why are there so many TV shows, newspaper and magazine articles, websites, etc on weight loss? Why do the producers of this show suggest that the brides will have to call off their weddings if they don't succeed in losing the weight?

My point remains: none of this stuff makes any sense unless you assume that fat is bad, thin=beautiful, and people should refrain from getting married until they've achieved the requisite weight loss.

And do you seriously think I've never heard of Ockham's Razor? Come now. The thing is that Ockham's Razor doesn't apply in cases where you're analyzing something that is very complex and multi-faceted, like in the case of cultural analysis. A cultural analysis is closer in form to a "transcendental analysis," in which you ask "what are the conditions that have to be in place in order for this event/phenomenon to occur?" In the case of cultural events, this involves examining the underlying social attitudes that give rise to the event or activity.

Imagine that this was a reality show about classroom bullies. The producers were going to follow several bullies in order to observe their behavior and see what kinds of strategies would make them change their ways. What are the assumptions behind a show like this? There are lots. The most obvious ones are that 1) there are bullies in the world, 2) bullying is a bad thing, and 3) something in the environment could cause a bully to change his/her ways. Without these assumptions the show doesn't make any sense. And unless your audience shares these assumptions, the show will not be compelling to them.

I think you assume that cultural events occur in a vacuum, but this is a very naive view. Every tv show, movie, book, article, website, etc. derives meaning from and says something about its cultural context. And many of the postings that you'll see on Feministing are engaging in cultural analysis, because a feminist critique begins with the assumption that no cultural events occur in a vacuum, and that attitudes about race, gender, class, etc. inform and shape all cultural events and phenomena. So if I were you I wouldn't be surprised to continue to see postings like this one that don't make any sense to you outside of that context.

oh now thats just the saddest, most degrading idea for a tv show ive heard in a long time. three fat women competing by losing weight for a wedding dress, that just says it all about whats wrong with the way a large part of society percieves womens roles...shit!

Rock on, Rachel in WY. Your primer in functional logic is concise and immediately accessible. Thanks, too, for articulating your position so eloquently.

If you'd been my Logic instructor back in the day I might have retained some the material.

the women should be happy and content with how they are. The women are engaged to men that like them for how they are. Its not a big prize for winning this. not sure what they are thinking.

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most of wedding shows that are on tv are just trash. they are all about getting ratings and making people look bad. This is just a shame.
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Give Me a BREAK ! why are we upset that the FAT brides have decided to loose some weight and get HEALTHY!!! my GOD did you see the amount of MEAT the one woman was eating! no VEGGIES! Did you see the rolls of FAT on the other Women??? you think that is GOOD????? And on this site all you WOMEN can do is get upset because they are loosing weight? Embracing them ~ encouraging them ~ as feminists that is what we need to do. Then stating that the show suggests their men will love them more cos they do? what? why suggest that? it was NOT suggested on the program...it WAS suggested that they might LIVE LONGER! I would think us feminists would be wanting women to LIVE LONGER! BE HEALTHY! BE STRONG! Changing eating habits & types of food & cooking methods along with exercise is NOT unhealthy weight loss and 8 weeks is not fast & there was no specified amount to loose, it was to loose weight & be combined with exercise & the new food philosophy. Many Women & MEN need to look at what they put in their mouths & THINK about it! Yes, we all need to have the right to do what we want with our bodies, without taking socially acceptable "norms" into account~totally agree with that! I vote for healthy bodies, not skinny- did not say that, I said HEALTHY BODIES equals HEALTHY MINDS