Don’t you just love how horrible this is?

Lots of things in life are better to have done than to be doing. For instance, surviving an avalanche. Great story to tell, cool life experience, not exactly the most fun while it’s happening though.

Just like being on The Biggest Loser. Sure, the people who lose lots of weight are glad they did it. But look at their faces during the doing. Those aren’t tears of joy. Or blood, sweat and vomit of joy, either.

And do you know – besides the fact that they suck while it’s happening – what surviving an avalanche and being on The Biggest Loser have in common?

You don’t keep doing it

The snow stops sliding, the trainer stops screaming, everyone goes home and picks up life where they left off. And for the “losers,” that usually means going back to all the habits that made them fat to begin with.

Don’t believe me? Check out this story about how nothing really changes for people on reality shows. In the real reality, not “reality”, people don’t magically change in a few days or weeks because you yelled at them really good.

Whatever you’re trying to change in your life – your weight, your fitness, your finances – almost definitely can’t be fixed in one burst of intense suffering. We seem to think, “If it hurts enough it must be good for me.”

Nope. Sometimes you’re just punishing yourself for no good reason.