Yamada.

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Stephanie Yamada
Zack De Piero
Writing 2
Writing Project #2
The Biggest Loser or Gainer?
There are general misconceptions that losing weight and reaching that toned, skinny
body can be achieved in a short period of time, especially influenced by reality shows like
The Biggest Loser (TBL). This television hit is a competition between overweight to obese
contestants striving to lose the highest body-fat percentage for the ultimate cash prize.
However, there has been a rise in concern for TBL contestants long-term health. The two
scholarly articles, Diet Versus Exercise In The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Competition,
written by physiologist Kevin D. Hall, and Self-Efficacy and Motivation in Relation to
Weight Loss Reality Television, composed by psychologist Nicole Mardirosian-Brocailles
show their individual conducted research on this matter. In addition, the pop-culture Internet
Media Company Buzzfeed presents an article on Why The Biggest Loser Contestants
Regained The Weight They Lost On The Show, written by news reporter Michelle Broder
Van Dyke. The scholarly articles and pop-culture article each address TBL issues however
are based on separate disciplines. Through analysis of the three articles conceptual
operationalization, it is observed that scholarly articles express a more persuasive and
authoritative effect as exhibited by distinctive moves amongst structure, ethos, and logos
over pop-culture articles.
From the evaluation of two scholarly articles and pop-culture article, we are able to
identify each authors conceptual operationalization and their influential effect. The
psychological article studies the two concepts of self-efficacy and motivation, and its affects
from weight-loss television shows like TBL. Brocaille measured and gathered results of these

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concepts through social analysis of visual clips of TBL to research participants, followed by
questionnaires in terms of their demography, weight efficacy, body shape, weight and diet,
motivation for healthy living, and weight efficacy lifestyle. Reality shows (TBL) are
motivating to the viewers and that they have a positive effect on the viewers healthy
lifestyle, but the premise of the show involves an unrealistic living situation. (Brocaille) The
various questionnaire results found that psychological motivation for losing weight increased
for those who watched the visual clip than those who didnt. Results showed that motivation
for losing weight increased. Unfortunately the results for self-efficacy could not be attained,
however this narrows studies for future researchers.
Additionally, Hall uses more scientific measurement and contains more of a
biological focus, as his main concepts focus on the internal bodily processes of specific diet
and exercise. He examines TBL television show for its portrayal of an unrealistic intervention
that raises false expectations for weight loss. He measures TBL participants body weight, fat
mass, total energy expenditure, and resting metabolic rate in pre-show, week 6, and week 30.
Halls results during the show generally showed that average energy intake decreased 65%,
eating only 1300 calories per day, while engaging in 3.1 hours per day of vigorous exercise,
however in the last 17 weeks when the contestants were at home, average energy intake
increased to 1900 calories per day and 1.1 hours per day of vigorous exercise (Hall).
On the other hand, pop-culture articles dont necessary operationalizes its ideas.
These articles are limited to short and simple reading, as their audience tends to be adults just
casually browsing the web. Dykes article is shown to only contain the concept of
metabolism in terms of maintenance of weight loss from TBL. Some could argue that the
generalized information in pop-culture articles are simply direct and sufficient, however we
can clearly see that the facts are less convincing in comparison to the statistical scholarly
articles.

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Furthermore, understanding how an author makes certain moves in their written piece
is essential to help us become better writers (Bunn). Moves are an authors conscious
technique in purposefully guiding their readers. The level of persuasion from each article can
be considered by the authors choice in structural organization. For instance, scholarly
authors make moves on genre conventions and towards the rhetorical feature of audience.
Hall and Brocaille utilize the IMRAD convention usually shown in scholarly articles. This
includes Introduction to topic including exigence and hypothesis, Method that shows steps of
analysis by researchers, Results that answer posed research questions, Analysis explaining the
reason of results, and Discussion that hands-off information to future researchers. Both
authors incorporate these IMRAD headings, which formally guides and provides context to
their targeted audience, generally consisting of college students, professors, and certified
researchers. Additionally, Brocaille slightly manipulates her IMRAD organization by
dividing her Introduction into four subheadings to introduce each analysismotivation for
healthy weight loss, self-efficacy, weight-loss obsession, and reality TV and motivation. She
also modifies her Method section subheading participants, materials, and procedures. The
authors choice in their structural headings provides their readers with a clearer
understanding of their specialized analysis on TBL issues.
In Dykes article, the structure is created to suit the general masses of people. The
structure of separated paragraphs discuss the various studies about the ineffective exercise
and diet plans on TBL, and gives the readers a general overview of the issues. As a popculture website, their audience consists of young adults who are frankly bored searching the
web for any new gossip; therefore it is necessary to organize this article in an easily readable
manner. The structural detachment of paragraphs allows short reading for our audience,
which can effectively engage their readers. However, by looking at the structure of scholarly
articles and the pop-culture culture, we can agree that the authors use of formal headings

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displays more academic authority than an authors overview of randomized information
divided into paragraphs.
On another aspect, scholarly articles are shown more persuasive due to the general
utilization of logos influential aspects that support an argument like statistics, data, and
logical statements (Carroll). The incorporation of tables and statistical data by Brocaille and
Hall provide statistical evidence that appeals to effectively persuade an educated audience.
Shown in Halls mathematical analysis, The total weight loss was 58.2 + 26 kg with 81.6 +
8.4 % of the weight loss coming from body fat, he sufficiently provides the readers desire
for knowing the facts of matter (Carroll).
People may consider pop-culture articles to provide simple and easily readable
information, however its level of factual effect on the audience is debatable. Dyke tries to
feature logos through using other statistical data from other researchers. His personal
inclusion of statistical data from various other sources can question whether there are overall
more or less results based on the issues of TBL. This uncertainty on pop-culture articles
increases the authority of scholarly articles based on the authors methodical evidence from
their conducted research.
Lastly we can observe that scholarly articles show stronger ethos than pop-culture
article, which describes their higher persuasion. Ethos refers to source of credibility and
accuracy of information (Carroll). Hall and Brocaille use of subheadings in their scholarly
article also plays a huge role by individually classifying and formally structuring these
articles, necessary for their sophisticated audience. The formality of these authors language
also helps build a writers ethos, as does the accuracy of information (Carroll). Due to the
respected audience, scholarly writers must understand to maintain intellectual context
throughout their article. For example, A separate regression found that a participants BMI
score was not a significant predictor of original scores, (Brocaille). This advanced and

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superior language can symbolize logical authority over a pop-cultures general dumbeddown written language style.
Although it can be argued that Dyke uses ethos through incorporating summaries of
various other conducted research, however the general freedom in writing a pop-culture
article can be based off subjective opinion, which can completely demean the articles
credibility. For instance, Dyke states only the issues on TBL, Another contestant went
from 444 pounds before the show to 289 pounds regained all of the weight back and is
now up to 450 pounds, which implies a biased perspective. Prejudice never appears in
scholarly articles because authors write their results directly from research; therefore this
clearly represents their readers dependability on the given information.
From the conceptual operationalization from each scholarly research article and popculture article, we can observe that scholarly authors choice of moves can communicate a
stronger persuasion on their readers perception than pop-culture authors. Although the three
articles similarly examine the impacts of TBL, it is clear that scholarly authors
implementation of moves based on structure, ethos, and pathos are shown more persuasively
and factual towards an audience.

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Works Cited
Broder Van Dyke, Michelle. "Why "The Biggest Loser" Contestants Regained The Weight
They Lost On The Show." BuzzFeed. 2 May 2016. Web. 11 May 2016.
Bunn, M. How To Read Like A Writer Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2,
2011
Carroll, Laura Bolin. Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis.
Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1, 2010.
Hall, Kevin D. "Diet Versus Exercise In The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Competition."
Obesity; Biology and Integrated Physiology 21.5 (2013): 957-59.

Mardirosian-Brocaille, N. Self-Efficacy and Motivation in Relation to Weight-Loss Reality
Television. Logos: A Journal of Undergraduate Research (2011)