- When the first season of Khloe Kardashian's TV show "Revenge Body" premiered in January 2017, some people slammed the idea of using one's desire to hurt another person as motivation to lose weight.
- Autumn Calabrese, a trainer on the third season of the show, told Insider that revenge isn't a great motivator for weight loss.
- According to Calabrese, one of the most useful things a person seeking to lose weight can do is understand their relationships with food and exercise.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more.
When the first season of Khloe Kardashian's TV show "Revenge Body" premiered in January 2017, critics took issue with the idea of using one's desire to hurt another person as motivation to lose weight.
"If you are changing your body for someone else, you are the one that loses in the end because you are still letting that person dictate your life and your body and you are doing it for their approval," body confidence coach Michelle Elman previously told Insider.
Still, "Revenge Body" gained a following and is now in its third season. The show continues to use personal trainers to help participants "recreate themselves" under the notion that "the best revenge is looking and feeling your best."
One personal trainer on the show, Autumn Calabrese, told Insider she agrees using revenge as a motivator for weight loss is a bad idea. "Revenge is not a great motivator because it doesn't come from a healthy place, so it won't last," she said.
While Calabrese said she believes the show is called "Revenge Body" because it's eye-catching and fires people up, she also said prospective viewers shouldn't get caught up in the name since the actual show goes a lot deeper.
"People on the show aren't like, 'You're about to show him!' It's more about focusing on the 'you' and why it's important for you," she said.
Calabrese said that revenge could be a starting place for some show participants, since they may have been bullied for their appearance in the past, but the trainers work to flip the conversation and try to make it more positive.
Understanding your relationship to food is usually necessary for long-term weight loss
According the Calabrese, one of the most useful things a person seeking to lose weight can do is understand their relationship with food. Then they can better recognize the moments they're about to make unhealthy choices, understand why, and stop before they go through with those choices.
One of Calabrese's former clients, for example, would often binge eat. After working with him, Calabrese found out he was in foster care as a young boy and, at the facilities where he stayed, the fridges were locked so he and the other kids couldn't eat when they were hungry.
"As an adult, he would overeat and hide food because of that emotional trauma," a connection he didn't make on his own at first, Calabrese said. She worked with him and a therapist to get her client out of his emotionally-rooted binge eating.
Although not all "Revenge Body" participants or people in general can connect negative relationships to food or their bodies with something traumatic, the idea that unhealthy eating or exercise patterns is about more than the food or activity tends to hold true across the board, Calabrese said.
If you feel anxious about going to the gym and end up skipping out on planned visits, for example, it could mean you're afraid of looking out of place or being made fun of by other gym goers. In this case, Calabrese said finding a workout you're comfortable with, like exercising with a trainer or taking a group fitness class with, could help.
Understanding these hangups and trying to change the habits formed around them can turn healthy eating and exercising from a negative experience to a positive one, according to Calabrese.
"My goal is to get to a deeper why than 'my boyfriend cheated' or 'someone said I'm not good enough,'" she said. "Health is very personal and everyone has their own story."
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