Review: Super Skinny Me

Super Skinny Me, BBC America's dieting documentary, follows Kate and Louise, two female British journalists looking to get down from a Size 10 to a Size 00 in 5 weeks.

WHAT I LIKED: Super Skinny Me goes beyond the standard "I'm eating so little that even routine chores wear me out and I feel lethargic all day" narrative to spotlight the emotional repercussions of extreme dieting.

Kate, for example, starts off the experiment highly motivated and initially even has fun with it.

After three weeks of deprivation, she "falls off the wagon" and eats more calories than her ultra strict regimen permits (800 calories, approximately 40% of her needs).

Afraid of putting weight back on, Kate becomes anxious, depressed, and even reverts to bingeing and purging. The doctor supervising the experiment mandates that she stop the extreme dieting halfway through week four.

Kate later reveals that the four weeks of extreme dieting -- in which she dropped 17 lbs. -- triggered painful memories of weight struggles as an adolescent.

It was also interesting to learn some of the various extreme diets -- the watercress soup diet (800 calories a day, three bowls of watercress soup a day and nothing else), the protein shake diet (1,000 calories, 2 protein shakes + one protein-heavy meal a day), and the popular "cleanse" lemonade diet (drinking nothing but a heinous concoction of pure lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup and water three times a day).

I am also glad Super Skinny Me showed the sheer stupidity of many "diet tricks". At one point, Louise tries an exercise routine loved by "a certain pop star".

It involves wrapping yourself in Seran Wrap and running on a treadmill (in a sauna!) for 30 minutes.

She only lasts 15 minutes -- and manages to lose half an inch off her waist and hips! Of course, one glass of water brings that half inch right back because the only thing you lose by doing that (apart from your time and self-respect) is water weight.

WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE: Although we see a few effects of the extreme diets on Kate and Louise's social lives (Louise goes out to dinner with friends and brings her watercress soup in a plastic bowl, which she asks the waiter to heat up for her), I was left wondering how this assignment affected Kate and Louise's work performance.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT: Louise's interview with an anorexic teenager seemed choppy and slightly out of place. The subject of the interview wasn't very likeable -- she mainly complained about the fact that people only wanted her to gain weight because she wasn't famous (alluding to the fact that if she was an A-list actress, her weight would be complimented, rather than criticized).

In fact, there was no mention of her struggling with body image issues, engaging in dangerous eating patterns, or even some background on how and why she developed her condition.

IN CONCLUSION: While Super Skinny Me did not delve into the socio-political, business, or cultural aspects of dieting, it did a wonderful job of showing the toll these insane regimens have on people's bodies and psyche.

I especially liked the last segment, in which Kate and Louise weigh in two weeks after ending their extremely restrictive eating plans.

Not surprisigly, they gained the weight back. This is precisely why crash diets are a waste of time; not only do they involve unnecessary deprivation, they also set you up for failure.

Losing weight is much more manageable -- and pleasurable -- when done with a balanced, nutritious meal plan and realistic timelines.