(S01E01) The Jillian Michaels empire continues to expand. Do you think Bob Harper is getting jealous? He's started yelling more on 'The Biggest Loser,' so that might help.

The little trainer with the big mouth from NBC's most popular reality franchise, 'The Biggest Loser,' set off on her own with this "sister series." Instead of bringing overweight people to the Biggest Loser Ranch, Michaels is bringing herself to them.

More specifically, she's moving in for a week, during which she will subject her "victims" to the Jillian Micheals brand of beatings and abuse, coupled with heart-to-heart talks and a real chance to get to the root of their issues.


I'll be honest with you, I was almost hesitant to write this article too quickly. Maybe it was the music, or the fact that this premiere episode ended with a wedding, but I walked away from this feeling almost too good about what Michaels and this show had accomplished. In the realm of "feel good" reality programming, this may be one of the most important. Now I know I should have waited.

But you know what, I'm not going to take that back. Obesity is an epidemic in our country, and while it's certainly not realistic to send all the overweight people to a ranch and gym where they can be sequestered from their problems at home and spend four to six months with two of the world's greatest trainers, what is realistic is seeing how you can affect real changes in your lives within your own homes.

The Mastropiestros are more than just a family with an incredibly long and complex name. They're regular people, like you and me. Everyone has struggles in their lives, and loss, and pain, and grief, and anxiety and confusion as to how to fix what's wrong. Most of us don't even know what's wrong.

I'm fat, we'll answer to the question. But usually that's not it. We saw that tonight with Michelle. She's no longer the heavy person she was thanks to successful gastric bypass surgery, but she's still that unhappy self-loathing fat girl on the inside. Her problem is she doesn't believe in herself, she does't believe in her own self-worth. I've been there, and I've never been fat in the sense that these people have.

You don't have to be fat to feel inadequate in your own life, or unloved. And that's where 'Losing It With Jillian' succeeds even more than 'The Biggest Loser' does. It reaches underneath the weight loss strategies, and diet tips and tugs at the root causes of these family problems. The Mastropiestros dealt with their problems by eating. Other families deal in other ways, but the lessons are universal.

After their child died at one month old 22 years ago, wife Agnes has never been able to grieve with her husband, Jimbo. For 22 years he has been 100% unable to talk to his wife about this tremendous loss they've both shared, and she's been too timid of losing him to push the issue. Agnes didn't believe that Jimbo loved her unconditionally. And Jimbo was so lost in his own grief and inner turmoil, he had no idea that he'd pushed his family away emotionally.

Michaels may not be a doctor of any kind, but she's been at this long enough that she knows the triggers that lead to overeating. She also knows how to use the mental and emotional exhaustion that comes with a good workout to get through people's defenses and make them face their own demons, as she did tonight.

In five days, Michaels transformed this family into a whole new entity. By living with them and sharing every moment with them. By tearing them open emotionally and picking at their emotional scabs, she got them talking to one another and supporting one another.

That's another strength of this different take on weight loss. By empowering an entire family that's already bonded with love, Michaels is able to create a support structure within the family unit that can continue to function when she's gone. On 'The Biggest Loser,' we watch contestants go home and struggle to maintain their weight loss, but that's because they are largely alone within their families.

Their husbands and wives and children and parents didn't go through that experience on the Ranch, so they don't have the tools to properly motivate and support the former contestants. With 'Losing It With Jillian,' the entire family becomes part of the solution. I wasn't sure what to expect when Michaels came back after just six weeks away; in time for Michelle's wedding.

Jimbo had vowed to lose 50 pounds by the wedding, with Agnes shooting for 30. Both nearly achieved their goals, and they were able to do it because Agnes could push Jimbo, who could push her and their children right back. As a family, they learned how to exercise effectively, how to shop and cook in a far more healthy manner, and how to be there for one another.

I wonder if Michaels could have fathomed that she would have such a powerful impact in such a short span of time. Summer's often the time for lighter fare on television. It's about feeling good, smiling and laughing. 'Losing It With Jillian' is a great addition to that stable, and may just prove to be another winner for NBC.

I wouldn't be surprised if the model of the trainer living with your family for an entire week isn't somehow adopted into forthcoming seasons of 'The Biggest Loser.' What a tremendous prize it would be for any contestant if Jillian or Bob could spend a week in their home environment understanding their struggles and helping them to overcome them.