I think I can safely say that many of us at one point or another have sat down and and watched with wonder programmes like The Biggest Loser, where there seems to be a universal template: Take morbidly obese people, work them ragged all day every day in the gym, make them throw up (because you haven’t worked hard enough if you haven’t thrown up now have you!) then you pit them off one against the other, turning them against each other and showing the world how quickly we will stab each other in the back just to get ahead. It’s slush entertainment, numbs the brain for an hour.

If anything, it’s like being back at school, groups of people making their own cliques and isolating those who are deemed less than cool and getting rid of them, there’s jealousy, resentment, the focus isn’t all about losing weight and getting healthy, proven by the large amount of contestants who put the weight straight back on once they leave the house.

That’s why watching Unsupersize Me was like a breath of fresh air, you have Tracy Ryan, a young woman weighing in at 345lbs (24.5 stone) who, working with Juan-Carlos Asse, changes her entire lifestyle, she follows a plant based vegan diet, introduces exercise into her daily routine, takes on physical challenges and within the course of a year loses 200lbs.

We follow Tracy on her journey and at times it is really very personal which I believe encourages the viewers to relate more on a human level as to what Tracy’s life was like before starting her journey to health and fitness. I think it also shows us that we should be more compassionate towards the feelings of others who are overweight. Watching Tracy’s daily struggles at 345lbs made me think more of the people in my own family who battle with their weight and highlighted the emotional and physical distress many people go through on a daily basis.

It’s an absolute joy to watch Tracy reduce in size but grow enormously in confidence and reach her goals and you’ll be cheering for Tracy as she takes on Juan-Carlos’s challenges (no spoilers here!), they are both truly inspiring throughout the whole documentary, it’s amazing how effective this style of weight management can be when you take out all the TV spin and human manipulation for entertainment.

The information on nutrition and exercise is helpful to all of us and isn’t just relevant to those seeing to lose weight, but to all who want to feel good inside and out.

I’ll most definitely be encouraging others to watch Unsupersize Me, it’s a fantastic, believable and motivational documentary that shows people that you can change your life, that the goals you set in your mind are attainable, that it’s not too late to change your life around, that the important thing is to try, to start to believe in yourself and know that a more healthier lifestyle is just the start to feeling good about the person you are.

Watch it, you’ll love it I promise.