BIGGEST LOSER's vs US. Eating exercise calories. They dont?

SkinnyMozza

Why can BIGGEST LOSER contestants have HUGE calorie deficiets but we must EAT OUR EXERCISE CALORIES?

Ainar

At that show it's all about weight loss and health is in second plan. They want fast results. They want ratings for TV channel, they want to make money off it. Do not take that BS show as an example for real life dieting...

waldo56

Dieting for the morbidly obese doesn't really apply to everyone else.

Set MFP based on the average TDEE method and don't track exercise, simple as that. MFP is designed to count exercise cals so that you can maintain constant weight loss through periods of high or low exercise by basically recalculating your TDEE every day.

If you don't want to eat your exercise cals that's fine, but realize that totally invalidates the calculation for your daily goal that MFP makes, your daily goal will be lower than it should be.

SkinnyMozza

Understood but... they still lose weight. My question is more along the lines of why does their body not go into this 'starvation mode' that everyone goes on about with a large calorie deficeit when u exercise. I assume these contesants would be on low calorie diets... and they train upwards of 6-8 hours a day.

How can they keep losing sooo much weight? Gain noticeable muscle? and not be in starvation mode?

Gabbielynn00

Honestly, from all the research I have done, starvation mode is bull**** UNLESS you are underweight. You could survive fine on 500 calories a day (not exercising) and your body would use your stored fat for energy first. But you have to be careful because if you do not have a high body fat percentage your body will start to eat itself, and you dont want that. So the man who commented before me has a great point, it is okay for much larger people because they have much more stored fat for the body to convert to energy. low calorie diets get a bit rougher as the person gets smaller. Hope I helped a bit!

Mia_RagazzaTosta

Starvation mode is a term thrown around here incorrectly. And they aren't gaining any muscle; it's just more noticable because the fat over it is disappearing.

diodelcibo

Understood but... they still lose weight. My question is more along the lines of why does their body not go into this 'starvation mode' that everyone goes on about with a large calorie deficeit when u exercise. I assume these contesants would be on low calorie diets... and they train upwards of 6-8 hours a day.

How can they keep losing sooo much weight? Gain noticeable muscle? and not be in starvation mode?

Because they are so obese to begin with, every "week" you see is probably 2-3 weeks, they lose a significant amount of weight as water, they don't very much muscle at all.

reddcat

I don't know if it was true....but read an article about some of the serious health issues the contestants have afterwards. Not sure if it is due to the famed "starvation mode", but does not sound good nonetheless.

Remo_Williams

For another perspective, read the entry from June 4th:

http://www.masheliteperformance.com/#!greg-nuckols/cj4s

CoreyOhNoes

It's called controlled starvation. Patients of Gastric bypass do it all the time.

Morgaath

Might be that most of them are way more than 100lbs overweight, being monitored 24/7 by trained professionals.
Whereas most of us want to lose 30lbs or less, see a trainer for less than an hour a week, doctors even less than that.
Also keep in mind that the more you weigh the higher your TDEE is. A man weighing 500lbs has a BMR of almost 3200.

ken_hogan

Honestly, from all the research I have done, starvation mode is bull**** UNLESS you are underweight. You could survive fine on 500 calories a day (not exercising) and your body would use your stored fat for energy first. But you have to be careful because if you do not have a high body fat percentage your body will start to eat itself, and you dont want that. So the man who commented before me has a great point, it is okay for much larger people because they have much more stored fat for the body to convert to energy. low calorie diets get a bit rougher as the person gets smaller. Hope I helped a bit!

This. Plus, the 'starvation mode' s**t is the most overused, misused word. And from when I used to watch the show, I don't think EVERYONE lost every.single.week.

No_Finish_Line

Understood but... they still lose weight. My question is more along the lines of why does their body not go into this 'starvation mode' that everyone goes on about with a large calorie deficeit when u exercise. I assume these contesants would be on low calorie diets... and they train upwards of 6-8 hours a day.

How can they keep losing sooo much weight? Gain noticeable muscle? and not be in starvation mode?

i think people have taken valuable info and just gotten it wrong over and over.

Perhaps eating under a certain amount may slow down weight loss in some individuals (but i don't really even believe that).

Eating back your exercise calories is only necessary to help prevent loss of lean muscle mass, and the threat of losing lean muscle mass is substantially reduced the further you are above a healthy weight. thats why they can get away with it. I suspose because thierr bodies still have relatively easy access to a lot of calories but i'm not sure.

No_Finish_Line

oh and they may or may not actually be gaining muscle, most of it is probably just revealing muscle that was already there.

even if they never exercised before, it takes a lot to move all that around, and that may mean they have more muslce mass to begin with then you'd expect

erinsueburns

Starvation mode is mostly a myth, as it is often used on here.

As for the differences in Biggest Loser and real life. A) they are morbidly obese, They are under constant health and exercise scrutiny.

I tend to think of the underfeeding issue as more one of how it impacts exercise. People who under-eat also tend to move less in general throughout they day (assuming they don't have both an exercise trainer and a lots of money motivating them to get up). It is pretty easy for the average person though, to counteract the deficits they create simply because they don't move around as much in everyday life because they are tired and hungry.

Check out: non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)

celtbell3

Not sure. Good point, though. I think that some contestants still sneak food.

1yoyoKAT

For another perspective, read the entry from June 4th:

http://www.masheliteperformance.com/#!greg-nuckols/cj4s

Thanks for this link, it's very interesting!

Sqeekyjojo

They also do unsafe amounts and levels of physical activity - hence the game 'spot the latest injury' that can be played every week.

Seriously, watch - you'll see a whole bunch of them being beasted about, then they'll go to another 'journey' segment and then later in the week, only five will be in camera shot for the workouts because the others are strapped up with destroyed ACLs, hip strains, ankle and foot injuries, rotator cuff tears and the like.

No_Finish_Line

Haven't seen many episodes, but i did notice in one that she told them they were going to eat immediately after excercise. not really the same thing we are discussing here but something i think is important.