Biggest Losers lose more than 2lbs/wk safely? How!?

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  • eazy_
    eazy_ Posts: 516 Member
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    They are super/morbidly obese(actual terms) to begin with. You lose weight much faster the further you are from a healthy weight.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I just don't understand why its such a no-no to lose more than 2 lbs per week when the contestants on The Biggest Loser drop 10-20+ lbs in 7 days!

    Granted, they have professional trainers and medical staff working with them, but essentially, they are only eating healthy and working out. That leads me to believe that if I eat healthy and incorporate muscle-friendly foods in my daily diet, my moderate exercise should be a positive factor, not a negative one threatening to eat away healthy muscle mass.

    What am I missing in health education that makes Jillian Michaels' troops clear to drop buku weight, but not me?

    I'm going for 4-5lbs per week... and I'm going to eat foods rich in muscle-building nutrients, drink Gatorade products, and get my rest to regenerate!


    OK - first of all it's a "reality show ..... not reality.... there's a difference.

    1. A week does NOT equal 7 days for the show
    2. The people losing >2 pounds a week are (sorry) huge
    3. Contestants on Biggest Loser workout for hours & hours a day (basically it's their only job).
    4. Contestants on Biggest Loser have been known to use sauna suits & diuretics.......................where did you hear that people lose weight safely on Biggest Loser?
  • wiltl
    wiltl Posts: 188 Member
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    - Their "week" is more like 10 days.
    - Their exercise routines can be hours long, not including the challenges.
    - Like said before, they are under constant medical supervision and have fitness and nutrition experts around all of the time
    - Their meal plans are determined by said experts to provide the right amount of calories without a lot of the trial and error a lot of us here go through.
    - Most of the contestants are morbidly obese to start, making it much easier to lose more per "week" but most of them slow considerably once they get towards the end.
    - Those that compete from home and are also going about their normal routine don't necessarily lose at the same rate.

    A former contestant (from a season I didn't see) gave a talk at my company a few months ago. She had gained a lot of weight back, gone through a lot more post show and didn't feel that there was a lot of post-show support or that the show really prepped them for the real world.
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
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    I just don't understand why its such a no-no to lose more than 2 lbs per week when the contestants on The Biggest Loser drop 10-20+ lbs in 7 days!

    Granted, they have professional trainers and medical staff working with them, but essentially, they are only eating healthy and working out. That leads me to believe that if I eat healthy and incorporate muscle-friendly foods in my daily diet, my moderate exercise should be a positive factor, not a negative one threatening to eat away healthy muscle mass.

    What am I missing in health education that makes Jillian Michaels' troops clear to drop buku weight, but not me?

    I'm going for 4-5lbs per week... and I'm going to eat foods rich in muscle-building nutrients, drink Gatorade products, and get my rest to regenerate!

    be careful with the gatorade, it can be a nutritional nightmare for those who are not intense athletes, and it can make you gain weight, go check it out here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/68710-effects-much-gatorade/

    Gatorade and the like are one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated on American consumers. It is nothing more than sugar water (made from HFC) and a trace of electrolytes with artificial flavor and color. What you are paying for is celebrity endorsements, expensive ad campaigns, bottling costs and shipping expenses with huge profits for the company that makes it.

    If you work out long and hard enough to require a sports drink you can make one yourself using diluted natural fruit juices
    which are natural sources of sugar, potassium, and magnesium and add some salt if you are worried about sodium loss. It cost a fraction and has natural antioxidants that are good for you

    Here is my recipe for an all natural antioxidant sports drink:

    25% orange juice
    25% pomegranate or purple grape juice
    50% freshly brewed green tea (or water)
    Optional: 1/4 teaspoon of table salt per 16 oz

    It contains about 30 grams of sugars per 16 oz which is the same as gatorade
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    It's a TV show.

    How much of it do you think is real and guided by the legitimate long-term health goals of the contestants, and how much do you think is guided by creating a drama that will attract a large audience?

    This. Do not assume that their weight loss is healthy. I've read some pretty appalling articles to the contrary. Also, I would not base my health/wellness decisions on a television show.
  • arlenem1974
    arlenem1974 Posts: 437 Member
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    granted the way its is on here it takes a lot longer to lose but I bet we have a higher success rate and we don't end up with eating disorders in the long run. I'm not going to kill my self with exercise just to lose weight.
  • Radiskull
    Radiskull Posts: 70 Member
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    There is only one true answer here: black magic.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,631 Member
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    I just don't understand why its such a no-no to lose more than 2 lbs per week when the contestants on The Biggest Loser drop 10-20+ lbs in 7 days!

    Granted, they have professional trainers and medical staff working with them, but essentially, they are only eating healthy and working out. That leads me to believe that if I eat healthy and incorporate muscle-friendly foods in my daily diet, my moderate exercise should be a positive factor, not a negative one threatening to eat away healthy muscle mass.

    What am I missing in health education that makes Jillian Michaels' troops clear to drop buku weight, but not me?

    I'm going for 4-5lbs per week... and I'm going to eat foods rich in muscle-building nutrients, drink Gatorade products, and get my rest to regenerate!

    Those on the Biggest Loser, are morbidly obese, they are on low calorie diets and exercise for many hours every day, they are monitored by their trainers and health staff.

    For you to go for 4-5lbs per week, which you may obtain for the first week, perhaps two, are setting yourself up for disappointment.

    4-5lbs per week is really not realistic, but it is entirely up to you.

    Out of interest, what are you going to do should your attempts at that weightloss fail?
  • jmars83
    jmars83 Posts: 3
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    congrats! on your weight lost! I think they do the routines non stop and extreme plus a very low fat diet. there a new show out on the same channel called extreme weight loss.
  • mtnhiker1
    mtnhiker1 Posts: 114 Member
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    I have done ~ 4 lbs a week for 7 weeks straight (the first week I dropped 9, week two I dropped 3) - this is without a trainer.

    No magic - be hones about my daily activity level, be TOTALY honest about my calorie intake - I log everything - even catsup on a hot dog.

    I do not add calories for exercise - at all.

    seems to work for me, having said that I started at 271, and having a higher starting point does have this one advantage.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    If I recall correctly, along with everything already said, contestants are also asked to gain weight before the show starts so that they'll have more dramatic losses. Biggest Loser really isn't a good model for sustainable weight loss.
  • Gearjammer71
    Gearjammer71 Posts: 151 Member
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    When you're that heavy you have a high BMR, and you burn extra calories exercising. There's lots of people on here that lose more than two pounds a week, but they don't post about it or they'll be judged by the MFP wrongness brigade.
  • MarioLozano16
    MarioLozano16 Posts: 319 Member
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    It's all water weight
  • Alpina483
    Alpina483 Posts: 246 Member
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    If I recall correctly, along with everything already said, contestants are also asked to gain weight before the show starts so that they'll have more dramatic losses. Biggest Loser really isn't a good model for sustainable weight loss.

    Aha! Those fresh red stretch marks on their bellies. I was wondering.
  • SairahRose
    SairahRose Posts: 412 Member
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    People on TBL also have very low calorie diets, both Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels (not including newer trainers) have diets at 800 and 1200 plugged all over - the contestants are exercising all those hours, burning off 1000 cals, and eating 1200 or less.
    Meaning that they're constantly eating less than BMR - it's not healthy.
    They get thin, yes. But they don't get healthy.

    People who don't eat more when they move more, even if it's just a few extra cals, are dropping weight from anywhere...usually muscle as well as fat. Again, not so healthy.
    That's not to say it's not okay to lose more than 2lb every once in a while - it happens for so many reasons. But when it becomes a 'lets hit goal fast' trip rather than a 'lets make myself the healthiest I can be', it becomes a problem.
  • Me_vs_obesity
    Me_vs_obesity Posts: 28
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    Honestly, I dont watch that show and I dont think anyone should.
    It makes fun of obese people and they get treated like crap, losing that much weight is not safe and being publicly ridiculed by people when they dont achieve a ridiculous weight loss is complete bull****.
    Most contestants just gain the weight back after the show is finished because their not learning how to keep the weight off in a realistic setting anyway.
  • DJ478
    DJ478 Posts: 909 Member
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    its easy when your over weight i was obese weighing in at 188 and im only 5'3 back in 2011 i started doing zumba / yoga classes since i wasn't active found dancing easy and shed 15 lbs within the first month
  • eazy_
    eazy_ Posts: 516 Member
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    When you're that heavy you have a high BMR, and you burn extra calories exercising. There's lots of people on here that lose more than two pounds a week, but they don't post about it or they'll be judged by the MFP wrongness brigade.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I can't get past the thread title...

    Why do you think it's SAFE??? Because Mr. TV Editor said so? Because Jillian Michaels is never wrong?
  • kirstyfairhead
    kirstyfairhead Posts: 220 Member
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    My sister had around 85lbs to lose, she lost 9lbs in the first week (clearly a lot of water) then 4lb, then 3lb and then steadied up at around 1lb per week or just over and has been losing this consistently for around 4 months.

    I think it is not so tough to start out with big numbers but a whole different thing to maintain that level.

    Being morbidly obese is a huge risk factor for health and perhaps taking extreme action can be justified for a brief period of time but if you aren't about to keel over from a coronary then slower and steadier has to be the better way.

    You are pretty much guaranteed to fail with this as a long term target and that's never very inspiring so you need to figure what's going to be good for you now... and in a month... and two months... and 6 months and so on!!!

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