Biggest Loser TV show

clohessy

Do the players eat back their exercise calories? I don't remember them talking about gaining extra calories from those heavy duty workouts!

ChantalD75

I have read a very interesting article on one of the contestants... what they do on the show is not healthy at all. I don't believe they eat back their calories...

CurriedGrasshopper

They don't. In fact they eat very, very little. They also do intense cardio to dehydrate before weigh ins to show those HUGE losses. It is not healthy, it is not even really safe.

It's television and I don't recommend doing anything they do.

weezielesa

I recently heard this... they eat 1200 calories and burn 7000 calories. This is not health nor the Normal of anyones daily weight loss

andipandi

they burn 6-7000 cals per day. i believe they eat around 1800. that's why they lose massive amounts of weight. i would never recomend doing anything that extreme but you need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight effectively.

clohessy

You never really hear anything about eating your exercise calories.

Flyntiggr

What they are doing is not the least bit healthy. Compare what happens on the Biggest Loser to what happens on the show Heavy. The weight losses aren't even comparable.

I read that the BL contestants burn about 8,000 calories a day and eat very little back. It is terrible for their bodies, but most of them are so morbidly obese it is 'more safe' than their weight....

malias

I hear the same things.....Not a fan of the show because you only see what the producers want you to see....those takes that bring in ratings. Their methods are not healthy and no one can keep up that lifestyle for ever. They are almost guaranteed to put the pounds back on once the show is over. I hope not, for the contestants sake, but thats what history tells us....

DeBlue

So... someone posted here that we often over estimate our calories used because we fail to deduct the calories we would have burned anyway just sitting around. If that is the logic then lets say your base burn is around 1600/day. So when you work out an hour and burn 500, you should also deduct from that 500 an hour's worth of sitting around (1600/24 or 65) for a real net of 435.

Oh my.

clohessy

I often wonder why there was such a big difference in weight losses between the two shows. I like Heavy better.

shaunshaikh

1. Think about the math. They burn about 6000-7000 calories per day doing 4-6 hours of exercise and only eat 1,200 to 1,800 calories per day. They could be in starvation mode and their metabolism could have slowed 80% and they would still be losing weight because of the extremely high calorie deficiency they are putting themselves through.

2. If you don't have to work, can exercise 4-6 hours per day with trainer and doctor supervision, by all means go for it. They are frequently tested for nutrients, vitamins, etc. to make sure they aren't harming themselves.

3. People who say that all the big numbers are coming from water don't know what they are talking about. You can lose a lot of weight through dehydration ONCE. In order to keep that weight loss up week after week, you have to burn significant amounts of fat and non-fat tissue (muscle, tendons, etc.)

4. Think about all the people on that show close to their goal weight who STILL gain weight or don't lose weight, especially the women. It just goes to show how beating your body to death with extremely high calorie deficits isn't neccessarily the elixir of success.

5. The biggest issue with contestants who go on Biggest Loser is that they only know how to live a life of extremes. They are either extremely faithful toa diet and workout regiment or they are binging and gaining massive amounts of weight. Rulon Gardner is a perfect example. The best reason to come down on your weight loss slowly is so that when you get to where you want to be you have a better chance of staying there, because the change won't be so dramatic to your body and to your mind. For some people, that first day of maintainance just lets the flood gates open.

DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo

I used to read the myspace page of one of the finalists.... not only did they have unhealthy eating & exercising habits, they'd take diuretics and saline laxatives before weigh-ins..

Falisha13

I really was enjoying Heavy until the people started statying at the facility for the full 6 months, this is real life no one I know could leave their life for 6 months, I really enjoyed the first 3-4 episodes where they were only there for a month & then they went home with the things they learned for the last month. That's just my opinion though.

diaryoffatdad

here is an interesting scientific blog post about the biggest loser

http://www.weightymatters.ca/2011/02/biggest-loser-destroys-participants.html

essentially what they do is so unhealthy and damaging that they destroy their metabolism, hense why they generally gain the weight back

really how many "where are they now" shows have you seen....not many because many of the participants have gained weight back drastically.

read the article and you will see why.

once they are done the show, they will have to exercise for at least 4 hours a day JUST TO MAINTAIN, that is not realistic.

MsPitt

So... someone posted here that we often over estimate our calories used because we fail to deduct the calories we would have burned anyway just sitting around. If that is the logic then lets say your base burn is around 1600/day. So when you work out an hour and burn 500, you should also deduct from that 500 an hour's worth of sitting around (1600/24 or 65) for a real net of 435.

Oh my.

If someone's calorie goal is based on their BMR, this might make sense.

I think it's better for most people to stick with simpler calculations because the process will be maintainable for a much longer period of time.