biggest loser = how do they do that at home??

afeinberg

so i watched the show last night and while i am super pscyhed for the contestants - this is really going to be life changing for some and that's amazing - i was SOOO jealous --- how can they lose 8-10 lbs in ONE WEEK at home???
I stay under my calories and exercise every day and am losing inches
Granted i have less weight to lose then they do =-= but still
HOW DO THEY DO THAT???

XFitMojoMom

Yeah, I thought it was pretty impressive given this is also week 10!

Rocko717

It is television and scripted. I am pretty sure they are supplied with food and a trainer (regardless of what is shown on TV). Also, they can't really have a lot of LIFE to deal with when they have cameras around etc. It is not real life. You have to do what you can sustain. I like the show but I have gotten to where I just watch the last chance work out and weigh in because it has gotten so fake. I hate all the product placement they do to push sponsored products as well. Sorry for my negative nelly response. LOL

mamacassi

People keep saying it must be drugs lol but no. I think it's that most of those people truly are LARGE, most, not all though! They want people with a lot of weight to lose obviously. And they give them very strict diets. I'm not sure entirely. I have the books. But they only said they do an hour a day. How? only an hour...

EmilyArndt

Those people have A LOT of weight to lose. Its a lot easier to pull those big numbers when you are 100 pounds or more overweight! For someone who only has 20/30 pounds to lose, not gonna pull a number like that

jwurtz

Let me add what I've read.

The contestants do have a lot more weight than most, so losing 10lbs week, while a lot, is not that much when your talking about a 400lb person. Also when these people go from being couch potatoes to being active and eating healthy, things start to change. Exercise, these people have the ability to be in the gym 8 hours a day if they so choose but they continually talk about being in gym 6 hours or more each day. If I did that each day for 10 weeks I too would lose a ton of weight. Food, as you see on TV, these peoples are heavily watch each day and their diets are highly controlled. They get all the right foods given to them, including fruits, vegetables and such. For the normal person like us, the cost of the fruit alone would make me get a second job.

So if your losing weight and doing it the right way, great keep it up. I've been working my butt of so that what I've put on over time doesn't get translated to my kids that its ok to be lazy and overweight.

Best of luck..

semperfiwife

their diets are very restricted, one of the girls was at the bowling ally and trying to decide what to eay, she said "well the ceasar salad has 1300 calories, I don't even get that much in a day." So they are eating a very low amount of calories and working a massive amount all while being monitored by doctors and specialists. I still love the show though

kristinlough

I watch (and work out during) Biggest Loser on Friday nights (okay, so maybe I'm a loser ), so I haven't seen this episode.

But every one I've seen shows them doing at LEAST two one-hour workouts daily. And this is in a gym with someone screaming at them. Along with motivation that if they do nothing but lose this weight in X weeks, they win LOTS of money. I suspect that if none of us had tvs, family, friends, work, traffic, even just having to see that annoying baby/kid/whatever in the grocery store (not to mention no access to unhealthy food!) keeps their stress down and their weight loss up. And just like Dustyrain said, they have *hundreds* of pounds to lose. Even the ones who are under 200 now are probably about 5' ...

So the moral of the story is you could lose like this too if you lived on a crazy-restricted diet and did nothing but work out, but it's not sustainable for real people in real life. And you're probably coming up with the kind of lifestyle change that will stick. They might not be, you know? So MFP is my Bob & Jillian, and I love it :happy:

chera325

I agree that it's absurd think they are losing up to 110 in just 10 weeks!! However, I read an article in one of my magazines from previous contestants who claim that even though the show says it's only been a week, the actual weigh-ins do not happen that frequently; similarly, the contestants claimed that people do all sorts of crazy stuff before weigh-ins to lose as much weight as possible, including taking diaretics to eliminate water weight!

greeneyes82

Those people have A LOT of weight to lose. Its a lot easier to pull those big numbers when you are 100 pounds or more overweight! For someone who only has 20/30 pounds to lose, not gonna pull a number like that

I agree here. People that weigh a lot seem to sometimes be able to take a larger amount of weight off in a short time. Where they weigh more, they will burn more calories than a 120 lbs person on the same machine at the same level & speed. My cousin who is a larger guy & weighs around 300 lbs lost almost 10 lbs in one week. It's probably easier to gain that back quickly too so they must watch their diets as we all should.

afeinberg

here is my thing - they were home, so they had to go to the gym and had all the temptations that i have and STILL lost gigantic amounts of weight - granted few of them have kids, and none of them had to go to work during that time but still -
Does anyone know what their calorie ratios are???

cullensbrunette

On a radio show this morning the sister of one of the previous contestants was on there and she said that her sister is suing the show for numerous things. But apparently her sister said that they were allowed to eat very little and werent allowed to even drink water. She said when she hot home she gained 20 pounds just from drinking a decent amount of water again. And also she said that what may seem like a week on the show was actually multiple weeks in reality.

halfpint71

I have a question regarding amounts of calories. Why don't they go into stavation mode if they are eating less than 1300 calories and working out 6 hours a day?

elysant

Something else that you need to remember, on top of working out on their own while at home as well as continuing on their restricted calorie diet, they rode the distance of a marathon (26.2) miles. That will definitely help you to lose weight.

TropicalKitty

Most of them don't sustain their weight loss. One of the previous winners gained it all back. What they are doing on the show, while quarantined and to an extent when sent back home, is not how proper weight loss should go. I've heard a number of people comment on how UNhealthy and bad the stuff they subject the participants is for you.

Don't look up to the people on a reality show. It's great they survived. As said earlier, they have a lot to lose and a bunch of that is going to be the water stored up in them.

To really know how to lose weight and live normal, look to all of the people on here who are losers and maintainers.

TropicalKitty

I have a question regarding amounts of calories. Why don't they go into stavation mode if they are eating less than 1300 calories and working out 6 hours a day?

Eventually they will. But for a bit they'll lose too.

jdavis193

You can look up there was an article that came out for behind the scenes of the biggest loser. It was in a magazine I forget which one.

FireMonkey

Starving people still lose weight. Nobody who dies from starvation is fat. But when they're done with the show and start eating and living normally again they may have all sorts of trouble with weight gain and other health problems - the men in the Minnesota experiment were put on a several months long re-feeding regimen. I don't know if there's anything like that done for these folks.

FireRox21

It is television and scripted. I am pretty sure they are supplied with food and a trainer (regardless of what is shown on TV). Also, they can't really have a lot of LIFE to deal with when they have cameras around etc. It is not real life. You have to do what you can sustain. I like the show but I have gotten to where I just watch the last chance work out and weigh in because it has gotten so fake. I hate all the product placement they do to push sponsored products as well. Sorry for my negative nelly response. LOL

My thoughts too! I pretty much only watch the last 45 minutes of the show to keep up on who gets eliminated. Also, when these folks go home for the week, they are not working at a job, most have a trainer at the gym and get free gym access, and food intake is still being strictly monitored by nutritionists, doctors, etc. Also, most do have a lot of weight to lose, so bigger numbers are possible.

Unfortunately, it will all change after the show. Most will return to work, home/kid stresses, bills, mortgages, etc. Food will not be portioned and/or cooked for them.

The worst part of the show for me is all of the advertisements during the show. Geez, I see enough commercials already, I don't need to see even more during the show!!!

jdavis193

It is television and scripted. I am pretty sure they are supplied with food and a trainer (regardless of what is shown on TV). Also, they can't really have a lot of LIFE to deal with when they have cameras around etc. It is not real life. You have to do what you can sustain. I like the show but I have gotten to where I just watch the last chance work out and weigh in because it has gotten so fake. I hate all the product placement they do to push sponsored products as well. Sorry for my negative nelly response. LOL

My thoughts too! I pretty much only watch the last 45 minutes of the show to keep up on who gets eliminated. Also, when these folks go home for the week, they are not working at a job, most have a trainer at the gym and get free gym access, and food intake is still being strictly monitored by nutritionists, doctors, etc. Also, most do have a lot of weight to lose, so bigger numbers are possible.

Unfortunately, it will all change after the show. Most will return to work, home/kid stresses, bills, mortgages, etc. Food will not be portioned and/or cooked for them.

The worst part of the show for me is all of the advertisements during the show. Geez, I see enough commercials already, I don't need to see even more during the show!!!

Actually they do go back tot here jobs... Last episode or the one before one lady was a nurse and she was get up at 4 workout go to work come home and workout. They do continue there everyday life!!!

jdavis193

It is television and scripted. I am pretty sure they are supplied with food and a trainer (regardless of what is shown on TV). Also, they can't really have a lot of LIFE to deal with when they have cameras around etc. It is not real life. You have to do what you can sustain. I like the show but I have gotten to where I just watch the last chance work out and weigh in because it has gotten so fake. I hate all the product placement they do to push sponsored products as well. Sorry for my negative nelly response. LOL

My thoughts too! I pretty much only watch the last 45 minutes of the show to keep up on who gets eliminated. Also, when these folks go home for the week, they are not working at a job, most have a trainer at the gym and get free gym access, and food intake is still being strictly monitored by nutritionists, doctors, etc. Also, most do have a lot of weight to lose, so bigger numbers are possible.

Unfortunately, it will all change after the show. Most will return to work, home/kid stresses, bills, mortgages, etc. Food will not be portioned and/or cooked for them.

The worst part of the show for me is all of the advertisements during the show. Geez, I see enough commercials already, I don't need to see even more during the show!!!

Actually they do go back tot here jobs... Last episode or the one before one lady was a nurse and she was get up at 4 workout go to work come home and workout. They do continue there everyday life!!!

simona1972

here is my thing - they were home, so they had to go to the gym and had all the temptations that i have and STILL lost gigantic amounts of weight - granted few of them have kids, and none of them had to go to work during that time but still -
Does anyone know what their calorie ratios are???

This info I got from another site, so I dont know how true it really is...

Calories for women are max. 1500
Calories for men are max. 1800

They are expected to burn 6000 calories according to their BodyBugg [trainer Bob actually said that] - that includes the calories burned through the day [BMR]. Their workouts are 4-6 hours daily and I would imagine if they didnt do that at home and still lost weight...they didnt do it in a healthy way. JMO.

I have A LOT to lose [starting weight was 350lbs] and Im losing at a rate of 3lbs per week right now. I exercise 1 hr a day and burn 1100 cals in that hour. Id LOVE to lose 10lbs per week but Im happy with the 3 because it's 3 that I didnt gain and it's 3 that is gone forever.

JJeMitchell

My husband and I were wondering the same thing...and I have my theory. I think since they were used to working out 4-6 hours a day while at the ranch, they probably built up a lot of muscle. For me, when I exercise a lot for a week or two straight (1.5-2 hours a day) I don't see much of a weight loss that week. However, when I cut back to easier stuff, like walking or lighter workouts, the weight comes off like crazy. I'm guessing that since they were home, they didn't work out as much or as strenuously, so some of what they lost could have been muscle or it was just easier to lose weight since they were giving their bodies a break.

I was on track in high school, where we ran about 4 miles a day and did weight-lifting 4X a week for an hour. I lost 11 pounds in 4 months. The week track ended, I weighed myself and lost 5 more pounds. I truly believe that when you give your body a break, you can burn fat easier. Even on exercise machines at the gym, there are ranges with heart rate, and the lower ones say "fat burning zone" and then as your heart rate goes up, it says "cardio vascular zone"

I see numerous posts on here where people have said that they increased their calories by 100-200 and started losing weight again. Maybe since the contestants were home, they were getting a few more calories than they realized and that's why they had such big numbers.

Maybe these theories are seriously flawed, but I cannot come up with any other reason as to why so many of them had double digits when they were home and away from the ranch. There's no way they were spending as much time in the gym and it's probably very unlikely that they ate as healthy as they do when they're with Bob and Jillian.

princesspurple

I am not here to argue...but if you don't like the show and are only going to crank on it, why bother watching it?
I was 162 pounds after having my child 12/08. I am only 140lbs or so now, but I still think it is amazing that someone that heavy can get up and do those workouts and lose that weight. I do not want to stand in front of anyone in my sportsbra and shorts, I give them a lot of credit to even apply for the show. We all know how hard it is to try to lose weight, why else would we be here on this site if it was easy right? The show may not do it the 'right' way as a lot of you are saying, but what really is the right way? A lot of people do gastric bypass which a lot say is not safe.
I do know, no matter how you lose it, the hardest thing is to maintain it. It takes a lot to be good everyday of your life. For those who try to sue the show because they gained it back..doesn't seem fair. I can't blame my husband for giving me extra helpings- it is my fault I eat them!

jwurtz

simona1972 : I like the way you think. Keep working hard and I'm sure you'll get there...

innerhottie

I was MySpace friends with several of the former contestants and they pretty much said women get around 1200 calories a day and men around 1600. They do an hour of cardio waiting for the trainers t o get there, then do an hour of whatever cardio the trainers give them while they wait for their one on one session with their trainer to do an hour of strength training.
Then they go eat, get iced down and treated by the medics (usually including therapy treatments for their overworked muscles), some take a nap and some go do more work before they repeat the whole process all over again.

So, minimum of 4 hours of cardio and 2 hours of strength training a day on the ranch.
I think their bodies are in such shock when they get home that they drop some weight just for that reason... they get to rest!
I know they still work out, but the body gets some down time.