How do The Biggest Loser contestants survive?!

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skinnyrunner2
skinnyrunner2 Posts: 31
in Health and Weight Loss
They workout for 6+ hours a day and somehow manage to survive on 1,200 calories? HOW? Obviously this isn't sustainable, but I don't understand how someone could keep this up for 2 days, let alone 2 months.

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  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
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    Money.
  • RoosMommy02
    RoosMommy02 Posts: 10 Member
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    I keep up with a lot of them on Facebook and I've heard tons of horror stories of stuff that they had to endure. It's crazy! No amount of money is worth what they have to go through and sadly that's why over 1/2 of them gain most of their weight back. I read from Suzy (Season 3) that on "weigh in" day that they don't eat and basically dehydrate themselves so the scale will show a big loss. It's pretty sad.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    They workout for 6+ hours a day and somehow manage to survive on 1,200 calories? HOW? Obviously this isn't sustainable, but I don't understand how someone could keep this up for 2 days, let alone 2 months.

    They do have a lot of calories to use up, so they don't have to eat that much if at all for a long while. They're motivated by competition, money, publicity, health gains, "doing it for the kids" and all the rest.

    They're told to eat 70% of their BMR and average TDEE at week 6 was reported in one group as 4500 calories a day.

    I can hear the exploding heads as people get to grips with a net calorie intake of -3000 cals/day and eating 30% less than BMR. LOL.

    "The exercise component
    of the competition consisted of 90 min/d (6 d/wk) of directly
    supervised vigorous circuit training and/or aerobic training. Sub-
    jects were encouraged to exercise up to an additional 3 h/d. Di-
    etary intake was not monitored; however, subjects were advised
    to consume a calorie-restricted diet greater than 70% of their
    baseline energy requirements as calculated by the following: 21.6
    kcal/kg⅐d ϫ FFM (kilograms) ϩ 370 kcal/d (23). "
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
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    They don't eat just 1200 calories a day.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    They workout for 6+ hours a day and somehow manage to survive on 1,200 calories? HOW? Obviously this isn't sustainable, but I don't understand how someone could keep this up for 2 days, let alone 2 months.

    By being under constant doctor supervision? They aren't you and me; they're under the constant watchful eye of I don't even know how many people cause people falling out or getting sick is bad for ratings.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
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    Money, and they are on national TV. Plus isolation from everyone else except other contestants would keep them bored to death if they just sat around. I don't believe they have any internet access and limited TV time. So if 6-9hours of you day was committed to working out, then it's like having a job.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • JUDDDing
    JUDDDing Posts: 1,367 Member
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    People are generally not quite as fragile as the MFP forums sometimes make them seem.
  • bootsiejayne
    bootsiejayne Posts: 151 Member
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    People are generally not quite as fragile as the MFP forums sometimes make them seem.

    ^^^^THIS
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    People are generally not quite as fragile as the MFP forums sometimes make them seem.

    +1

    OMG negative net calories !
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
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    People are generally not quite as fragile as the MFP forums sometimes make them seem.

    +1

    OMG negative net calories !
    +2!

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