Extreme Weight Loss - i.e. The Biggest Loser

NonnyMary
NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
in Food and Nutrition
If you ever watch these weight loss shows, they are disappointed when they lose 8 pounds in a week (they wanted 20 or 30 pounds loss!). Or the one where they lose 1 pound a day - often due to them spending 6 hours per day in the gym.

Not sure what they eat.

I notice they sometimes regain back all or some of the weight.

Not that I'm going to do this, but what do you think about it compared to what we do here?

is it really sustainable? are they going into starvation mode? Any other comments?

Replies

  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    some of the contestants get berated by the trainers when they lose 2 pound that week. sheesh!
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    I watched one season of The Biggest Loser and wasn't "inspired" by it...at all. It's a competition where they are required to do nothing but think about their weight, have work out space/gear provided for no charge that I can see. Their food is provided and they have the personal trainers who can get in their face and demand they work their *kitten* off to win the big prize.

    I don't think it's ultimately sustainable. Once a person is stuck back into their regularly scheduled life with a spouse, kids, job, home, etc I can't see how they could continue to commit to that kind of work out and diet schedule. If you google Biggest Loser contestants there are quite a few articles that talk about the day before weigh in and what they don't eat and the day of weigh-in when they go out of their way to dehydrate themselves so the scale will show a bigger number.

    In my opinion, it's not healthy, does nothing to help with a person's relationship with food, and feels very disordered in a way.
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
    I have been watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition (with Chris Powell) on HuluPlus because I'm home a lot with a 3-month-old. It's better than The Biggest Loser because it focuses on long-term goals (every 90 days for a year).

    However I was just remarking to my husband last night that they will take these people who weigh over 400 lbs sometimes and put them on a 1500 calorie/day diet PLUS have them work out like crazy with no eating back their calories. A 400+ pound person burns a lot of calories while working out, so I'm sure they quickly burn through those 1500 calories and then some, giving them a negative net every day for a year. I could lose all my weight in less than 6 months with free groceries, a brand new home gym, personal training, 1500 calories a day and hours of working out 6 days/week! But that wouldn't be very healthy or sustainable.

    Granted I'm exclusively nursing a baby, but my net calories after nursing are 1500, so I actually eat 2000 plus any exercise calories. And I'm far from 400 lbs.

    The transformations are amazing and all, which is what makes it watchable, but I question the methods.

    Edited for typo
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
    Sustainable? Their diet is drastically low in calories and they exercise 6-8 hrs a week. I don't know about you - but I want a life!

    One contestant said she lived on diet jello and asparagus and spent several 6-hr sessions in a sauna prior to a weigh-in. One contestant claimed that as soon as the show was over, he regained “32 pounds in 5 days simply by drinking water because he was so dehydrated. And the vast majority of the contestants have gained back a good portion of their starting weight.

    I only saw one show and could only sit through a part of it before I turned it off. I personally don't find it motivating to be berated and chastised.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
    Biggest Loser - is a WEIGHT loss competition. Not fat loss, not body transformation, not path to better health. It's a TV show for entertainment (for some).

    I don't think it is sustainable. I've never done 6 hours of exercise a day. I work, and I sleep, and I have a life outside my gym time!

    Losing weight requires some change, maintaining it requires a lifestyle change, forever.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    I swear they are also going to break something.. like when they lift the kettleballs and dont use proper form. i mean it looks like they are going to throw their back out.

    That other show which i think it is called "I used to be fat" she had a goal for ONE day to lose 7,000 pounds, mostly in the gym.. she had a watch or something on and it recorded how much exercise calories she burned, every two hours or so she'd look at it and it read that she lost 2,000 calories exercising i guess. so she burned 2 pounds of fat in a day???? how is that possible? Well at the end of the day she looked like a zombie and didn't burn 7,000 but like 6,000 and while the trainer was there hollering at her to come back, she just walked off like a zombie .. wow....
  • brraanndi
    brraanndi Posts: 325 Member
    They go to a camp, for what, 6 weeks? Where they don't have to work for a living and ALL, like for 8 hours a day they do is work out. Ofcourse they gain weight back, no one can maintain that in real life.

    And they have hurt themselves before, read this by the awesome Golda Poretsky - http://www.bodylovewellness.com/2010/06/09/kai-hibbard-biggest-loser-finalist-part-1-of-3/
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
    No, of course it's not sustainable. The object is to lose as much weight as possible in a short amount of time, and that's the entire focus of their lives for that time. A TV show about sustainable weight loss would be boring.
  • MyJourney1960
    MyJourney1960 Posts: 1,133 Member
    I think the biggest problem with that show is that the weight loss takes place in a controlled environment. even if they *weren't* exercising for 6 hours a day, even if it was just 2 hours a day, they are removed from their home/family/spouse/children/everyday life. and as we all know, getting to be *that fat* is not *just* about the food/exercise, but it's about *why* we eat, the emotional side. so you put these people in an isolated environment where they don't have to deal with the emotional crapola that makes us run for the chips/soda/comfort food, but when they leave and go home to the issues that are there, they haven't learn to deal with anything.

    I think that if it was used as a "jump start" for people who are extremely obese, and then they would continue in their home town with a trainer/therapist/nutritionist, they might have a chance of succeeding.
  • walleyclan1
    walleyclan1 Posts: 2,784 Member
    Eating that number of calories and exercising that much is not sustainable but you have to remember that once they reach their goal weight and are no longer trying to lose 8 lb a week that will result in them being able to eat more calories and workout less and maintain their weight.
  • walleyclan1
    walleyclan1 Posts: 2,784 Member
    They would need a weekly calorie deficit of 28,800 kcal each week in order to lose 8 lb/week. Once they go into maintinance that would go away.
  • lolapedia88
    lolapedia88 Posts: 178 Member
    No, of course it's not sustainable. The object is to lose as much weight as possible in a short amount of time, and that's the entire focus of their lives for that time. A TV show about sustainable weight loss would be boring.

    Considering its been on for over 14 seasons with most if not all contestants keeping the weight off... Looks like it works
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    I wonder if the ones who lose gobs of weight in such a short time - would be able to keep it off if they went from The Biggest Loser to MFP and kept it up with that.
  • JDBLY11
    JDBLY11 Posts: 577 Member
    No, of course it's not sustainable. The object is to lose as much weight as possible in a short amount of time, and that's the entire focus of their lives for that time. A TV show about sustainable weight loss would be boring.

    Considering its been on for over 14 seasons with most if not all contestants keeping the weight off... Looks like it works

    A bigger percentage of those who go on biggest loser maintain their weight loss after the show than people in real life who lose weight so that speaks to its benefits. I think the relationships formed are a big help. There is a lot of accountability after the show. I do not think it is that bad to lose weight quickly with a very high calorie deficit over a short period of time. The people do not work out for hours a day after they are done with the show. Usually it is like an hour or two a day that they will work out based on my reading books by people who had been on the show.

    And the dehydration problems occurred during the first few seasons. Now they have rules that they cannot be dehydrated before weighing in and have to drink some water if they are dehydrated.
  • MaryJane_8810002
    MaryJane_8810002 Posts: 2,082 Member
    That show pisses me off because it is completely unsustainable. Yes they teach you how to lose the weight but not how to maintain it.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Sustainability is making the commitment to this being the rest of your life and adhering to that approach by eating in a modest caloric deficit to obtain a weight loss of 1 to 2 lbs. a week until you reach your goal, getting your butt off the couch and get moving whatever that may be and take your journey one day at a time making each day as successful as you possibly can so that when you lay your head on your pillow each night you have no regrets then get a good nights sleep and rinse and repeat.... Beyond that I don't see the need to do it any other way..... Best of Luck...
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    Never watched Extreme Weight Loss but I will say this, Biggest Loser was where I "started". I mean this was like physically watching where I was headed eating 6500+ calories a day. I could literally watch my future and at the same time, I was watching with my eyes all the excuses I made being destroyed in the ranch. I used to scream "oh genetics" or "oh the time" or blah blah blah. You know the drill. We've all made those excuses. Biggest Loser showed me to be above excuses and thats what I now try to achieve so... thank you Biggest Loser.
  • kem05
    kem05 Posts: 97
    It is inspiring for me to see the transformations. That's pretty much where it stops for me. I'm sure we would all have dramatic losses if we spent most our time in the gym every day.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    I cant believe how one of the guys can lose 20 pounds in one week, then 15 pounds in the next.
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
    I wonder if the ones who lose gobs of weight in such a short time - would be able to keep it off if they went from The Biggest Loser to MFP and kept it up with that.

    Yes if you are held accountable. Most people who are on that show got that big cause they had an unhealthy relationship with food. So, if they were taught to eat in a healthy manner and resolve the underlying causes, then them transitioning to mfp and keeping the weight off would be no issue.
    The problem is most people tend to go back to what they know and what is comfortable (bad eating habits and no exercise). This is always the problem with all extreme diets, they are unsustainable for a long period of time and the dieters tend to yoyo in weight (down after diet, up when they stop it).

    You aren't going to magically gain the weight back, you have to eat more than your maintenance to gain that weight.

    There is a reason the Biggest Loser people try to keep up with former contestants, it's simply brand management by making sure most of them stay somewhat in shape.

    This article below covers a couple of good points.

    http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/public/614.cfm
  • Sunitagt
    Sunitagt Posts: 486 Member
    They go to a camp, for what, 6 weeks? Where they don't have to work for a living and ALL, like for 8 hours a day they do is work out. Ofcourse they gain weight back, no one can maintain that in real life.

    And they have hurt themselves before, read this by the awesome Golda Poretsky - http://www.bodylovewellness.com/2010/06/09/kai-hibbard-biggest-loser-finalist-part-1-of-3/

    ^^^

    It's a TV show. The contestants are coached, edited, and time is not real. Read through that article. If you have ever worked in entertainment, you know reality TV shows like this have nothing to do with reality. It is unhealthy, and the people who keep the weight off from BL are probably berated by NBC to do so because it's in their contract and NBC may end up with lower ratings if people start noticing the contestants gaining their weight back.
  • dunnodunno
    dunnodunno Posts: 2,290 Member
    I cant believe how one of the guys can lose 20 pounds in one week, then 15 pounds in the next.

    You have to realize that the show isn't based on week to week formats. I thought I read where they edit footage of a few weeks or even a month.
  • losingw8now
    losingw8now Posts: 105 Member
    There is a big different between Extreme Makeover, weight loss edition and The Biggest Loser. The Extreme weight loss edition I watch and it is very motivating. Of course, because they have the personal trainer with them, living with them, the first 3 months, helping them workout and eat right and stay under calories, and not work or go to school as usual, then it makes it out of our realm of realistic. That's why it's called Extreme - also the clients on there are much larger than myself, and I realize that when you get that much weight moving at first and cutting calories that drastically, the weight is just going to drop off.

    The second quarter is when they start doing it on their own. They all have slip ups, gain some of it back or at least drastically slow down on how much they are losing. They are also lighter by then, and their bodies are getting back used to the calories and workouts, so they actually have to work harder, and suddenly doing it on their own and getting back into a normal lifestyle, they don't do as well. But then he helps them get refocused by 3rd quarter and they start staying the course more, from what I've seen.

    That show has been very inspiring to me - I have no desire to go as "extreme" as they do - move out my LR furniture and replace it with gym equipment, or eat so low a calorie count, but as someone else on here said, I have been able to see all of my excuses used by them, and then see how, if they stick with it and give up making excuses, they have transformed their bodies, I know it is possible. The additional thing they do on that show is address any underlying emotional issues that keep creeping in causing the person to sabatoge themselves so that they can stay successful. He also focuses them on eating and being healthy.

    I want to be that successful, and I think I can do it in a year or year and a half (want to lose over 100 lbs). It does come off more quickly in the beginning so it is totally doable. We just need to stay the course.

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