Biggest Loser TV show

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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.

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.