Questions about Biggest Loser...

I heard they eat 1200 to 1500 calories and then they burn about 3000-5000 calories a day. They are living off of their body when it gets to the end.

I just purchased Jillian Michaels book and signed up for her website and nowhere does she advocate for eating your exercise calories. Sorry, I know this will create quite a stir here on MFP, don't shoot the messenger please. :flowerforyou:

Here's what she says about caloric intake: Her book "Making the Cut" recommends you stick to your "majic number" , meaning calories. That number is your BMR-basically the calories that your body burns if you were laying on the couch all day. My BMR is 1364, MFP recommends a 1200 calorie diet, not including exercise calories. Her website though did a calculation for me and recommended a 1200 calorie diet, nothing about adding exercise calories. It's true that the biggest loser contestants work out 3 hours a day. 1 hour of circuit training and later in the day 2 hours of cardio.

HOpe this clears things up!

I'm not going to sit here and say the way MFP recommends is the only way to lose weight, it's not.

Creating a calorie deficit is ONE way to create a calorie deficit. There are other safe ways to do so. And as Human beings, we are free to choose which ever one suits our needs.
You can set a calorie goal that is reasonable, and not eat exercise calories, you can zig zag, you can create a larger deficit and eat exercise calories, you can eat maintenance and exercise to create the deficit. there are all kinds of ways to do it healthy. But you're here, on MFP, we're going to assume you're choosing the way the site is designed. Why else be here? There are lots of sites out there that are communal in nature that support their members the same way.

I chose MFP because my wife's best friend, and trainer, a woman with over 20 years experience in training, Certifications by ACE NASM, ACSM (3 of the most well known and widely thought of as best certifications out there) as well as being certified in nutrition, group fitness, and geriatric training, agreed with the philosophy of creating a deficit and eating exercise calories back.

That being said, Jillian Michaels doesn't agree with keeping a deficit for life either. She has stated as much, We need to be more flexible about this stuff.
Here is a You Tube video of her telling a "fit" person at one of her seminars to eat at maintenance and use exercise to take the weight off. Which IMHO IS "Eating your exercise calories" or as close to it as makes no difference. It's just another way to express it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFbOEVG5JIQ

There are more videos by people, Jillian Michaels included that state this same thing, She has also advised people on her radio show the same thing as well. As we approach a "normal" weight, we need to focus on our muscles, not our fat. That means eating enough to keep our body metabolically active, and let the body worry about the fat loss.

I'm as big a fan of TBL as the next guy (or girl), but it's a warped perception of reality. It's not going to be possible for the vast majority of us, to lose the kind of weight these people do, in the time they do it. We need to be more realistic in our goals, 100 plus pounds in 18 weeks is a ridiculous concept, more healthy would be 20 lbs in 18 weeks or may 30 if we are in the obese range to start with.

I agree it may not be the healthiest way to do it, but they are under doctor supervision.

Lets face it, losing this much weight is saving some of these peoples lives. Especially the young ones, this will hopefully improve their quality of life for many, many years to come. Not to mention the money they will save on food and medical care in the future!

Why not?!? Sometimes it's good to mix things up. I go through times of eating them and times of not eating them back. It all depends on how your body reacts. Just remember to maintain proper nutrition.