why 2 pounds a week the goal??

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inscrutable
inscrutable Posts: 7 Member
in Motivation and Support
Biggest loser is medically supervised and everyone is disappointed if they "only" lost six pounds! They have more strength and endurance than I do so they can't be sick from it and I think the bigger losses probably motivate them more. Just want a logical answer...

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  • dmouse0225
    dmouse0225 Posts: 104
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    Because in normal people's... not tv people's... daily lives, it is NOT doctor supervised. Losing weight that fast can be very unhealthy and quick losses tend to be less sustainable. If losing 2 lbs a week is a "slow loss" then I pray to lose slowly every week!
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    (Not a doctor, nor do I play one on the internet) but it has been proven that if you lose the weight at a reasonable pace (<2 lbs per week) you are much more likely to not gain it back. That rate of loss also allows your skin a better chance to keep up, thus reducing the dreaded 'bat wings' and belly flap. It's just healthier all around.

    Personally, I think Biggest Loser is a hot mess. Good concept, terrible execution. They aren't helping people change their lives. They are playing for ratings. The number of former contestants who have gained all the weight back plus some is appalling.
  • onedayillbamilf
    onedayillbamilf Posts: 662 Member
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    Ok I can try to give you a logical answer. But first, you must give me the question.
  • bkam13
    bkam13 Posts: 6 Member
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    ^^^This^^^

    Even basing it from personal experiences, the more slowly you lose weight, the slower you tend to gain it back. So if you lose 30 pounds in 3 weeks, great for you, but you can VERY easily gain it back in 3 weeks. Or sooner. It's because your body is not used to being so underweight, so it thinks you still weigh your normal amount, thus, your appetite doesn't slow down.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Biggest loser is medically supervised and everyone is disappointed if they "only" lost six pounds! They have more strength and endurance than I do so they can't be sick from it and I think the bigger losses probably motivate them more. Just want a logical answer...
    The "Biggest Loser" is an encyclopedia of what NOT to do.
    You are going to fail with this approach.
    Starvation diets don't work.
    Why?
    Because if your calorie deficit is too great you can easily suffer from
    loss of muscle mass (slows down your metabolism) and impaired general progress.
    You have to find what is right for you but you also need to remember that your body
    is a machine and without the right type and amount of fuel there could be problems
    either with loss of muscle, loss of energy, less weight loss/plateaus, etc.

    Stick with the MFP recommendations.
    It's not a race, and you don't want to end up like Oprah Winfrey yo yoing through life fat/thin/fat/thin/fat.....
  • cheddle
    cheddle Posts: 102 Member
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    I think its all about setting a smaller goal, and then giving the user the pride/motivation from hitting that goal to keep at it, that confidence boost can be more beneficial than just a quick sharp loss in weight.

    MyFitnessPal should aid in curbing habits and changing your lifestyle, not just rapidly losing weight.

    im sure you can, by changing from 1lb/week to 2lb/week gauge the approx calorie reduction required to lose an additional lb per week and then just reduce the calorie goal manually and re-adjust every two weeks as you lose the weight
  • jmp1031
    jmp1031 Posts: 95 Member
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    I think it has to do the kind of lifestyle they live on the biggest loser and how they workout, idk, 6+ hours a day. It's not feasible for a regular person to workout that much day in and day out for the rest of our lives. That show is short-term. How many contestants have gained the weight back? Quite a few because they can't maintain the lifestyle and workout regimen they had on the ranch. Losing weight needs to be about lifestyle changes you can stick to for the long term
  • runfoodierun
    runfoodierun Posts: 59 Member
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    biggest loser is not habits in the making. its just good tv....
  • marekdds
    marekdds Posts: 2,207 Member
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    They are medically supervised, have massive amounts of weight to lose, probably exercise 6-8 hours a day and have planned nutrition where money is no object. One to two pounds a week is healthy and sustainable. Biggest loser is doing a disservice to all overweight people making believe what happens on there can happen in real life. Just my opinion.
  • shano25
    shano25 Posts: 233 Member
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    It seems that lately for every winner of the Biggest Loser who has kept the weight off, there is another competitor coming forward saying that the weight loss methods of the show were dangerous and their health wasn't good. Many are saying they were dehydrated, one said recently that every time he went to the bathroom he had urine in his blood. They are saying that behind the scenes they didn't take care of them well because they want to keep the ratings up.

    I also think 2 pounds a week is the goal because realistically, that's what we have time for. On the BL they work out all day long. They have nothing to do but work out! For those of us who have jobs and families, we can't be thinking we can lose 10 pounds a week because we don't have the time to do it safely.
  • nicintime
    nicintime Posts: 381 Member
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    Weight loss of more than 2lbs per week tends to be muscle mass, not just fat. Losing muscle mass is self sabotaging and makes it much more difficult to KEEP the weight off, and thus easier to relapse and gain it back.

    On beginning initial weight loss it is not uncommon to drop much more for a week or so, even 5-10 lbs, but much of that is water weight and your body adjusting to a new food intake.

    1-2 lbs per week is ideal for LONG TERM weight loss, and isn't that the ultimate goal? Unfortunately I have experienced this first hand, which is why I am now eating and exercising like the person I want to become, knowing that I will eventually become that. This is the main reason that diets don't work - long term. Losing the weight can happen with a multitude of different diets, but can you LIVE that way? Finding a sustainable, long term strategy for life is where it is ultimately 'at'.
  • LesaDave
    LesaDave Posts: 1,480 Member
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    Approximately how many on the biggest loser gain their weight back? 50%? 75% I have never seen the "2 yrs after Biggest Loser" pics or anything.
  • NikkiPsuedoDupuis
    NikkiPsuedoDupuis Posts: 56 Member
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    I read somewhere that the show is actually filmed over a longer period of time than they lead you believe and that the contestants do some pretty horrific things (aka saunas wearing trash bags etc) before weigh ins. Not sure how much of thats true because, for the life of me, I can't remember where I read it and I read some pretty questionable websites LOL.

    I'm pleased with my progress, and I doubt my body would take too kindly to whatever losing 10lbs a week would require :)
  • junglejd13
    junglejd13 Posts: 55 Member
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    (Not a doctor, nor do I play one on the internet) but it has been proven that if you lose the weight at a reasonable pace (<2 lbs per week) you are much more likely to not gain it back. That rate of loss also allows your skin a better chance to keep up, thus reducing the dreaded 'bat wings' and belly flap. It's just healthier all around.

    Personally, I think Biggest Loser is a hot mess. Good concept, terrible execution. They aren't helping people change their lives. They are playing for ratings. The number of former contestants who have gained all the weight back plus some is appalling.

    BATWINGS! I went to a huge(no pun intended) Biggest Loser casting once, I was sooo disappointed that I didn't get on the show and thought where I would be today if I had joined. WELL I am SOOOOOO glad that I didn't get on the show (like everyone said a large percentage gain it all back and more, YIKES) SOOO glad that I'm starting NOW to do MFP and take it off the right way, slowly and forever! And like others said, yeah you cannot go back into normal society and live a "normal" life if you have to workout 6 hours a day to maintain, just doesn't make sense. So yeah, go all MFPs for being awesome.
  • cruiser3004
    cruiser3004 Posts: 72 Member
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    I would have thought all of the loose skin alot of the contestants end up with at the end of their "Journey" should be reason enough not to lose the weight that fast.

    Don't forget, the end result of years of junk food abuse, is not just a fat body!! Think of all the damage we have done to our internal organs as well. Do it smart, do it slow and let your body heal itself.

    My 2 cents.
  • fatgirlzrule2
    fatgirlzrule2 Posts: 172 Member
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    I know that 2 pounds a week is the magical number (just like 1200 calories), but I am a very big girl with A LOT of weight to lose, and I was told by my doctor and my dietician that it is ok for me to be losing more (I specifically asked them if it is ok and healthy for me to be losing sometimes 5 pounds a week, and they said it was ok right now). For someone like myself, who has been big my entire life, my skin is only going to "bounce" back so much. It has been stretched for so long I know that when I get to the weight I want to get to, I will probably have to have skin removal surgery. If I only lost half a pound a week, when I get to my goal weight, I am going to have extra skin. That is just a reality. To think that, for me, that it will magically shrink away is ridiculous.

    I do agree that The Biggest Loser is NOT what ANYONE should be basing their weight loss on. It is so unrealistic. As someone mentioned, the timelline of events is "fixed". They say it is a weekly weigh in, but sometimes it's closer to 2 weeks, so the losses look huge. Along with the reports of people dehydrating themselves before weigh-ins, amongs other things. It amazes me that they will sometimes show how the contestants "fixed" the weigh-ins by drinking gallons of water before the weigh-ins, but they sure don't show you the other side! I watched the show for many years but stopped watching last year. I lost a lot of respect for Jillian Michaels when she started selling weight loss pills. Pathetic.

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