Watch the Biggest Loser!

I don't know if any of you watch this show or not, but you should! It is so inspiring & motivating. The trainers provide healthy eating tips throughout the show plus general fitness tips. The workouts that the contestants do are probably too intense for us Wii Fit users (and most require a gym) but to see how much weight these people can lose is just amazing. It will truly make you see that losing 100 pounds can be done. One of the trainers has his team do yoga, a lot of the same poses that are on the Wii Fit! I never really believed that Yoga could be that beneficial, but I believe it now. The one thing I don't like about the show is that it is a reality show & therefore people do get eliminated & sent home, which sucks because they all need to be there under the guidance of those trainers. So anyway, please watch on Tuesday nights from 8-10 (I know that's 2 whole hours, but use you DVR/Tivo to record it so you can zoom thru commercials & some of the dramatic "fluff" that makes it a reality show).

I'll set my DVR!

I've watched a few episodes now. I had to chuckle with the way they advertise national brands right in the show. Cheerios, Fiber One, Gum, forget what else.

I wonder though.... a healthy weight loss according to reputable sources is UP TO 2 pounds per week. Perhaps more when a person first begins a weight loss program but after the first few weeks one should not be losing a ton of weight each week. I've managed to shed 2 pounds per week on my first month of watching my diet with NO exercise. I suspect I'll increase the loss once I get my menopausal metabolism fixed with some exercise. But some of these people are losing 11-15 pounds in a week Makes me pale in comparison, and really rather envious

So here I am, s-l-o-w-l-y losing weight while I try to remember what it was like to be able to tuck my shirt in my pants and sport a nice fashion belt.

As I mentioned, I just viewed a few episodes but I'm curious..... has anyone tracked the participants from previous years to see if they've managed to keep most of their weight off? I imagine it would be difficult to learn how to maintain healthy eating and exercising habits.

Steph wrote:
I wonder though.... a healthy weight loss according to reputable sources is UP TO 2 pounds per week. Perhaps more when a person first begins a weight loss program but after the first few weeks one should not be losing a ton of weight each week. I've managed to shed 2 pounds per week on my first month of watching my diet with NO exercise. I suspect I'll increase the loss once I get my menopausal metabolism fixed with some exercise. But some of these people are losing 11-15 pounds in a week Makes me pale in comparison, and really rather envious

This baffles me as well. I have also always heard that 2 lbs / week is the MAX one should shoot for, and 1 lb / week is a good goal.

Back in Sept when I started I reduced my calorie intake considerably and was exercising 30-60 min. per day (with one free day per week with no exercise or food restrictions).

I managed to hit that 2 lbs / week target doing all that. I don't think I could have done any more. Of course, after several weeks of this (about 6 weeks), I was a total crab and slowly going crazy (literally). I could tell this wasnt' good for me and slowed down (the holiday season helped with that too.) I'm shooting for 1 lb / week right now.


I have no idea how these folks lose so much per week, so I can only guess.

Theories from a Monkey:

- from what I understand, all the contestants are at a camp. Maybe they are doing several hours of exercise per day thus burning more calories. I don't think even this would explain it entirely.

- Perhaps a lot of this is water weight. Since they're at camp they are eating pretty well and their bodies are finally letting go of the excess water. This could explain the initial large weight drops, but wouldn't explain the consistant losses every week.

- Internal set-point. I don't know a lot about this, but have heard that one's body has an internal set point for weight, or even several depending on what conditions one is experiencing (environment, eating, etc...). Once they get their metabolisms going by starting the programs, their bodies are naturally tring to get to those set points. The further one is from a set point, the faster the weight comes off, and as one loses the weight and gets closer to the set point, the weight loss slows.

- I dunno. I'm just a monkey.

I suspect the trainers have them on very restricted diets. When Bob the trainer was promoting Fiber One cereal, he told them to have a half cup serving with fat free milk. Well, that's half of a normal serving I think. I have one cup of nutritional cereal with 1% milk, probably at least double + the calories of that. The show shows the participants exercising in a gym as well as participating in games and competitions. They keep 'em moving, for sure. There is a reason that they are losing weight rapidly. Again, I just wonder how they KEEP it off.

Steph wrote: There is a reason that they are losing weight rapidly. Again, I just wonder how they KEEP it off.

Well, you got me interested. This is the first article I found. I'll try to post more as I can find them:

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/07/04/the_biggest_loser_where_are_they_now.php

(notice it's from 2007)

A recent article in Time magazine checked in with some of the former “Biggest Loser” winners, including Benson who has gained back roughly 90 pounds after the show was over.

He claims that as soon as the show was over, he regained “32 pounds in 5 days simply by drinking water.” This is incredible and points to the fact that when any person loses weight rapidly, (faster than 1-2 pounds a week) normally the weight loss is mostly due to water loss.

a-ha! water!

One former participant who is still losing weight after losing the show is Kelly Minner. The first-season runner-up went from “242 lbs. to 163 lbs. by the finale and now weighs 140 lbs.”

Here's a neat Where-are-they-now page:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28239000/?pg=3#TDY_BLoser_WATN2

Thanks so much for the "where they are now" link, FitMonkey. I've always wondered if these people manage to maintain their weight after leaving the show. Looks like some do & some don't!

For those of you who don't watch the show, the contestants manage to lose so much weight on a weekly basis because they went from sitting on the couch eating junk food to working out 6 hours a day & eating healthy. And don't worry, they are strictly monitored by doctors, so losing "too much" in a week isn't a bad thing under doctor supervision. And of course a lot of them can't maintain their new-found figures once they get home because 1) they can't spend 6 hours in a gym everyday and 2) it's not as easy to eat healthy at home when there is temptation all around you.

The important thing isn't always necessarily the number of pounds they lose, but the lifestyle changes that they have made & will hopefully stick to through the rest of their lives!