I was recently interviewed for an article in the NY Times about the television show “The Biggest Loser“. I was asked my opinion of the show and if I thought it was realistic or set people up for failure. I had some opinions of course, but you can read about that in the New York Times.
In the mean time, I’d like to ask you quite simply:
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If you have any thoughts on the Biggest Loser, please leave them in the comments below. As for the article, you can read my comments in the New York Times. It was also picked up by the entertainment section of MSN.
There was an article in a newspaper the other day about it. As they described the participants train several times a day (1 -1,5 hours resistance and weight training, 3 hours of aerobics) and consume 1300-1500/1500-2000 calories (depends on gender), there are also MDs monitoring them, the very professional coaches and they have all the time in the world only for themselves.
So, they train as professional athletes but eat less. So I see no reason why anybody would not loose weight under these circumstances. 🙂 And how fast it happens depends on genetics and their own metabolism.
Yes, but for someone not on the show, is it realistic.
I think it shows that losing weight is possible, which is a big first step for a lot of people. And often people need a significant loss at first to persuade them it’s worth it. If you’ve got 200 pounds to lose, seeing a half a pound a week is not motivating.
But the hothouse environment is not attainable for anyone else. In my opinion they are eating unrealistically low calories for the amount of activity — that’s OK for a few weeks at a time (to cut for a specific event for instance) but not the kind of diet any should keep up for months or years, let alone be able to keep up, mentally.
I don’t know much about their experiences after the show is over, though. I haven’t followed it much.
Biggest Loser is and will always be entertainment first. As a weight loss program, it works for those on the show because they are sequestered away from their families, friends, jobs and other stressful distractions while using drastic measures to achieve drastic results. The way it is packaged on TV makes it look like another magic solution to people’s weight problems. But like many other reality shows (which are hardly ever based on reality) it can be as entertaining as heck, which is why it is so popular especially since more people can relate to being overweight than can relate to being stranded on a tropical island.
Realistic? No
Setting people up for failure? Only those without realistic expectations for weight loss
I voted yes. It’s realistic for the people involved. The rest of us just watch it on TV anyway (well, I’ve seen it a few times, anyway.)
They just eat little and exercise a lot. Of course that’s a realistic way to lose weight.
I voted no. The reason is because it’s not the norm to lose that much weight in the time frame of which they do. Those results are not typical.
I think the show is somewhat realistic in the fact that it can help everyday people on their weightloss journey. The one thing that bugs me about the show is how little they discuss food. What you put in your mouth is so important but it is not touched on very often in the show. I can truly empatize with those on the show and I find it motivating to watch. The real proof is in can they keep the weight off.
with 4 hours of exercise a day and limited diet to 1500 calories, those people should be losing 5 lbs a week (estimate 1200 calories exercise, 1500 calorie deficit) or more. can’t see why they are not losing more weight.
I am watching the Biggest Loser tonight for the third time since the show began airing. (I don’t watch much television)However, EVERY time I see this show I am so angry that I could scream. As a fitness professional, I am so frustrated that this garbage continues to mislead people about what is possible. The morbidly obese individuals on the show are doing incredible amounts of unsafe and ineffective exercise that should not be mimicked by the general population. Not only is it unrealistic, but terribly irresponsible. The contestants are allowed to have terrible form while exercising (spinning out of control on Indoor Cycling bikes with no apparent resistance or coaching) and put through humiliating “challenges” (I witnessed a donut eating contest while looking for $5000-Yeah America!…donuts for dollars…) Anyway I am clearly ranting, but here’s the deal…Wake up people. You didn’t gain three hundred pounds in a year and your not gonna lose it like that either. Lifelong committment to change and change in your priorities is about the only thing that will make it happen. Start by turning off the TV and going for a walk.
FitPro, I love the passion in your message.
I teach a change in lifestyle, an approach to health by incorporating whole food meals and strength training.
Thanks for your comments
Weight loss that is that rapid seems dangerous to me. Having a doctor right there isn’t magic, it’s simply a layer of protection.
I will be interested to see the long term effects of this rapid weight loss.
Last night the final 4 contestants, especially the men, were beginning to look gaunt, almost sickly. To lose over 2 pounds a day for a week, after all those weeks of weight loss made my husband and I wonder if they’d starved themselves that week and had gone into dehydration for that final weigh in.
I’m working on my health first. If my weight follows, that’ll be great. A year ago I was walking badly, in a lot of pain, with a cane. 8 months ago I was down to using a walker, feeling depressed. I got surgical help for a damaged knee finally. I’m 62.
Then I started working on my fitness. I may always walk funny, I don’t know. But I’m no longer using a cane or walker.
These days I’m enjoying my life. I bought a recumbent tricycle and ride around town on that. It’s so much fun I can’t wipe the grin off my silly face when I’m out on it.
I’ve known people who have damaged their health with rapid weight loss and excessive dieting. I just don’t want to do that.
And my opinion for my OWN fitness quest is that I have to make it fun. Health and fitness are my emphasis. Maybe weight loss will be a side-effect.
Janet
Beautifully put Janet! Health first, weight loss as a side effect. That’s my motto
One of the 4th season contestants, Isabeau Miller, became a personal trainer to “pay it forward.” She’s started her own fit camp, and her website is Rock Hard Body and Soul, I think. BUT, she has put some weight back on, not all of it, though (see the FitCamp videos at http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/).
So does it work long-term or only when you commit to working out for long stretches of time and going hungry? What about the effects of excess exercise on the body, such as too much cortisol? I don’t think it’s healthy.
I have a very new blog called My Amazonic Self – One Women’s Transformation from Couch Potato to Amazon Goddess at Age 40 in 12 Months. I wanted to show people that it’s not just about fad diets or exercising 3 hours a day but living a total health life style, and exercise, even the foods while on a diet that we do chose isn’t always the right choice. And over the next 12 months I wanted to show people how important it was to also repair damages that had been made to the digestive system and how one would clean that up also.
Anyways my comment about the biggest loser is; I hope that people who are over weight whether grossly or just a little will be inspired by the look of the contestants on the show and do their own research on how to obtain that goal. And as it says in the article in the NYT’s quoted on this article the people on The Biggest Loser have nothing but to lose weight to do they are away from the stresses of life and have Doctors and trainers, cooks and phycoligist working with them 24/7. So I would hope that people would be logical enough to search out proper weight loss and exercise procedures and always consult your family doctor when trying any new diet or exercise program.
Sorry some how my comments were sent with out hitting submit and I wasn’t quite done yet. I also wanted to say that there is one thing that people confuse and that is the word “diet” this isn’t something that you do for a few months or to loss 20 lbs, diet is a life style its a way of life, people who are over weight should change their life style. I was 386 lbs in 97′ and am now 165 lbs. With IMO about 30lbs to loss and a lot of toning. I do this daily with thinking about it, I have a very low carb diet I try to eat organic whole raw foods and organic meats I’m not rich in fact we are like everyone else we struggle like any family of 6 would but this is what is important to us, with our our health what do we have?
It’s been almost a year and a half since I last wrote here. I have indeed found a way that is causing weight loss, but I didn’t start it for weight loss. I started it because I was looking for a way to get my blood glucose down. I found that way, my blood sugar, when I follow my food plan well, stays in the normal range. If I don’t eat enough, it falls too low and I feel bad. If I eat something off my food plan, it goes up some. If I pig out on fudge (only did that once several months ago) it goes UP.
I have so far lost 15 pounds. It comes out to a hair over a pound and a half a week. I think that’s safe. Any faster and I think we’re entering dangerous territory.
BUT, if I quit losing weight at some point, like maybe some set point that I inadvertently established somewhere along the line, that’s likely where I will stay. I am doing this to regulate my blood glucose.
I am eating low glycemic. I don’t eat much meat, because meat doesn’t settle well with me, never has really. I try to eat whole grain breads (read the label, some that say whole grain are still made largely with white, enriched flour.) Ezekiel Bread is good for this manner of eating.
Vegetables, fresh fruit are both important. Fruit juice is out, forever. I’ve been told that people who are watching their blood sugar should not drink fruit juice, but should eat the whole fruit. It did make a difference in my readings.
A balanced protein isn’t that hard to get, but people should research that if they don’t eat much meat.
I eat wild rice and long grain brown rice with beans now and again, NO white rice, none.
I eat black beans or red beans.
I eat eggs and drink milk and even have cheese now and again.
Anyway, you get the idea, no refined flours, no processed foods, no gooey desserts. That said, let me explain my personal policy on that. I have a nothing is out completely. If I really want something badly, I eat it, but just a little of it. And I have to recognize that my sugar reading might be high later from that. But if I make anything totally off limits, that is too restrictive.
Anyway, I have been losing weight steadily, much to my surprise. I have to eat enough food to keep my sugar up in normal ranges, but not so much that it goes above normal.
This is all working on a low glycemic diet where I am eating 5 or 6, sometimes even 7, times a day. But small meals. That way I stay on an even keel.
And somehow I am losing weight! I’m glad about that for as long as it lasts. I just got way too fat. Since last time I wrote so much about my life has changed. My husband lost his job and didn’t find another, so we had to retire. Some of my kids lost jobs. Depression set in. My best friend of my entire life died last December. And some other things happened. So, it was either grab hold of life or let go and spiral down.
BTW, this is not about looks for me. I don’t worry so much about that as I do about my health. Yeah, I enjoy looking pleasant and like to wear color, but looking thin isn’t one of my priorities. Being healthy is.
I’m feeling pretty good. And that’s great in my book!
If anyone read this far, thank you!
Janet