After ‘The Biggest Loser'

Say Nay · ‎03-12-2010

Interesting read in NYT explaining physiological changes with contestants on The Biggest Loser and why they could not maintain their weight loss after the show.

"...Kevin Hall, a scientist at a federal research center who admits to a weakness for reality TV, had the idea to follow the “Biggest Loser” contestants for six years after that victorious night [Season 8 Danny Cahill's win after losing 239 pounds]. The project was the first to measure what happened to people over as long as six years after they had lost large amounts of weight with intensive dieting and exercise.

The results, the researchers said, were stunning. They showed just how hard the body fights back against weight loss.

“It is frightening and amazing,” said Dr. Hall, an expert on metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. “I am just blown away.”

It has to do with resting metabolism, which determines how many calories a person burns when at rest. When the show began, the contestants, though hugely overweight, had normal metabolisms for their size, meaning they were burning a normal number of calories for people of their weight. When it ended, their metabolisms had slowed radically and their bodies were not burning enough calories to maintain their thinner sizes..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?smid=pl-share&_r=1&utm_sourc...

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bri20 · ‎03-10-2016

That's interesting, @Say Nay.

I was reading an article last week that most of the contestants had gained back what they lost, which really isn't surprising. It's unrealistic to exercise 6-8 hours a day and eat what they were eating while doing the show.

Say Nay · ‎03-12-2010

@Beachy1 wrote:
That's interesting, @Say Nay.

I was reading an article last week that most of the contestants had gained back what they lost, which really isn't surprising. It's unrealistic to exercise 6-8 hours a day and eat what they were eating while doing the show.

I agree. I haven't watched the show in a long time. I stopped when the trainers were becoming too abusive to contestants.

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bri20 · ‎03-10-2016

I stopped watching too.

I was always afraid one of them was going to pass out or something really bad was going to happen to one of them.

MaggieMack · ‎10-01-2014

It used to be one of my never miss shows, but I lost interest, too. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the contestants gain weight after they return to their normal lives. It's good show biz, but not good science as it relates to the complicated synergies of the human body.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. - Aesop

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

@bri20So true. Almost no one has the time in their life to spend so many of their waking hours on that kind of exercise. And who has that kind of support around them - where everyone is either a trainer or is also trying to lose major weight. Not many.

However, the vast majority of people who lose weight in a slower, more realistic manner also regain everything they lose and actually tewnd to gain even beyond where they were than at the time they began a diet regimen.

It's a discouragingly small percentage of losers who hold onto the majority of the weight they lose or even a few of those extra pounds.

That's the conundrum I'd like to see addressed. I don't care about Biggest Loser kinds of competitions made for TV.

missy1 · ‎03-10-2010

I was suprised to see Ali Vincent gain the weight back. She was a rep on the Q, for wellness/diet products.

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SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

Lose it fast or slow... is is just HARD to keep the darn weight from creeping back on.....

You have to be VERY DILIGENT and really work at keeping the weight you lost off.

My body has a set point where it likes to be... most people think I am slim at that set point weight... BUT.... I like to be at least 10 pounds below that COMFORTABLE SETPOINT WEIGHT. Last year I really worked at getting to "my goal" weight... and I actually went even below that. I was thinner than I had been in 30 years. Actually probably too thin, but it sure felt GREAT!!!!!!.

I went down to a size 2-4 comfortably.

Here 9 months later, I am back at my normal set point weight.... a size 6-8. Even with walking daily and eating healthy and carefully, I just could not stick to my very low calorie daily diet to maintain the very slim me. It was almost painful to eat so carefully and measure out every nut to get to a size 2.

The older I get, the less important it is to bei the very slim ME ... I want to be healthy, but I am not so concerned with being perfect which was always the battle in my younger years. It is just so darn hard.