THE BIGGEST LOSER — Season: 17 — Pictured: (l-r) Whitney Clark, Felicia Buffkin — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)
The Biggest Loser has been a popular show for several years now. Many people tune in to watch people transform their lives and find it inspiring. I’m someone who loves to watch people succeed so I can totally understand why it’s been so popular. However, the latest controversy regarding the contestants that have regained weight has the public asking some valid questions regarding weight loss and how the metabolism works. As a trainer I am grateful that people are asking questions.
I have to be honest I’ve always been a bit curious about the show’s weight loss methods. I was concerned that the contestants were being overtrained and undernourished. Please understand, this is not an “attack” on the show or the trainers. The fitness industry is constantly evolving. There was a time when it was thought that if you placed an extremely overweight person on a very low calorie diet their body would go into its “fat storage or reserves” to burn the extra fat and it would help them lose weight. Current research shows us that if you want to lose weight and keep it off for good the opposite is true. When the body is starved it will eventually go into “protection mode” and slow down the metabolism. You need to eat food in order for your body to feel good about burning the calories. This means a large person will need way more than eight hundred calories per day to safely lose weight long-term. Especially if they are exercising. A large person expends quite a few calories simply moving their body.
One of the reasons low-calorie and restrictive diets are so popular is the quick results they can deliver in the short-term. The majority of diet plans are next to impossible to sustain for the long-term which is why it’s not a total surprise to me that some of the previous contestants have gained their weight back. It does, however, make my heart ache for them.
Creating new habits and developing self control for the long haul are not always easy tasks and sometimes people fall off track. That’s just a part of life and it can happen to anyone. However, I also believe that it is important for fitness professionals to help clients develop a plan that will give the person the best chance to succeed for the long-term, not just one event.
Hollywood is a unique place. People are paid to look a certain way for movies and remain camera-ready most of the time. They are willing to train hard and sacrifice a lot because they get paid for it. Some of them must stay on very rigid diets in order to remain a certain weight. People admire the looks of celebrities for good reason and it’s enticing to want to do what they do to look like them. However, once you find out what’s involved you may decide it’s not what you want, especially if you are not getting paid for it. I think that may be what some of the contestants found out the hard way. Fortunately, with the right information and proper guidance they can lose the weight again and keep it off for good.
Food is very personal. What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another so I don’t believe in a “canned” approach when it comes to meal planning. After twenty seven years of working in the fitness industry I’ve learned that the not-so-sexy approach of finding what works for you, eating well, exercising most days of the week, getting good sleep, drinking lots of water, limiting processed food, and cutting back on liquid calories is still one of the best ways to lose weight and keep it off for good. The biggest challenge for most people is that losing weight without dieting requires consistency combined with patience. It can take time to figure out what works best for your life.
An Important Lesson From The Biggest Loser
I believe that one of the most important lessons we can learn from The Biggest Loser is that losing weight and keeping it off for good really is about deciding what you want your life to look like and setting a realistic goal weight that you are able to sustain for the long-term.
Here’s to creating a happy and health lifestyle!
Shared with love,
Jennifer