The Biggest Loser

[rachelratz]

The other thread about Kristi made me think of this. I started watching recently. Pretty good show. What I not sure of, is what kind of diet. There is a link to join up to this diet. Anyone know?

[Nancy LC]

Don't know about the diet. I did watch part of the opening thing.

Only thing I have to say is it is totally unfair to pit the men against the women. Women lose weight a lot slower than men do.

[Samantha22]

Don't know about the diet. I did watch part of the opening thing.

Only thing I have to say is it is totally unfair to pit the men against the women. Women lose weight a lot slower than men do.

I did watch last night, and they aren't going by the actual number of pounds..but by the percentage of weight loss from the total weight....so it's actually even..and although the men lost like 50 pounds more last night..the girls won!

[kaypeeoh]

The other thread about Kristi made me think of this. I started watching recently. Pretty good show. What I not sure of, is what kind of diet. There is a link to join up to this diet. Anyone know?

I watched the last season. I believe the diet was a combination of low-fat eating and portion control. It wasn't the diet that caused massive weight loss as much as controlling impulse eating and exercising constantly. A lot of calorie counting as well. But definitely not low carb or Atkins dogma.

[Pugzilla]

This is what the website says about the The Biggest Loser diet: The Biggest Loser Diet is a calorie-controlled, carbohydrate-modified, fat-reduced diet geared to help you burn pound after pound of pure fat-and do so without deprivation or loss of energy. The diet is high in lean protein, which has a hunger-controlling effect on the body, and offers a variety of fresh and minimally processed foods.

You have to pay to join the diet website.

If you're watching the show, there's a thre ad going on this in the "Everything Else" section of this forum.

See you there! :wave:

[Nancy LC]

I don't see how that changes anything. Men lose weight faster. They will lose the larger percentage much faster than the women will. Also, the fatter you are, the faster it comes off.

If you have a man and a woman, man weights 300 pounds, woman weights 250. Man loses 5 pounds a week, woman loses 2 pounds a week. In 10 weeks the man will have lost 7% of his weight, the woman 6%.

Here's what someone else remarked about it:

Using the body fat percentage as part of the final judging was an unfair sex-bias and heavily favors men. It should not have been used as a component between men & women. Testosterone is the primary muscle building hormone -- higher levels of testosterone in the blood stream lead to bigger muscles / lower body fat. That's why athletes take hormones to build muscle. There is no way a woman will ever win that battle....look at how much Andrea lost & still lost. NBC is UNFAIR!

[klc145]

It is a % of total weight for the whole team at the start of the show and total weight lost that week for the team. Even though the men lost about 50 more pounds than the women last night, the women won because of the percentages.

[Nancy LC]

Right, but I still don't see how that helps the women. If you start out fatter, you're going to lose faster. The men are fatter. If you're male you lose weight faster. It doesn't matter if it is percentages, their percentage will almost certainly be larger because of those two factors.

My prediction is a man will win the contest and the men's team will win. Unless something manages to derail them, that's just mother-nature at work.

[KaiNiki]

The diet from last season is on my fridge because I keep thinking I might try it, this is the red teams diet, I do not know what the blue team did:

Eat three meals a day with one snack.
• Eat every four hours.
• High protein, low to moderate fat intake, no simple carbs, low complex carbs.
• Sodium isn't a big deal, but it will make you hold water temporarily so don't freak if you are up a pound after sushi with soy sauce.
• Always try to have protein with your carbs – never eat carbs alone.
• DRINK WATER – 100oz minimum!
• 2 cups of coffee per day, but for every cup drink another 8oz of water.
• Tea (especially green tea) is okay but not a water substitute.
• Supplements:
• Multi Vitamin; Fish Oil; Minerals; Fiber and Chitosan.
• Take vitamins in morning after workout
• Take 1/2 hour before dinner with 10 oz of water minimum
NO Foods: Alcohol Sugar Rice Flour – very limited quantities Bread – very limited quantities Juice Potato Pasta Soda's - unless they are diet Tropical Fruit Bananas Melon Coconut Mango
YES Foods: Chicken Fish Beef All Seafood Fats are okay Great Fats are avocado, nuts and salmon (in limited portions) Dairy is fine – low fat or non fat Green Veggies – unlimited Fruit only before 5:00pm - Apples, grapefruits and berries Soy – for vegetarians



You must consume 100 grams of protein daily = 400 calories
(protein is 4 calories per gram)
You should consume 80 grams of complex carbohydrate daily
320 calories (carbohydrate is 4 calories per gram)
You should not consume over 40 grams of fats – 360 calories
(fat is 9 calories per gram)
Calorie Counting is part of the diet. You will vary your caloric intake on a daily basis as follows:
Monday 1300 Calories
Tuesday 1100 Calories
Wednesday 1300 Calories
Thursday 1200 Calories
Friday 1300 Calories
Saturday 1300 Calories
Sunday 1500 Calories


If anyone wants the workout schedule the red team followed last season, I have that too. I know, I'm a dork.

[whyspers]

They also seem to work on the psychological aspects of why they are overweight. Personally, I think this can be a key aspect of success. I know the first time I did Atkins, even though I had never really been fat until 7 years ago after my last child was born, it took me almost 4 years to start doing anything about it. When I started doing Atkins, the weight just melted and there was a point when I got scared. Not sure why. Anyway, when I regained a lot of it this past year, I think it was also psychological.

Anyway...I love that show :)

L

[kaypeeoh]

I don't see how that changes anything. Men lose weight faster. They will lose the larger percentage much faster than the women will. Also, the fatter you are, the faster it comes off.
:

In general men would lose more weight because in general men have more muscle than women. That allows them to exercise harder and burn more calories per day. So I agree the show gives men an advantage. But it could be argued that the muscle isn't going anywhere so they can't lose as much weight as a woman. It would be more fair if they measured body fat instead of body weight. I think they did that for the first show last season but not every week.

[Nancy LC]

No, it still wouldn't be fair. Men have a MUCH easier time losing fat than women. There really isn't any fair way to compare male fat/weight loss with women. They should have two winners, one male and one female.

[nikkil]

I checked out the website during the first season and it does list the diet plan that each team was eating. I believe that one was fairly low carb and the other was low fat (can't remember which was which, tho).

It seemed to me that the men were all much higher weights than the women so wouldn't that affect the percentages? For example, if a man weighs 400 pounds and lost 20 pounds, that would be 5%, right? If a woman weighs 200 pounds and loses 10 pounds, that would be 5% as well. So, I think it sounds pretty even. I know at first when I heard it was men against women I was freaking that it wasn't fair, etc, until I heard the percentage method. I still think the men have an advantage, what with our hormonal roller coaster AND it really is harder to lose weight the less you have to lose, as we all know. A 400-pound man might have 200 pounds to lose but a 200 pound woman might "only" have 60-70 pounds to lose.

Men might have a metabolic advantage but it does also come down to determination and the effort that they put into the process. I'm thinking some of the men just might put too much faith in their advantage and not work out as hard or eat more than they should?? Remember the big black guy on last season (sorry, can't remember his name - Mo or something??). Everybody thought he would lose huge amounts the whole time but he didn't.

Guess we'll have to watch and see... :D

[kaypeeoh]

Nobody can assess motivation and that's what actually wins the contest, regardless of sex. The winner didn't give in to aches and pains. He was motivated to ignore all that and persevere. I was worried the obnoxious guy would win and don't want to go through that again so I won't be watching this year's contest. The other reason I watched was seeing the heavy women turn into babes.

[nicoleskr]

kainiki- nevermind, if anyone saw this. I found it somewhere else on here.

[Nancy LC]

Nobody can assess motivation and that's what actually wins the contest, regardless of sex. The winner didn't give in to aches and pains. He was motivated to ignore all that and persevere. I was worried the obnoxious guy would win and don't want to go through that again so I won't be watching this year's contest. The other reason I watched was seeing the heavy women turn into babes.
Sorry, I disagree. You can have all the motivation and discipline in the world and your body will still lose weight and fat at the rate it is metabolically capable of.

[serrelind]

I think it's much easier to lose weight in a game setting like that. All that competition, reward, goal-setting, all done in a limit amount of time (however many weeks they're going at this). But it's a game of losing weight and not about really changing your way of eating. I'd LOVEto see a game in which people had to lose weight while going through their normal every day life. You know, like taking care of the kids, being stressed out from work, cooking, shopping for food, lack of support from loved ones, watching TV, making time for your wife, husband, kids, and so on. THAT would be interesting in my book!

[KaiNiki]

The Biggest loser website was recruiting people for a show just like that this past summer. They said that they were looking at doing a Biggest Loser where teams of friends or families across America compete for 9 weeks against one another while being at home. They said they would provide a trainer and nutritionist to get you on your way, butyou had to do it around your own life. I do not know if they are actually going to do it, but that is what they wanted video auditions for this past summer.

[cygirl]

I think it's much easier to lose weight in a game setting like that. All that competition, reward, goal-setting, all done in a limit amount of time (however many weeks they're going at this). But it's a game of losing weight and not about really changing your way of eating. I'd LOVEto see a game in which people had to lose weight while going through their normal every day life. You know, like taking care of the kids, being stressed out from work, cooking, shopping for food, lack of support from loved ones, watching TV, making time for your wife, husband, kids, and so on. THAT would be interesting in my book!

You have never seen............(Taking it off.!)!

[runnr]

Yeah - Taking It Off in Canada is exactly that format. I find it a much better show in illustrating the trials and tribulations of weight loss in the REAL world

But when you don't vote people off, you don't have that Hollywood pazzaz that Biggest Loser has

[serrelind]

Taking it Off sounds really interesting! I wish I could see it.

[deirdra]

I haven't watched the Biggest Loser since I saw part of the very first episode, mainly because the thought of voting people off (esp. people who may have been social outcasts for much of their lives) is disturbing to me. Do they ever check to see how the ''rejects'' are doing?

I think that failing on the Biggest Loser would be worse for one's self esteem than doing nothing.

[KaiNiki]

I haven't watched the Biggest Loser since I saw part of the very first episode, mainly because the thought of voting people off (esp. people who may have been social outcasts for much of their lives) is disturbing to me.

You know, I never thought about that but I can see your point, this was the whole reason I wouldn't watch that Swan show they had with the beauty pagent at the end. I thought, wow they tell these women that they are not good enough but we'll make you beautiful, then we will put you in a pagent and when you lose even after all the improvements you can feel ugly and not good enough again.

[deirdra]

Yeah, that Swan show was disturbing too & I suspect the ugly duckling losers end up as surgery junkies.

[bladegem]

• Always try to have protein with your carbs – never eat carbs alone.


Personally, I would NOT combine protein with any carbs except vegetables. According to Protein Power, carbs and protein together produce the HIGHEST insulin spike of all the protein/fat/carb combinations. When I was on low-fat/low-calorie, I would often have a tuna salad with apples mixed in; this always produced more hypoglycemic reactions (shaking, headache, sweating) than the apple or tuna alone. I was also ravenously hungry an hour later--now I know why.

[KaiNiki]

Personally, I would NOT combine protein with any carbs except vegetables. According to Protein Power, carbs and protein together produce the HIGHEST insulin spike of all the protein/fat/carb combinations. When I was on low-fat/low-calorie, I would often have a tuna salad with apples mixed in; this always produced more hypoglycemic reactions (shaking, headache, sweating) than the apple or tuna alone. I was also ravenously hungry an hour later--now I know why.


I don't know, I have never managed to do the Biggest Loser Diet that they had posted on the site, but if this what they are doing, it seems to work for them.

[cygirl]

I think that failing on the Biggest Loser would be worse for one's self esteem than doing nothing.

As far as i can see the people that have been voted off have better selfesteem because they have learned so much while there.All fo them but the guy(cant remember his name)have lost a huge amount of weight and exercise daily.
Doing nothing was the reason these people are so fat.