Just Added: Biggest Loser Message Boards! Chat and Discuss The Biggest Loser in our Fitness Forums Now! What do you think? Share your opinion and get advice from others!

The Biggest Loser 2 Review is Here!

Jillian Michaels' "Eat Less Diet" Review is Here!
Bob Harper's "Eat More Diet" Review is Here!

Normally, if you called someone, "The Biggest Loser," it would not go over too well; but, on NBC's new reality show it's the object of the game and the title sought by everyone. Contestants fight the battle of the bulge in a competition where two teams are pitted against each other in a weekly weight loss challenge. No stapling, sucking or cutting, they're doing it with good old-fashioned diet and exercise...with an added dose of temptation, of course.

The team failing to lose the most weight each week must eliminate the teammate that's "weighing them down" in a Survivoresque fashion. The last remaining contestant will be crowned "The Biggest Loser" and will go home with $250,000 and a new body. Despite a good premise --that overweight America needs to eat better and exercise more-- experts say the message is getting delivered in the wrong way. The show has been widely criticized after the initial episode featured rapid weight loss in some contestants as they are pushed to physical extremes usually deemed unhealthy.

In the premier episode of "The Biggest Loser", we meet twelve obese contestants, most in their 20s or 30s, consisting of six males and six females. After saying goodbye to their favorite foods, "layed out," as one contestant put it, "like a body at a funeral," they are escorted into their new Malibu mansion complete with a built in gym full of cardio equipment, dumbbells and weight machines...and personal refrigerators stocked full of the contestants favorite comfort foods. It is said that temptation will be their biggest enemy.

Surprise, "it's time for the weigh-in" host Caroline Rhea announces. In the ultimate act of public humiliation for an overweight person, each must strip down to their skivvies, revealing large "man boobs", "fat rolls" and "love handles" and step onto an enormous scale which displays their weight largely for the world to see. The contestants' weight ranges from Lizzeth at 167 lbs. to a whopping 436 lbs, cue earthquake sound, as Maurice ("Mo") steps up to the scale.

Unfortunately, their heights are not given, so it's tough to calculate just how "overfat" each contestant is. Each contestant's body fat percentage is measured via water submersion, and tape measurements of their bodies are taken but this is not revealed. Regardless, it's apparent that each contestant has an ample amount of fat to lose, a fact which they are constantly reminded of.

The contestants are then split into two teams, weighing over 1500 lbs. each and assigned a personal trainer to whip them into shape. The red team is led by in-your-face Jillian Michaels, an L.A. fitness trainer whose goal is to "push them very hard" like a Marine Corps drill sergeant. For the blue team, it's more-layed-back Bob Harper of Nashville who says, "Burnout is not an option. I don't want to push them beyond their limits."

The red team is collectively placed on the "Eat Less Diet." The goal being to "eat less than you're burning," says Jillian who outlines the diet as:

Eat Less Diet
Burn more calories than you take in High protein, high fiber, low carb Portion control

Bob's plan for the blue team is conversely the "Eat More Diet," outlined as:

Eat More Diet
Deal with hunger before it happens 4-6 planned meals per day High volume, low calorie, low carb

One of the biggest complaints lodged against the first episode were depictions of gross overtraining and relatively extreme low calorie "crash" dieting techniques. Nearly everyone is shown exhausted, drenched in sweat, tired and sore; while a few contestants elude to the occurrence of 4 and 5 hour daily workouts. One contestant, 261 lb. Aaron vomits at least twice. Experts generally recommend keeping workouts short and intense for an hour at the most. After that, the body starts to release cortisol, a hormone that is counterproductive to muscle-building and metabolism-boosting.

At one point, 236 lb. Lisa of the red team cries that she cannot go another step due to exhaustion. "You'll feel sick, you'll cry, you'll puke and then we'll move on," says Jillian...comforting words (she's tough!) Later Lisa sobs at the dinner table, "I only ate 595 calories today, that can't be enough..." Of course this makes for great TV, but according to experts:

"Very humiliating," says Albert Stunkard, obesity specialist and professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania..

"Both cruel and counterproductive," says Xavier Pi-Sunyer, director of the New York Obesity Research Center, St. Luke-Roosevelt Hospital and chairman of the National Institutes of Health Obesity Guidelines panel and a member of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Committee.

After only one week of grueling workouts, while enduring the constant temptation of refrigerators with their names on them stocked full of delicious cakes, cookies, pizza, beer and other fatty food favorites, the contestants performed their first comparison weigh-in. One contestant dropped 22 pounds, while another dropped 20 (these numbers are not typos). Many others lost 12-15 lbs. Weight loss of that magnitude normally would set off alarms. In this show, however, it's wildly celebrated. Meanwhile, contestants who lost "only" 10 or more pounds in a week feel bad that they weren't more successful.

Weigh-Off Results:

Blue Team	Orig. Lbs.	Week One	Lb. Change	% Wt. Lost		Red Team	Orig. Lbs.	Week One	Lb. Change	% Wt. Lost
Gary	227	215	-12	5.29%		Lisa	236	226	-10	4.24%
Maurice	436	423	-13	2.98%		Lizzeth	167	164	-3	1.80%
Kelly	223	210	-13	5.83%		Matt	310	288	-22	7.10%
Dana	175	170	-5	2.86%		Dave	250	240	-10	4.00%
Aaron	261	241	-20	7.66%		Kelly	242	227	-15	6.20%
Andrea	215	209	-6	2.79%		Ryan	330	311	-19	5.76%

"What they're doing in this show is starving them, working them at a pace they cannot sustain," says Kathleen Zelman MPH, RD/LD, director of nutrition for the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic. "They'll be eating fried chicken later, after the show's over... I'd stake my life on this: Whatever weight these people lose, they'll gain right back."

UPDATE: In week two, the contestants plateaued badly as their bodies were shocked into "starvation mode." Weight loss ground to a screeching halt for most contestants and Matt even regained 3 pounds. They were horrified that the dramatic results didn't continue. What's worse, when the body is shocked like that and receiving less than basal metabolic needs, precious muscle is likely to be catabolized as fuel.

By the show's end at the finale, however, most contestants had reached their goals and were leading much healthier, leaner lifestyles saying that they indeed, "felt better." The Biggest Loser should be applauded for inspiring the nation and even a worldwide audience that losing excess fat can be done with diet and exercise and without drastic surgury or drugs. Once again, the main factor constributing to success is consistency and that starts with day one. From there, it's personal motivation, desire and determination to reach your goals!

Supplementation with useful nutrition sources such as protein bars and blended protein shakes can also help tremendously. Quality protein consumption assists in the all important muscle-building process and the more lean muscle you can build, the faster your metabolism becomes. Another beneficial boost to your productivity and motivation can come from a metabolism booster and appetite suppressant fat burner.

Now for some criticisms on The Biggest Loser versus what experts say is "healthy weight loss".

Just how fast should you lose weight?

While being overfat is unhealthy and linked to many chronic diseases, to truly lose fat and maintain the weight loss, experts agree that a program should be more of a lifestyle change rather than a crash diet. A healthy balanced diet and regular exercise is encouraged, at a level that the body can adjust to without shutting down metabolism. According to experts, healthy weight loss should be about 1% of body weight per week, or on average, a half-pound to two and a half pounds per week.

For example, if a person weighs 300 lbs., the most they should be losing is 3 lbs. per week. Numbers of the magnitude of the "Biggest Loser" can almost assuredly be attributed to mainly water loss. The main problem with extreme dieting and exercising is that it invariably leads to yo-yoing back to former weight or greater. Another problem is that the body's metabolism will slow down tremendously in response to this rapid weight loss, going into "starvation mode".

Weight loss, as the show does point out, occurs when energy expended is greater than energy consumed. In order to burn a pound of fat, 3,500 kcal (kcal are generally referred to as just "calories") must be burned as energy. "By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week," says expert Kathy Goodwin, a Registered Dietician for 14 years and graduate of The University of Connecticut's Clinical Nutrition Program.

Starvation diets and extreme five-hour-per-day exercise programs are dangerous because the body needs a certain number of calories just to maintain adequate basic body functions. This is called Basal Metabolism. It's not healthy to drop below this basic amount required to sustain the body.

The scary thing is that "The Biggest Loser" may encourage people to replace healthy weight loss lifestyle changes with methods that are unsafe and will quite possible result in regaining the weight. This kind of extreme dieting and exercising cannot be sustained. The human body is not designed to lose 22 lbs. in a week. Meanwhile, this miseducation has people begging to be on the show.

Being accountable for what you eat and how much you workout and logging the results can improve the success rate. You don't have to publicly climb on a gigantic scale every week, but do weigh yourself and take measurements. Check your body fat and log your progress. Motivation comes from within, but it wouldn't hurt to have a partner to assist keeping on track as well.

Once healthful habits are instilled, it becomes easier to continue down the road to self-improvement, as it becomes a part everyday life. If you really want to make a change and lose that extra weight, you can do it! Just remember that it doesn't happen overnight.

	The Biggest Loser Club The Online Personalized Fitness Program. Access The Biggest Loser Club online and get customized diets and workouts, plus advice from Bob, Jillian and cast members! Plus get online access to daily meal plans and recipes. Get Your Free Profile Today!	Free Profile!

Interactive Area:

Print Page Discuss The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser Articles:

• The Biggest Loser Main Page
• The Biggest Loser 2 Commentary
• "Eat More Diet": Bob Harper
• "Eat Less Diet" Jillian Michaels

Useful Resources:

The Biggest Loser Products - The Biggest Loser Products, Diet and Workout Articles and Information from the Trainers!
The Biggest Loser - NBC official site with message boards, diet details and pics.
The Biggest Loser Message Boards - Popular message boards discussing "The Biggest Loser".
BMR Calculator - Get an estimate of your Basal Metabolic Rate, the minimum number of calories your body needs daily!
BMI Calculator - Are you considered overweight? Find out if your weight in relation to your height is too low, too high or just right.
Physical Activity Calculator - How many calories do you burn doing different activities for certain periods of time? Find out!