Biggest Losers 6 Years Later

[Sara1000]

New York Times Article

Their bodies did not return to previous metabolism rates.

[Vantreesta]

That was a really interesting article. I'm glad someone thought to do follow up research. Thanks for posting.

[Lucky Star]

Sad to read, but this demonstrates why that show should be off the air. It may make for dramatic television viewing but ridiculously fast weight loss is neither healthy or sustainable.

Years ago I went from around 210 to 170. But it happened soooo s-lo-w-l-y, over a couple of years actually. Pretty boring, but it's never come back, even when I've eaten disastrously for periods of time (and I have ).

It's interesting that the scientists were "shocked" since I thought these kinds of regain patterns have long been acknowledged. But I guess it makes for dramatic reading.

[Nuggie's Auntie]

Interesting, tragic. Perhaps most tragic because all the experts are still talking about scale weight being so important. As in, these findings show us we have to do things differently, blah, blah, to get people to lose weight. How about emphasizing the other health markers? How about nurturing people to a sustainable routine of eating whole, real foods that nourish them and helping them find purposeful, enjoyable movement that works in real life? The reason these people are where they are is because weight was paramount and they did everything they could to lose weight. We need to shift the focus off the scale.

[wlorrie]

Thanks for posting! Very interesting article.
I wonder if people who lost 100+ pounds slowly would have a metabolism that never recovers?

[Joni O]

Here's another thread on this.

http://forum.videofitness.com/showthread.php?t=215605

[Taiga]

It's a shame because some poor soul somewhere will read this and feel like giving up. As far as I'm concerned, BL contestants are the dictionary picture of what you should do to guarantee damaged metabolism/wt regain. Processed diet foods, over training, emotional pressures of having millions of people focus on your body.

Whole, unprocessed foods (including a largely plant based diet), building low level movement into your day, tending your emotional needs etc would be far more successful but, alas, less dramatic.

It amazes me that no real focus is given to the type of food these folks eat. Plenty of research on gut flora affecting weight/leptin. There was a recent study suggesting that diet soda changes gut flora and inhibits wt loss. Tons of over-training data to show that prolonged, excessive exercise suppresses immune system/changes gut flora, stimulates appetite and abdominal wt gain. Everything they did to the contestants worked against the natural physiological/chemical balance. Add to that the fact that the show is a tacky modern day Roman coliseum....

[Nuggie's Auntie]

Originally Posted by Taiga

Add to that the fact that the show is a tacky modern day Roman coliseum....

Yes, yes, yes. Why is it still on the air?!? It's so awful. The only winners have been Bob and Jillian. After what we know now, if I were a trainer or health professional, I'd be embarrassed to have been involved in that show.

[prettyinpink]

Originally Posted by Taiga

It's a shame because some poor soul somewhere will read this and feel like giving up. As far as I'm concerned, BL contestants are the dictionary picture of what you should do to guarantee damaged metabolism/wt regain. Processed diet foods, over training, emotional pressures of having millions of people focus on your body.

Whole, unprocessed foods (including a largely plant based diet), building low level movement into your day, tending your emotional needs etc would be far more successful but, alas, less dramatic.

It amazes me that no real focus is given to the type of food these folks eat. Plenty of research on gut flora affecting weight/leptin. There was a recent study suggesting that diet soda changes gut flora and inhibits wt loss. Tons of over-training data to show that prolonged, excessive exercise suppresses immune system/changes gut flora, stimulates appetite and abdominal wt gain. Everything they did to the contestants worked against the natural physiological/chemical balance. Add to that the fact that the show is a tacky modern day Roman coliseum....

Totally!

The people they mentioned talked about regaining on beer and overeating chips. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the normal eating of middle-aged thinner people and the lack of change to a whole foods diet. I have never been obese, but if I start to consume empty calories like beer and chips, I start to gain weight, too, because junk food calories do not satiate.

Too bad they did not highlight the one person whose metabolism was normal and whose weight was still lower and find out what she was doing.

I think it's a terrible article overall, because it doesn't highlight that it is this type of quick and intense weight loss that doesn't fit into a real person's lifestyle, that is the problem. There are other real scientific studies of metabolism that contradict this article.

[Sara1000]

One of the saddest things in that article to me is that because of hormone changes these people are in a perpetual state of hunger.