Is The Biggest Loser Sending The Right Message For Fat Loss? Part 1

So here it goes…the article that could potentially fill my email with hate mail (my face just turned a little red just thinking about it). I watched an episode of The Biggest Loser tonight. For those of you who are not familiar with The Biggest Loser, it is a reality show that takes obese Americans and teaches them to live a healthy lifestyle by eating well and working out. Every week one individual is voted out as a result of their weight loss or lack there of. I don’t know what season it’s on but I will be focusing on the episode that aired November 27, 2007. There are 7 contestants left with a sixth about to be sent back into the unforgiving ‘real’ world.

I’m writing this article during the dreaded weigh in, where the contestants get weighed and the lowest two get sent below the also dreaded yellow line. They will then be put up for elimination.

I just saw a guy lose 4 pounds in one week and to my surprise he was not happy about it because that might send him below the yellow line. I don’t know how long the show has been going on for but he’s lost 80 pounds in, I’m assuming, 3 months. That’s close to 7 pounds a week lost.

Okay, so here’s my thing. I absolutely LOVE seeing these people make great changes in their lives and see how happy they start to become about their brand new body. The workouts are intense (I would say almost over doing it) and their nutrition from what I can tell is clean and low calorie (which might not be so good when they go back to normal living).

These people are making incredible changes, but I think this could be a reason why so many people who start on their own fat loss journey get so frustrated when they aren’t making the changes they thought they would initially.

People go on crash diets or some (as I’ve recently found out, especially young girls) actually fast and consume nothing but diet coke all day. Here’s the problem. You’re going to lose weight initially but you’re actually damaging your metabolic system and once you start actually eating again, which you will do because if you don’t you’ll die, the weight is going to come back with a vengeance.

(Random observation here, I think every time I see this show Kim the trainer is crying…is it just my luck or does this happen often?)

So point one, EAT if you want to lose weight. Eat smaller meals 5-6 times a day and focus on having protein (it has a greater thermic effect – meaning it burns more calories to digest it) and take away the processed carbs and as much sugar as possible.

All you should be drinking is water too. Sorry. You can have some green tea if you want too.

Dan Grant

PS - Part 2 will come Tomorrow or Monday. If you're looking for a simple and effective way to lose fat then go grab my 5-day 'Get On Track Fast' E-course right away at www.bodytransformationcoach.com to learn the methods I teach my clients for guaranteed success.