Flab to Fab on VH1
 

Did anyone else see this show?

I wrote a detailed description after logging in, and then the forum said I wasn't logged in, and I couldn't get back everything I wrote.
I'll try again tomorrow to rewrite my description -- it was the most amazing (if horrifying) thing,

And at the end I went to my gym and exercised for an hour.

I didn't see it. But I eagerly anticipate your review. :)

Did you guys see the Dr Phil/Katie Couric thing they have scheduled for Friday night? I have plans, but am going to try & get someone to tape it.

Darn, I meant to watch the show on Vh-1. They rebroadcast everything a million times. I'll check their website to see when it's on again. Self magazine also has an article about it.

Sherry

I saw it. Wow. I hadn't planned on watching it, but it came on and I was sitting there and... well, I watched it. /grin

They took four women, ranging from 220 pounds to 165 (or so, I don't remember exactly), and gave them a personal trainer and personal chef for three months. They worked out every morning together for an hour and half, their food (1350 calories a day!) was delivered to them each day, then every evening they were expected to ride exercise bicycles at home for more cardio.

This was all in preparation for a four-hour Rock Star Workout. If they were able to complete the Rock Star Workout, which incorporated things they had been working on all along, they would get the big prize. Those that completed the workout got a complete makeover including hair, face, and clothing, and went up the red carpet in Las Vegas to some Diva concert.

It was quite interesting.

I have the tape - if it doesn't get rebroadcast. I have been eagerly waiting for this...and was diappointed.

I don't feel like I learned anything. 1350 calories, yes, but no sample of the menu of how often they were eating.

1000 calories burned a day, but how much weigh training verses cardio.

I don't know, I think I expected to learn more. It was interesting.

I kinda agree, Sandi. I expected it to be longer. I wanted more details. They talked about how he motivated them to exercise, but not how they dealt with the day-to-day problems and emotional highs and lows. They just barely mentioned food cravings, and didn't mention muscle soreness/fatique at all. They showed the women using weights, but did they do upperbody/lowerbody splits or do full body resistance workouts every day (which is counter to almost every weight lifting site I've loooked at).

They talked about teaching the women to juice, and going through a week or so of detoxifying juices regime. But did they continue with juices through the whole time? What did their 1350 calorie diet consist of? When two of the women "cheated" and got a nonfat, no-sugar dessert after a restaurant dinner, their nutritionist said "it's not about the fat or the sugar, it's about the calories". Does that mean their food was "regular" food, just bloody little of it? Or was it "low-fat" or "low-carb" or what?

It raised more questions than it answered, when you get down to the "how-to's". But it did show that amazing results can be had by restricting calories and increasing movement. All in all, I found it an inspiring show. Makes me want to buy the magazine in hopes of getting more "how-to" information. And maybe that's why they did it that way. /grin

I thought it was pretty good?...It did not give any details..guess that is why we are kinda disappointed!

One positive note: I learned/saw/visualized how dang hard you REALLY got to work/EXERCISE to get this darn FAT off my body! this poo-poo 1/2 mile walk... ain't cutting girls!:cry:

I rather disagree with that, Skinny. I think it's all about the calorie deficit. If you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight. The devil is in the details.

For instance, for me (figures from FitDay)

My basal metabolism at 290 pounds will burn 2031 calories just by being alive (breathing, heart beating, etc.)

My lifestyle (seated work) burns another 900.

Any activity I do after that (walking, aerobics, gardening, etc.) adds to that total.

So most days, without exercising at all, I burn almost 3000 calories.

If I keep my calorie intake to 1800-2000, that gives me a deficit each day of about 1000 calories. That's enough for about a 2 pound weight loss each week.

Now, these numbers are general. I mean, even though it's figured on my current weight, everyone's body reacts differently. Some people need fewer calories to lose. Some people need to exercise more to "rev up" their metabolism (I'm one of those, because I have PCOS, so I do, on average, another 300-400 calories a day in "activities"). But the basic underlying math is pretty consistent.

Even the woman who lost 30 pounds lost just over 2 pounds a week. The massive amounts of exercise they did may not have helped the weight loss as much as you think.

What exercise DOES do, however, is help build muscle (which burns more fat), strengthen your heart and lungs, burn some fat, energize you, tone up the areas that are shrinking, and in general make your body more able to do what you demand of it. Remember, they were trying to get Rock Star Bodies -- hard muscles, very low bodyfat percentage, "six pack" abs, etc.

Your half mile walk IS cutting it. For you. For now. Don't get discouraged because you think you have to work out 2.5 hours a day to lose weight. It's just not so. Sure, you should think about working up to one mile. Sure, as you lose weight you'll probably need to do more exercise. I'm NOT cutting exercise -- not at all! I'm just saying that exercise alone may not be as important for your weight loss as calorie reduction and healthy eating habits in general.

I watched it.. interesting.. but .. how unrealistic! A personal chef - a personal trainer.. motivation beyond belief! I want to see a followup show and see where those girls are now. I bet if I followed the program they did I would have lost 50 lbs in those 12 weeks!

Dana

This says it all. :)

I *TOTALLY* agree with you SlimDown and SAPF.... that seems ridiculous. Any of us could have weight fall off if we had people chasing us around to MAKE us do it, make our food, etc.

Alas, I live in the real world...

Naw.... The Real World is a show on MTV, not VH1.

:lol: