[JayEll]

What do you all think of this link? According to this, even though we see the teams weigh every week on the TV show, they are not weighing weekly in real time.

http://nwsfoundation.com/thebiggestloser.html

Jay

[Amberelise]

Wow. This is news to me. Honestly, I'm happy to read this. It makes me feel much better about my very slow and gradual weight loss.

[LondonJulz]

that link was already in another post. The show is pretaped (I thought everyone knew that). The only thing that is live is the Finale. They can't make an 8 month show - so they have to do fancy editing and be a little "decietful" to fit everything into a 12 week show..... no biggee... at least they aren't secretly giving people gastric bypass surgeries and then making America think that the weight loss is all natural...... it doesn't bother me one bit that what they call "one week" on the show is really 10 or 12 days.
At least it's just a TV show and not a Political Office

[stranger n my mirror]

I never once thought that Erik lost 214 lbs in just 3 months. I always knew that they were at the ranch for just a few months and then sent home to work on their own for about 5 months.

I remember there was one contestant who didn't weigh in on the results show because she was about 5 months pregnant.

[CLCSC145]

So good to know for sure! I knew there was something fishy, but it's great to hear they are normal like the rest of us. Even with 6 hours of exercise a day .

[Cassie501107]

I just assumed it was filmed over a longer period of time. If he lost 200+ lbs in 3 months, I'd be troubled.

[kaplods]

I think the point of the article is that it is more than 3 months at the ranch, and possibly more than 5 months at home, or that the "math" at the ranch is hinky.

I haven't yet been able to confirm the actual timeline from a secondary source (only that this site is cited by quite a few sites, and apparently NBC has made no comment refuting, as of yet)

So far, from NBC directly, I've only read that the scale shown is just a prop, not a real scale. The contestants have already been weighed (but they haven't yet seen their weight), so all the show of taking off t-shirts and shoes is just for effect. There's absolutely no need to show all the flesh.

Also a Time/CNN website article describes unhealthy ways that the contestants were able to lose weight, including severe dehydration

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...627013,00.html

so I guess there are two choices

timeline is more or less accurate and the weight loss methods are extremely dangerous to the contestants and anyone trying to dupicate them

or

the timeline is inaccurate, and the contestants are safe, but viewers who buy the hype and try to duplicate it at home, may not be

[jillybean720]

I don't think ANYONE believes Erik lost over 200 pounds in 3 months, as the article implies (if they do believe this, then weight loss should not be their primary concern ). Also, of COURSE the average weight loss per week from start to finish is less than just the average weight loss per week on the show--once contestants go home and retunr to real life for months on end, their weight loss will slow because they're no longer exercising for hours on end each day.

I don't think this article has shed any light on anything. They did not give an actual number of days from one weigh-in to the next on the show, so it hasn't told me anything new. I actually don't have a problem believing that the weigh-in's ARE 1 week apart (with the exception of the finale, of course, which is months later). I mean, in last night's episode, for example, most of the people lost 5 pounds or less. Sure, some lost more, but they also have ways of making sure their first few weeks have big losses (such as bulking up on water by increasing sodium intake before the first weigh-in).

[Shay]

Of course they're not. TV time is different than real time.

They say on the show when the people return home it is for a couple of months. I'm not sure if they state exactly how long. So I think its clear these people don't lose this amount of weight in 3 months.

[Lifeguard]

The other big give away is how overly excited the contestants get over getting mail from home. This season the very first week they were all excited - not to be crass but after a week from home I'd hardly being crying at not getting to read my family's letters.

[kaplods]

I thought the same thing when I saw the mom of toddlers losing it before the end of week 2. Shortly after I graduated high school (my sisters were two and four, I think the same ages as this woman's children), my parents went on vacation and I stayed home with my sisters. Mom and dad checked in a couple times during their vacation to make sure we were all still alive, but beyond that, they very much enjoyed the break.

[JayEll]

I sent an email to the lawyer who runs that NWS website to ask him where he got his information. He replied, and this is what he said:

I searched for two days on the Internet and could not find these dates, or the exact number of days it took each season for the contestants to lose their weight, which was amazing to me. I assumed it would be on the NBC web site. I knew instantly from looking at the data that it must have taken several times longer than 11 or 12 weekly episodes to lose this amount of weight.

I got the dates directly from a high-level official with NBC who works on this show. It is a long story about the particulars about how I got them, but I am an attorney and have no problem using my legal skills when necessary to get information.

When I made the comment to the person from NBC, who called me back with the information, that this must be one of the best-kept secrets in America the person stated, "Yeah, it is pretty hard to find" and kind of laughed when they said it. Now you see why.

If you have any more questions please feel free to contact me. I hope this helps.

Any suggestions about how I can explain this material better, or anything else on the web site, are welcome. I want people to know and understand the truth, not just about the Biggest Loser, but also about all of the weight-loss scams and deceptions, and 99.9% are.

Thank you for your interest.

Jay

[Hun.e.B]

my feeling is...who cares, its a tv show, its there for entertainment. I LOVE TBL! And no I dont think someone can lose over 200 lbs in 3 months...thats just common sense. those people ARE losing the weight so that is where I draw my inspiration, thats the excitement for me. How long it takes really doesnt matter to me, you can see the transformations every week. Plus I just love watching bob!

[Amberelise]

The show directly tells you how many months it has been since leaving the ranch. However, I'll be honest, I never put any thought into how long the weeks were prior to leaving the ranch. My boyfriend made the comment, too, about how he was surprised they were already getting letters from home after just the first week. It never dawned on me that one week reality tv could be something like 3 weeks at the ranch. Maybe I'm just naive, but it never dawned on me. Color me stupid - haha.

So, I for one am happy to have seen that article.

[LondonJulz]

I don't understand why this has turned into such an issue on here.......

*GASP* this lawyer said this and he got this from an NBC official, it must be the God-given truth.....

*GASP* I can never ever watch TBL again - they have lied to me and people might try to do what they do on TV and if they don't get the same results, they might kill themselves.........

I've seen that same silly link to that same big, scary lawyer/ fen-phen litigator / fitness guru website on about 4 different threads now.......like people have made this big huge discovery that NBC producers have hoped you'd never ever see! I'm sure that NBC is aware of that website, if they were THAT secretive, I think that they would fight to get it off of there.... if the info. is true...... so what? It's people losing weight.... if TBL was doing it in an unnatural, unhealthy way, I don't think they'd be on there for 4 seasons... I think there would be enough media attention about it, I think NBC would get in trouble for it... etc etc etc. It's not as huge of a deal as people are making it out to be!

As for what he said in his email "I knew instantly from looking at the data that it must have taken several times longer than 11 or 12 weekly episodes to lose this amount of weight. " Well.... he understands it..... If anyone lost 150 pounds in 3 weeks (even with Gastric Bypass surgery) I would be really scared as to what diesease is raviging their body!

It is TV people.... supposed to entertain..... if people can't see the "do not try this at home" part.... and "before beginning any exercise regime of ANY kind, talk to your doctor"........... then - well...... if they get hurt it's their fault. I think on any and every exercise tape you buy, and any diet that you go on, that same statement is on there "talk to your doctor" and how many of YOU have really talked to your doctor before doing the "Sweatin' to the Oldies" video with Richard Simmons or before joining WW??? I didn't. My doctor would tell me I'm obese and if I don't do something I'm going to die.... so if I die while trying to do something about my weight..... at least I was trying.

Like the PP said about Survivor - I see people losing 30+ pounds by being in the wilderness eating bugs..... so if I really want to lose weight - I'm going to go sit in the woods for 3 months and eat bugs (I wonder how many WW points are in those??)........ common sense tells me that that is RIDICULOUS!!!! Common sense also tells me I don't have 6 hours a day to workout - I also have kids to feed, so I can't just eat rice cakes and water for 8 months.....

These people do lose weight the right way. I found a site last night that said that they have to keep food diaries and if producers see that anything is going on that is unhealthy - the contestant will be kicked off the show..... the people who dehydrate themselves or don't eat before weigh-ins are doing it on their own accord and not at the insisting of the trainers or of the show.... I also saw an interview with Jillian that she says that ALL contestants are heavily screened before the show, they do all sorts of health tests, stress tests, etc........ to make sure that they aren't going to have a corinary on the show. AND, she also said that they show is extreme because it's REALITY TV.... they exercise 5 hours a day whereas in "REAL LIFE" she recommends working out like that 5 hours a week! (if you'd like the link to THAT interview, I'll gladly put it on here or mail it to you). I would take Jillians word over the lawyer dude any day on this subject matter. Though it would be funny (since he's a fitness dude) if he was a trainer on TBL next season..... I would laugh..... probably hysterically!

Maybe this whole thread will get closed because it's getting really nutso here. What's the point? If you have teenage daughters, tell them that TBL isn't really done in 12 weeks..... that weight loss like that should be done over a longer period of time. Tell them to tell their friends...... wash, rinse, repeat.... ta-da Also tell them that "America's Next Top Model" isn't really consistant with how girls these days should look.... and that on "American Idol" they let the bad singers in to sing for the judges in the beginning because it makes for good TV (can you imagine what it does to those kids self esteems though - to think that they are so good that they get to see the judges only to be told in so many words that they suck on National TV??? Where's the link to the lawyer who is looking into the mental torture that that causes?)

Okay....I am so glad, however, that we have a place like 3FC where we can voice our opinions but still be reaching for the common goal of losing weight, yes? I really do love all you ladies (and men), we are all on the weight loss journey together - and share that common bond....