It isnt exercise alone, it is exercise plus basal metabolism.

Well, first of all I didnt go from couch to 3000 overnight a. This is a buildup of years. I dont think the zero to 3500 plan is the wisest. Its what they do on TBL and A LOT of them end up hurt. But it is possible. It's just time consuming.

And remember they are a lot larger than you and I are. Fitday lists sedentary metabolism for a 285 lb woman (about where the last woman started?) as 2600 calories. Getting to 3500 from there is not that tough. Weight lift for 30-40 minutes. Cardio for 60-90 and you are there.

For me 3400 is about my peak, but my sedentary metabolism is closer to 1700. And it takes me several hours to get there. But I've been marathon training for years now. When you build up to run for a long period of time, you can back off the running and add in lower impact cardio at about double the time without really bothering anything, if you have that kind of time.

A 3400-3500 calorie day for me would look like
am: 30min elliptical(moderate)/30 min weights(vig)/30 min row (high intensity)
pm: 10 mile run (moderate intensity)
later: 1 hour power yoga.

Basal metabolism combined with 4 hours of biking at about 13 mph burned about 3800 calories for me. Same with a day of hiking. You could probably burn 3800 calories doing those things for longer without hurting yourself.

I think it's probably easier and more enjoyable if it's something that's fit into your day as part of your day - like biking, hiking, running - rather than thinking of it as "exercise" that you have to get over with so you can start your day.

Jillian Michaels: What do Losing It families eat: I basically put them the Master Your Metabolism diet. Then I set the women's calories at 1200 intake & men's cal intake at 1600 daily. I have the guys burning 4,500 cals a day and the women burning 3,500 cals a day.

Its true on that interview cuz she posted it on her facebook

The burn I posted for myself (based on what my BodyMedia Fit tells me) is my total daily burn, including sleeping, breathing, walking around the house, working, exercise, etc. Because I weigh 267 lbs. my daily burn is more than someone who is 200, or 150 lbs. When I exercise, my daily burn is about 500 calories higher. I generally workout 30 minutes-1 hour 5 days a week. I do not do anything too crazy. Because my weight is high, my total 24-hour calorie daily burn is anywhere from 2800-3300 calories per day.

the burn makes sense to me for THAT show...NOT for a weight loss plan a normal person is on. like someone else said...they have that kind of time to work out like that. if i worked out for 8 hours a day i'd probably burn those kinds of calories too (including the Basal that is). and lets face it...that is their JOB...to work out and lose weight. it's not like they are leading a NORMAL life while they are on this show. i'd like to see them do THAT in a show instead...make it a little more realistic. (although they DID do that on one episode of BL, where the gym open and closed at a certain time and then they had to "work" at the food bank during the day...and the contestants were freaking out cause they were only getting in like an hour or two of working out...welcome to the real world)

When you have 50lbs++++ to lose 1200 calories a day w/ one high day probably 1800-2000 and killin it at the gym is not stressful/unhealthy. When you get to the last 10-20 lbs... then its unhealthy. Taking off the overweight weight, and taking off the vanity weight requires two different strategies.

I think the calorie number also depends on a persons age. A 40 year old woman may need to cut her caloires to 1200 to produce weight loss when a 25 year old female can get by with 1600 at the same starting weight.

Nope. Last week I burned 3679 calories that was 385 minutes of exercise(planned and my weekday 10 minute walks to the bus stop to greet my daughter). I didn't have to eat only 1200 calories though. Most days I was just over my range on sparkpeople.com which is 1,670 - 2,020 . Now that I've gotten into the "program" I realize it may be higher because of how I put in my "fitness" goals for calories. But I did 2 lbs the first week and 2.2 lbs the 2nd weigh in so its working.

Well for a week. I see some things here say for a DAY that is probably INCLUDING their basal metabolic rate though which is probably 2000ish.

Ok... I'm confused.

I just checked my BMR and it says that mine is 2097 calories. So if I am consuming 1200 calories a day, how much should I be burning in a day? I don't understand how the BMR and exercise calories are combined.

Can someone explain to me pwetty pweeeze!


oohhhh ok ... so if I burn 2097 calories a day then I only need to burn another 1400 through exercise?

I'm not into the whole reality show thing much either, but remember that usually we are talking about two totally different types of advice:

Advice most of us receive elsewhere is advice for how you should safely lose weight if you are doing it "on your own" - by which I mean without the direct and personal supervision of any health professionals.

These shows are, even if behind the scenes, ones where the person does receive the direct, personal, one to one supervision of a medical professional. They have a medical before they begin the program, they have medicals during the program and a medical evaluation after (mostly just so they can crow "and now she's off all her BP medication and isn't diabetic any more" but it still counts) and access to medical advice throughout. That's a totally different kind of program with different requirements that come alongside it.

Now I don't believe for one second we should encourage people to believe that they can replicate what they see on TV, that they should think this person lost 6lbs in a week WITH all this supervision and assistance therefore I can (or that fat person I know should) - doesn't work that way.

But don't become confused between what is general advice for the health of a majority who are going it alone and what is personal advice for people who are being supervised. I myself am on a supervised diet, and it's essential I go well below my BMR, the "If I lay in bed and did nothing" rate because I DO lie in bed and do nothing, I've got an unstable spinal injury. There's no point advising me to exercise, there's no point putting me on a 1,500 cal a day diet, I'd put weight on. I don't discuss my diet plan or calorie amount with anyone because I'm sure they will implode with the horror that I am below the generally recommended amounts, but then my lifestyle is significantly different too, and most important is my nutrition is balaced with prescription supplements and my blood is being tested to make sure I am getting everything I need from this program.

If I advertised my diet plan as a strategy for anyone else it would be appalling.