Biggest Loser Calories
 

Does anyone know how many calories the people on Biggest Loser eat a day? I mean they lose massive amounts of weight but they exercise 6 hours a day.
I will be lucky to do an hour a day but I thought if I followed their general calorie guideline, I still would be consistent with my weight loss.

Good question....I read somewhere that they multiply their weight by 7, but other places have said 1400 calories. I don't know but maybe someone else does. Either way, that seems very very low.

I just read in an older hand me down magazine that a female contestant on one of the earliest seasons had "gone over the alloted 1200 calories for the day"... for the life of me I can't remember who it was, but that part of a sentence has stuck in my head for 3 or so weeks. With the exercise they do I would picture people dropping like flies at 1200 calories a day.. but then I'm sure there is lots they don't show us. Hubby and I have been talking a lot about how once they lose a good amount of weight you can tell they are all wearing spanx type things under their weigh in clothes and they no longer take their shirts off. Of course they don't want us to see that they are losing this weight sooo fast but are looking horrible because they have a ton of loose saggy skin everywhere.

In their cookbooks it says to multiply your weight by 7, but I'm pretty sure there is more to it than that when they are on the ranch.

I have a biggest loser cookbook and it says 7x your present weight.

Wow, 7x your weight seems like a ton of calories!

I have been watching TBL-Asia. :D Yeah, I'm not addicted. :no:

In that version, they actually stress NOT eating too little. They want their contestants well fueled. The blue team trainer got upset with his team because he felt they were not eating enough and their weight loss was slow because of it. I wish the American version stressed that as well.

To me it seems like too few! For me it would be 1296 which is about 500 too few, especially with my exercise level. You'd be at 2100 which doesn't seem like too many (I eat that much a couple of days a week if I'm hiking or doing a longer bike ride.)

I wish they wouldn't be so hush hush about so many things they do... like the calories.. that is what those of us watching NEED to learn about, not that so and so puked on the treadmill last week.

7x my weight is only about 1200 calories and they exercise insane amounts. Doesn't seem healthy at all to me.

I've read the calories being as low as 900. WHo knows what to believe with this show. I use to love TBL, but the more I see it the more I hate it.

Agreed. The show has gotten way out of hand. The producers know they'll get more viewers by embarassing the heck out of the contestants so they show more of that. And I wouldn't doubt some of the things people would do to be able to lose all the weight. That's the scary part.

I read somewhere that one of the main contestants last year was fasting. It was one of the guys. I think that the expectations for weight loss on that show are unhealthy and no way can you lose over thirty lbs per week and have it be healthy weight loss. This year the day Jesse was voted off he lost 16lbs. True they were paired up and Aaron only lost 4LBS. But that is a huge amount of weight.

Interesting. I've only seen the show a couple times and wondered how they were able to loose all that weight in the time of the show. I guess if you aren't eating enough and working out tons the weight will come off quickly but you are going to be exhausted.

I watched the show last season and I liked it for awhile then I kind of lost interest and felt like it really went to far. Just the scripted product placements alone, made me laugh and shake my head at the same time. The show was just too much and so unrealistic. A lot goes on behind teh scenes that we don't know about. Contestants are bound by law to not discuss the show, for a reason!
I think one of the reasons that they don't talk about their diets is because the contestants are free to make their own meals and many of them are eating way too few calories. I believe they give them guidelines but whether they are following the recommendations, or starving themselves, is up to the individual. I just can't watch the show anymore. When someone steps on the scale and cries for ONLY losing 12 pounds in a week, I cringe. What is this show teaching the public about healthy weigh loss. Its sad really.

I would only be eating 910 calories if I multiplied my weight by 7!!

No wonder some lose up to 20 lbs a week. Yikes.

When I used to listen to jillian Michael's radioshow she said the female contestants ate 1200 calories and the men ate 1800. They were not allowed to go lower then that. She also said they had 1 free calorie day per week meaning they could eat as much as they wanted.

The only contestant I've heard actually mention calorie allowance on the show was Sam of Sam & Koli cousins team in season 9(?) and he said his allowance was the biggest of all the contestants at 1,800 because he's very tall. Now it's not clear if that allowance is only for food, I think they count things like protein shakes additional to food calories, so if your allowance was 1,200 and you have 3x220cal protein shakes your actual intake is 1,860.

Interestingly, TBL UK they lose waaaaaay less weight per week than TBL US so they have to be doing something significantly different between the two. A very high weight loss in TBL UK is 16lbs (like a week 1 loss) and you see double digits about twice in the whole season after that.

Not to mention that almost everyone has clicked now that if you bulk up on water weight for your first weigh-in you have a better chance of losing a giant number in week 1 and thus staying in the competition. If you drink 4 pints of water you add an extra roughly 4lbs, and when you go on the scales next time you've lost your glycogen weight, the 4 pints of water, any other water in your body that you sweated out in last chance workout, you end up with weight losses like 21lbs.

Last chance workout does make me laugh, working out makes you retain water weight, and your body doesn't burn fat that instantly, it's a much more involved process. Last chance workout might help you to use up the fat that was metabolised into usable products by your body 24-48 hours ago, but it sure isn't going to burn anything new off you by the time you step on the scales!

A friend was on the show....from 900-1200 for the women and 1200-1800 for the guys.They exercise until they burn from 5,000-8,000 extra calories(as read on the bodybugg)..they are encouraged to eat low carb even though they pretend to eat subway,oatmeal,and special K cereal....they eat MOSTLy lean meats and veggies...They do have a "carb up" day where they might be eating the subway and Special K....

Wow, that seems way to little for the amount of exercise they do!

I agree Jilly6.. how in the world do they keep them from passing out all over the place??

I read somewhere that the info in their cookbooks & diet book is not what they follow on the ranch.

I found this info, which is supposedly the way they do it:

1200 - 1500 cals/day

Based on the 4,3,2,1 system:

4 - fruits & veg
3 - protein & low fat dairy
2 - whole grains
1 - extra fats/sweets up to 200 calories

Of course, I'm sure they all do their own thing to try to win.

I think it really is sad to see someone so upset about only losing 7 lbs for the week, and sends a terrible message.

Just my thoughts :)

They make such a big deal about people gaining it back - but if they
are really losing it like you guys say how can you not gain it back? Its
not much different than any other crash diet.....

x7 your weight? that is really low. I always read 10x your weight was a healthy place to 'start' for weight loss.

I dont even watch biggest loser anymore. it seems so unrealistic and in no way motivating to me. Maybe if they followed at home contestants and had THAT be a show. lol

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/b...er-diet?page=2

I found this link awhile ago when I was trying to find out more about their diet. I often hear the women are on 1200 and the men 1600 (or is it 1800?) but they have the trainers and the doctor design a diet so it's healthy. Who knows how true it is... I also read part of their contract is to not talk about what goes on on the show.

The cookbook does, indeed, state 7x your weight, BUT if you are over 300lbs, you calculate for 300, and if you are under 150, you calculate for 150. This keeps your calories between 1050 and 2100.

Seriously??? I wouldn't be able to make that. I burn 800-900 calories and get the shakes. On that amount of exercise I need 1600-1800 calories and if I don't get that many I get sleepy. Maybe that is why I'm not loosing as much weight. I'll have to look into trying this for a day or two.

This is what I read in a magazine featuring the show.