HUH?!??!

This is from the mouth of a trainer on MTV's I Used To Be Fat,about the subject of the show that wanted to lose 90 pounds in like 89 days. I know there's another thread about this show, but I felt this statement deserved its own thread.

Whaaaat? Even on my most determined crash diets, back in my 20s with a higher metabolism, (basically one small meal a day), I'd lose about 4 pounds a week. I can't fathom a pound a day.

LOL! I've been on some of those same crash diets in my early 20s, AND I would go to the gym for like 2 hours a day (before I had kids and had more time) and I never made a pound a day. I watched the show until the last 15 minutes, then it was time to put hte kiddies to bed, but she was losing about a pound a day. I just don't get it...

My dad is one of those, because of the media that expects a pound a DAY. I have explained to him that, you can only get a pound a day, fasting, PERIOD. And, even fasting, I wasn't losing a pound per DAY. Sometimes it was a pound every two days. I think on those shows like "I Used to be Fat" and "The Biggest Loser" the intense exercise of about 4 hours per day or greater is making them burn any calories they take in, which is the equivalent of fasting, and in order for them to keep it off, they will have to very-low-cal it (like 500 per day) in order to maintain that water loss until the body reaches equilibrium.

I think it's highly irresponsible that these shows aren't honest with the public about that. I told my father: "the most you can expect to lose on a 500 calorie deficit is about 1 pound per week, and even within that range, there will be times when you gain or maintain."

I'm just....arrrgh.

I agree that these shows give people unrealistic goals. Or lead people to try unhealthy weight loss attempts. I imagine they must workout the whoe day, like 10 hours a day. I mean how else???
They probably eat their 0.25 oz of chicken while on the eliptical.

I do agree these shows give unrealistic goals for normal people.

The thing is, this is a show about a teenager (higher metabolism!) that is spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, focused on losing weight. They get menu they have to follow every day, not a calorie more and a personal trainer that makes them work out for hours a time every day.

In one of the episodes, one of the kids was complaining she was going to have to quit her job over the summer.

If people had those resources, personal trainer, not having to work, preset menu and your only focus was to lose weight, then I think most everyone can do it.

But who has that kind of time or day?

For the rest of us that are older, it's impossible to lose weight that easily.... these kids have the advantage that they're so young and they haven't been fat for 20 years and their bodies are still changing and adaptable!!!!

I think anyone could lose a pound a day. But first, they'd need to gain 500 pounds . . .

Yeah shows like this tick me off. I mean sure if your starting weight includes tons of weight, you do nothing but exercise 16 hours a day and you eat under 1000 calories a day you could do it but it seriously can't be healthy and its pretty much unattainable for the average person. Makes me sad to think that many Americans think loosing weight is no big deal and that if it takes you 7 months to loose 50 pounds you must be slacking. I still get annoyed when people act like I don't know what I'm doing because it took me so long to loose what I have. >.>

Even at their young age, if they're losing 100lbs in 3 months, I can't imagine them NOT having saggy skin as a result. (Which I highly believe they wouldn't have if they lost at a lower rate.)

What made me really sad on I Used to Be Fat though, was one of the girls was the prom queen, cheer leader, popular... all that, yet she still felt like she was worthless because she wasn't thin. That bothered me SO much! I don't think it was weight loss she needed, but a psychiatrist.

I like watching those shows, I just really like the transformations. There's not even a small part of me who thinks it's realistic for your average working stiff. And I have to wonder, when this kids go to college and have to quit working out 8 hours a day and eating on the meal plan if they aren't destined to gain quite a bit of it back, and fast. I hope not, for their sakes.

someone on the mtv site for the video of the second episode said that in an interview she stated she was working out 4-8 hours everyday. workouts that intense and a controlled diet will lead to such a negative calorie intake (or outflow i guess) that a pound a day is quite possible, now whats going to happen once she is working out less, or even at random and not eating as healthy, who knows, she may balloon back up

Im a little lost since I haven't seen the show . . . did the trainer say this before the girl stated how much weight she wanted to lose? Or was this after the girl said she wanted to lose 90 lbs?
I mean if it was the trainers idea that she needed to lose that much that fast, uhmm - I wouldn't be at all comfortable with that if it were me - but if it was what the girl told her she wanted to do - isn't that just stating the obvious? 90 lbs, 89 days to do . . . . simple math tells you its a pound a day . . . did I miss something?

^^^^It was after the girl said she wanted to lose 90 lbs. Then the trainer told her that she would need to lose 1 lb a day to reach her goal, and that it wasn't going to be easy. So he was just stating the obvious. I was surprised she stuck with it, as whiny as she was...

These shows... I dunno. It's realistic for sure, people are actually doing this. Is it practical? Probably not for your average working person. I liked the first girl tho, the homecoming queen, she was so real... She was going to school and working her job AND losing the weight. She had to cut back on her work hours until school let out to help her with her exhaustion, but she did it (and continued at her job all summer). And her family situation was so familiar...

Anyway, I like this show. And I've been where these kids are, and maybe that's why. I wish someone had given me that opportunity (trainer, planned diet, etc.) when I was still young and could have devoted all my time to it!

Unbelievable