A 100 calories of broccoli and a 100 calorie "diet" pack of mini-oreos are not the same!
That was exactly the point of the longer article & the volumetrics tie-in. The author stated many of these people on WW points are delusional thinking they can eat these mini-pks of this, pts for alcohol, etc., but they are not truly FEEDING their bodies. So like with many of the prepared meal plans, they are not really changing their lives for the better. It's just a temporary solution. As soon as they try to live w/o their plan, better pull out the fat clothes again.
Thanks for the tip. I looked at the article myself last night. I saw Biggest Loser only sporadically last season (I work irregular hours) and my mom and I noticed that people were losing 15, 20 # a week and found that hard to believe, unless it was all fluid loss. Then on the day of the live finale in, was it Nov or Dec, the Star Tribune interviewed the woman from Minnesota who was the first person eliminated, and in that article it said they'd begun filming in April. I did that math and figured that the losses reported from one show to the next would make more sense if they reflected 3 or 4 weeks of real-time work rather than 1 week (although you'd still have to have the TV gestapo riding herd on you keeping you exercising and keeping your hand out of the cookie jar). It made sense to me that you could lose 10 or more # in 3 or more weeks because that's just what I did when I started my diet: I went to the doctor to have my blood pressure checked, and he said "come back for a full check-up in 1 month and lose 3 # by then, and optimally 10 # over the next year". I cut out snacks and started taking a walk on my lunch break, and when I came back for the check-up, to my amazement I'd already lost 10 #!
Hi Another, but those are just weekly losses. The show films from April to June, they go home from July to December when the finale is. So it's 12 weeks at the ranch, then 5.5 months at home (while the show airs for us from Sep-Dec), then they show up in mid-December for the finale. So what we see on the air is actually the unhealthy weekly losses you suspected. The show runs on air for 12 weeks and in the last show it shows them going home. The 13th episode is the live finale. So Season 4 is wrapping up right now, they will edit the footage over the summer, and the show starts in late Sept., while the top 3 are at home continuing to lose weight. I may have misunderstood the point you were trying to make, so if so, just ignore me! I thought you were saying those might have been longer gaps between weigh-ins.
DePalma- I didn't mean to imply that calories in/calories out didn't matter. As the Time articles so bluntly states it " No one has yet figured out how to circumvent the basic Law of Thermodynamics". However, for some of us, "all things in moderation" just plain doesn't work. The basis of Weight Watchers and just plain calorie counting ignores the sources of the calories and ignores what new studies are showing- that different body chemistry requires different approaches to weight loss and maintenance.
A few years ago, I did a contest prep diet called "Get Lean" devised for bodybuilders where the main source of carbs was white rice and cream of wheat. I KNOW people who have become shredded on this program. I followed it to a T- lots of cardio, heavy lifting, piles of chicken breast and tilapia and gagging down that cream of wheat. I lost 2 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. I should have lost about 12-15. I redubbed it the "Get Fat" program. It works wonderfully for most people, but it sure didn't work for me. I'm convinced that if I had reduced the amount of carbs in total and replaced all that white rice and cream of wheat with about half the equivalent amount of oatmeal, sweet potato and brown rice I would have had a different outcome. In fact, I'm sure of it because that's how I lost the weight in the first place and continue to maintain or lose when I need to.
A few years ago, I did a contest prep diet called "Get Lean" devised for bodybuilders where the main source of carbs was white rice and cream of wheat. I KNOW people who have become shredded on this program. I followed it to a T- lots of cardio, heavy lifting, piles of chicken breast and tilapia and gagging down that cream of wheat. I lost 2 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. I should have lost about 12-15. I redubbed it the "Get Fat" program. It works wonderfully for most people, but it sure didn't work for me. I'm convinced that if I had reduced the amount of carbs in total and replaced all that white rice and cream of wheat with about half the equivalent amount of oatmeal, sweet potato and brown rice I would have had a different outcome. In fact, I'm sure of it because that's how I lost the weight in the first place and continue to maintain or lose when I need to.
I am the same way. I think it is probably common among people who are/were heavy. I don't know if we are now so much more carb sensitive that we signal the body to send out insulin easier or if our bodies have made the fat storing function of insulin so much more efficient. I have been eating at maintenance calories for sometime now but if I eat starchy carbs outside the post-workout window, my body wants to store these as fat. If I restrict them to post-workout only, at maintenance calories and my current training, I am seeing a slow, but steady improvement in body composition.
I don't know if we are doomed to always be carb sensitive or if this will improve the further we are able to maintain. At this point, it's a non-issue for me. I have learned to adjust.
Hi Another, but those are just weekly losses. The show films from April to June, they go home from July to December when the finale is. So it's 12 weeks at the ranch, then 5.5 months at home (while the show airs for us from Sep-Dec), then they show up in mid-December for the finale. So what we see on the air is actually the unhealthy weekly losses you suspected. The show runs on air for 12 weeks and in the last show it shows them going home. The 13th episode is the live finale. So Season 4 is wrapping up right now, they will edit the footage over the summer, and the show starts in late Sept., while the top 3 are at home continuing to lose weight. I may have misunderstood the point you were trying to make, so if so, just ignore me! I thought you were saying those might have been longer gaps between weigh-ins.
Thanks, I guess you know more about it than I do. I was just taking a WAG and realized something about it had to be taken with a grain of salt (is that healthy if we have to watch our sodium intake ?)
You might be on to something, bc I think I have changed over the years.....
I traditionally carried my extra weight in my hips and thighs. But as I crossed over from being just overweight to obese, I guess my pear got full, and I started putting weight on around my middle. (maybe age related too?) Now I notice that my middle can quickly reflect my diet - almost like a children's float ring being inflated and deflated depending on diet and exercise. It is the first thing to expand or shrink based on my eating. So where I once would have done well on just a LF diet, I think now I have to be conscious of good carbs too. But, that's fine, bc that's what I'm doing anyway, bc to me that's healthy eating. I think if we had all done healthy carbs instead of the plain old just LF/all carb eating we did in the 80's, we'd all weigh LESS now! (bagels anyone?)
Hmm... By chance, is there any of you who would have scanned those articles (or some of them), for instance to send them to a friend or relative? I had a look at the school's library for this issue of TIME, but I hadn't realized that the US and European editions are totally different--and of course, the one we have here isn't the US one... So I'd be really glad if there was a means for any of you to send me a couple of scans, or perhaps let me know if there's a way to get the US issue in France.
Now I notice that my middle can quickly reflect my diet - almost like a children's float ring being inflated and deflated depending on diet and exercise. It is the first thing to expand or shrink based on my eating.
I thought I was the only one who could tell by my middle if I've gained a pound or two, or when I've had a restaurant meal! It's so weird. Your float ring description is right on (unfortunately!).
I have a subscription to Time and have a backlog of several issues, so I usually put off reading the newest issue until I've read the prior issues, but I read this one as soon as I saw it in my mailbox. Very interesting.
I must've missed that, thank you Mel. I'll be checking the website first then (let's just hope it's not the 'incomplete article that stops after 4 paragraphs--buy the issue to read more' ).
The TBL article was rough! The things that people have done to their bodies was very disturbing. What troubled me as well was Kelly's comment that she works out 1-4 hours a day, six days a week. Am I out to lunch here?? Isn't any routine that long a problem when done six days a week?
I think a schedule that excessive may be motivated more by fear of gaining the weight back rather than a desire to live healthier and, as such, will ultimately fail.
I agree with you, but I believe she was also single and still kind of young - going out with friends mode. She has alot of time on her hands and probably gets off work pretty early being a teacher, so she has an extended evening. It's just not realistic for someone working traditional hours or with family obligations to schedule around. I'm thinking I might get in 90 minutes twice a day, when I'm on vacation this summer, if I decide I want to do some kind of bootcamp thing during the weeks I'm off.
I was just taking a WAG and realized something about it had to be taken with a grain of salt (is that healthy if we have to watch our sodium intake 
?)
I'll be checking the website first then (let's just hope it's not the 'incomplete article that stops after 4 paragraphs--buy the issue to read more' 
).
