Sandi Kaplan, MS, RD, Associate Director, Clinical Development & Support:

Mind & Body® Program participants often ask our coaches about the Biggest Loser television show. Their questions center around comparisons: “Why aren’t I losing weight as quickly as the contestants are?” or “Why are you recommending that I don’t try to lose 80 pounds all at once? They do that on the Biggest Loser.”

Our Coaches do a wonderful job of educating participants about why the Biggest Loser, and other shows like it, has so many flaws when applied to the real world.

But imagine my excitement when I met a researcher at the recent American Society of Nutrition conference who has actually studied a cohort of Biggest Loser participants. At the famous Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Dr Eric Ravussin and his team study the effect of caloric restriction on physiological processes. One of his postdoctoral students recommended that he study a group of Biggest Loser participants and he did.The results verified everything that we know about rapid weight loss which can be summed up in one short sentence: Rapid weight loss is very likely to lead to weight regain.

Dr. Ravussin put these participants through lots of physiological testing – from blood tests to time spent in metabolic chambers. And the results, although expected, are still startling.

Let’s say that Jenny used to weigh 250 pounds and, in a short period of time on the television show, lost 100 pounds; she now weighs 150 pounds. Kate, on the other hand, has never lost or gained much weight and weighs 150 pounds. Jenny and Kate eat exactly the same diet and move their bodies the same amount too. Yet extensive metabolic testing shows that Jenny burns about 510 fewer calories per day than Kate. That means that on the same amount of calories, Jenny will gain weight and Kate will maintain her weight. Not fair, is it?

Rapid weight loss produces metabolic adaptations. People who lose a lot of weight quickly burn fewer calories and are hungrier (because of the drop in their leptin levels produced by the rapid weight loss). So, in summary, they have to eat less, exercise more and endure more hunger on an ongoing basis. Sounds very challenging to me!

Rapid weight loss is a recipe for disaster. In the Mind & Body Program, we recommend a  5-10% weight loss over a 3 to 6 month period. And then we recommend maintaining that weight loss for 3-6 months before you start losing weight again. This gives your body a better chance of sustaining the weight loss for the long term so you are able to get off that awful dieting rollercoaster.

The calorie restriction and over exercising that happens on the Biggest Loser is far from our evidence-based recommendations. It’s best, instead, to focus on small changes which are sustainable long term. Losing weight that you are not going to keep off is useless. It does not benefit the health of your body at all. And yo-yo dieting is certainly not helpful for your self esteem and morale, either.

So pick a small change that you can start making today. Will you eat more vegetables at dinner? Will you go for a 15 minute walk at lunch time? Will you practice a stress management technique for 10 minutes? Think long term and before you know it, those small changes will add up to significant benefits.