2014’s The Biggest Loser Shows Us the Power of Exercise

I’m sure you’re heard a lot about the controversy over the winner of the 2014’s The Biggest Lower competition, Rachel Frederickson. She dropped 155 pounds in the span of 7 months. That’s about 22 pounds per month. While impressive, it’s not a healthy way to lose weight. As a dietitian and weight-loss specialist, I recommend to people that a loss of 2-3 pounds per week accomplished by both reducing calories and exercise is a good goal.

Rachel ate about 1600 calories per day. For a woman starting out at 260 pounds, that’s a starvation diet. And then to hear that she was exercising for 6 hours a day makes the situation more incredible. Even though when people try to lose weight they hope to feed off the extra fat they have, they don’t appreciate that they’re also breaking down muscle mass (even while exercising) to supply enough protein for the body to perform its duties.

I’m not here to criticize the producers of The Biggest Loser. That’s been done sufficiently by such tabloids as People magazine, Us, Entertainment, amongst a handful of others. For the excitement of a show, a woman’s health may have been sacrificed. What I’d like to point out is that it was the exercise regimen that helped bring about the loss of so many pounds.

I’m not suggesting that everyone should go out and exercise for 6 hours a day. Frankly, if you weren’t doing it as a career (or trying to win $250,000 as Rachel was doing), you wouldn’t have time for it. You would hopefully have a life. What is important to note, however, is the power of exercise. It isn’t enough to just reduce your caloric intake. It’s the exercise that burns up the fat.

How much exercise is enough? If you can get in 30 minutes to one hour a day, that’s enough. And that time shouldn’t just be dedicated to fat-burning exercises (aerobics). Aerobics is only one part of a three-part regimen. The other two parts include flexibility and strength building. Flexibility comes from doing stretching exercises and strength building comes from resistance training and/or lifting weights. To help you establish a safe and healthy routine for yourself, consider hiring a personal trainer for one or two sessions.

By the way, one interesting thing about exercise is that it helps curb your appetite. You naturally tend not to eat as many calories. But that doesn’t mean eating two few either. Whatever you’re presently eating, drop that by 500 calories. If you reach a plateau where the weight isn’t coming off, then drop another 500 calories, all the while keeping up your exercise routine. Because exercise will make you stronger, you’ll build up more muscle which burns more fat and calories, and make you just feel better.