If you've ever watched The Biggest Loser on NBC, you probably noticed that they lose a lot more weight than the recommended 1-2 pounds per week. You might also be curious as to how they achieved such a fast paced weight loss so that you can create your own Biggest Loser diet and exercise plan.
1. The main problem when trying to follow the Biggest Loser plan or any diet from a reality show is that you have a life. Try this exercise: quickly make a mental list of all the responsibilities you have to tend to each day. Dropping the kids off at school, attending school yourself, work, homework, housework, cook dinner, grocery shopping, fix the car, mow the lawn and I bet you could come up with a bunch more.
2. When someone goes onto one of these reality shows to lose weight, they temporarily leave their lives behind and live with everyone else who is on the show. That means they don't go to work, drop the kids off at school or go to the store. A big chunk of the day is planned by the producers in order to achieve the maximum amount of weight loss. They wake up, eat, exercise, eat, exercise, eat, exercise and finally go to sleep.
3. Going back to the list of tasks you have to accomplish each day, how much time do you have left for exercise? If you're lucky, maybe an hour. A huge part of weight loss is exercise and if you only have an hour each day to do it, the weight will come off in a slow but steady manner. If you're on a reality show, your whole day revolves around exercise. Each team has a personal trainer which gives contestants a lot of one on one attention. Do you have your own personal trainer?
4. The other part of weight loss is a healthy, calorie restricted diet. While you're at work or school, what do you usually eat? Do you go for some fast food or a sit down restaurant? Do you prepare your own meal the night before? Do you eat an unhealthy snack? When you're on a reality show, you get all your meals prepared for you. A chef, who works closely with a dietician, makes sure that each meal tastes good and is extremely healthy (or sometimes just low calories). Do you have this kind of service at home?
5. At the end of the show when everyone goes back to their regular lives, they all stress out about picking up their old habits. It's hard to go back to normal after being pushed by a personal trainer and fed by a chef. A lot of them will gain the weight right back because if they aren't told when to exercise and how to cook, they simply don't do it. Another show, Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, is based on the same principle: get overweight people on the show and teach them how to lose weight. If you've seen more than a few seasons, you'll realize that a lot of the contestants are back season after season, meaning that they aren't keeping the weight off. This is because they can't stick to the changes once the pressure to lose weight through competition isn't there anymore.
6. Most of these shows now sell diet plans. These diet plans are nothing different than what you're already doing. Buying one of these plans won't help you lose weight as fast as the contestants on the show because you don't have access to the same resources. Sticking to a sensible diet and exercise plan will yield the best results for you.
