The Biggest Loser was once a reality TV juggernaut.
Debuting in 2004, it pitted overweight people against each other to see who could lose the
most weight all in front of the cameras.
But after the contestants returned home, nearly all of them regained some if not all of their
weight.
Here's what happened.
"If you want 5 minutes of fame, and drastic weight loss that you'll never keep off, then
join The Biggest Loser."
Fans of The Biggest Loser know that appearing on the show isn't something to go into lightly.
That's because the weight loss routine that contestants followed was seriously intense.
Once they got to the ranch, participants would workout for up to eight hours a day, according
to Kai Hibbard who told the New York Post,
"There was no easing into it.
My feet were bleeding through my shoes for the first three weeks."
"Not hard enough.
Not hard enough."
Yet another contestant who originally clocked in at over 300 pounds told the paper that,
on her first day, she was put through a routine that involved rowing, body-weight strength
work, kettlebells, treadmill, interval training, a StairMaster, and working outside with tires.
It was so intense she collapsed.
She said,
"I thought I was going to die.
I couldn't take any more."
…All that, as they were eating less than 1,000 calories per day, according to Hibbard.
It's not surprising that many participants on the show lost a ton of weight even in the
short span of five months.
The hardcore exercise regimen and restricted diets, combined with having some seriously
intense trainers constantly telling them to keep going, ended up being the ultimate weight-loss
scenario.
But was it?
"That's all it is.
It's a game show.
It's a competition."
After the show finished, contestants returned to their normal lives and their families.
And while they may have strolled through the door boasting a newly chiseled body, the old
temptations were still there waiting for them.
"I just slipped back into my old habits really quick within the next year or two.
And within about 4 or 5 years I had put back on all the weight."
Biggest Loser OG Ryan Benson admitted to Business Insider,
"It was real easy to slip back into old habits.
The cameras aren't on 24/7 so no one's going to see you pick up four donuts on the way
to work."
Benson, who had shed 122 pounds, rewarded himself with a burger and fries on the first
day that he got home, adding,
"That was one of the things that propelled me to the finish line.
I thought, when I'm done I'm going to get this.
It was a reward."
These days, Benson has committed to a workout and eating plan that he can better maintain.
"I'm still losing weight slowly and steady, and I don't plan on ever changing."
Unless you're independently wealthy or are lucky enough to have billionaire parents,
chances are you need to work in order to pay the bills.
And unless your job is a professional athlete, you probably don't have the time to work out
as much as the contestants did while they were on the show.
"When you gain weight back even when you're in school, it's shameful.
When you're in front of America…it's ten times as shameful."
Danny Cahill the winner of the show's eighth season, actually quit his job as a land surveyor
in order to maintain his exercise regimen after he was sent home from the ranch, according
to The New York Times.
He started his day with 45 minutes on the treadmill, followed by another 45 minutes
after breakfast.
After a 40-minute rest, he would hop on his bike and travel nine miles to the gym, where
he exercised for two and a half hours.
After lunch and another brief rest, he would drive to the gym for a second workout.
Sometimes he would go back for a third workout after dinner, and run at night if he was feeling
up for it.
"I was thinking it's over, man I'm normal now.
I lost 240 pounds and now I can live a normal life like everybody else."
But it wasn't a lifestyle he could maintain.
According to the USDA, the average woman needs to take in about 1,600 to 2,400 calories per
day, while men need about 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.
But, of course, if you're trying to lose weight, you need to restrict that amount in order
to run a deficit.
That's why when people go on a diet, the idea is to eat less than what their bodies burns
naturally, in hopes that they will shed excess pounds.
"I'm super excited to see Dolvett eat a piece of pecan pie.
He has been pushing the red team so hard in the gym, it's kinda funny to see him have
to eat such fattening food."
But the diets that the contestants endured on The Biggest Loser slashed far more calories
than most standard diets.
Consider the diet that Cahill followed after he clinched the Season 8 victory crown.
For breakfast, he would have one piece of sprouted grain toast, half a grapefruit, one
egg, and two egg whites, according to The New York Times.
For lunch, he would usually have one grilled, boneless and skinless chicken breast, ten
spears of asparagus, and one cup of broccoli.
Dinner would likely be something similar, following the low-carb, low-fat, high-protein
model of breakfast and lunch.
"We are not normal.
We have to do extra."
Apparently even doctors watch reality TV at least, Dr. Kevin Hall does, according to The
New York Times.
He was part of a team of scientists that studied the Season 8 participants of The Biggest Loser,
testing them to see how the show had actually impacted their bodies.
When the researchers released the results in 2017, they divided the findings into two
groups: the maintainers, who managed to keep a significant amount of weight off, and the
regainers, who did not.
And what they found is that the maintainers had increased their physical activity levels
by a staggering 160 percent over what they did before having participated on the show.
On the other hand, the regainers only increased their physical activity level by 34 percent
over their pre-show exercise regimens.
"To be 12/15 pounds above my finale weight, and have to work my ass off to really keep
it that way, I knew something was wrong."
The researchers couldn't find any significant difference in diets, which showed that getting
more exercise was the key to keeping the weight off.
A 2016 study by the National Institutes of Health uncovered something that might seem
a little unfair.
After testing the thyroid levels of contestants, researchers discovered that they had dropped
significantly, according to Harvard University.
And since the thyroid governs metabolic function, that means their metabolisms had slowed down
after participating on the show.
Talk about a raw deal.
But that was something Danny Cahill knew already, even if he didn't yet have the scientific
proof in front of him.
He told the Times,
"All my friends were drinking beer and not gaining massive amounts of weight.
The moment I started drinking beer, there goes another 20 pounds.
I said, 'This is not right.
Something is wrong with my body.'"
"The moment that report came out I said I have to go on camera.
This has to be said.
So the shame came off my shoulders and it's time to speak up."
In addition to uncovering information about drastically reduced thyroid function, the
study also uncovered an additional change in the bodies of Season 8 participants, one
that would make it even harder for them to keep the weight off than your average Joe.
Specifically, the leptin levels of the participants had quote "plummeted," per Harvard University.
Leptin, a.k.a. the hormone that makes you feel full, is secreted by fat cells that communicate
directly with the hypothalamus in the brain, sending a message that helps maintain energy,
while inhibiting hunger.
But when those leptin levels take a dive, it triggers feelings of wanting to chow down.
"Can we get another round of shots?"
"Felicia!"
That means that contestants would feel hungry all of the time, given how little of the hormone
is present in their systems.
According to The New York Times, researchers know that dieting slows down a person's metabolism,
no matter what size they are when they start out.
So when The Biggest Loser wrapped each season, they expected participants to deal with the
fallout.
But what the researchers didn't expect is that the former contestants would never recover
their former metabolic rate, as most people eventually tend to do after dieting.
In fact, they were downright shocked at the results.
Dr. Hall told the outlet,
"It is frightening and amazing.
I am just blown away."
It was as if the participants' bodies were working against them, trying to pull them
back to their original weight forever.
"It's awful, embarrassing, I feel ashamed, however from being on the show, there was
no way I was gonna keep that weight off."
Robert Huizenga, who was the doctor on the show, claimed he had hoped for a smaller drop
in the contestants' metabolism but he questioned if the results were correct.
One thing you won't see on The Biggest Loser are the instances when contestants are seriously
injured which has happened more than once, according to the New York Post.
For one, Biggest Loser Ryan Benson was reportedly so malnourished by the time the show ended
that he was urinating blood.
And in 2009, two participants were reportedly admitted to the hospital, and one of them
was said to have been airlifted.
On top of that, Hibbard recalled seeing some of her fellow contestants suffer injuries
while working out.
She told the paper,
"One contestant had a torn calf muscle and bursitis in her knees.
The doctor told her, 'You need to rest.'
She said, 'Production told me I can't rest.'
At one point after that, production ordered her to run, and she said, 'I can't.'"
Another cast member claimed that many of the contestants have incurred permanent knee injuries.
On top of all of the weird and difficult things that have happened to former show contestants,
there are still additional controversies out there.
"Last week, Jillian broke the rules and gave caffeine supplements to each member of her
team without the doctor's permission."
One big controversy is that some of the show's contestants allege that they were drugged
by the show's Dr. Huizenga, according to the New York Post something that could damage
their metabolism.
Joelle Gwynn, who competed on the show in 2008, claimed that trainer Bob Harper's assistant
gave her pills from a paper bag, saying they would help her.
She recalled,
"I felt jittery and hyper.
I went and told the sports medicine guy.
The next day, Dr. H gave us some lame explanation of why they got added to our regimen and that
it was up to us to take them."
Suzanne Mendonca from Season 2 spoke of other alleged horrors, claiming,
"People would take amphetamines, water pills, diuretics, and throw up in the bathroom.
I vomited every single day."
And as if things couldn't get any wilder, she said Harper was happy about that.
As of mid 2019 Huizenga is in court, according to The Hollywood Reporter, pursuing a defamation
suit against the New York Post and former contestant Gwynn.
With everything that's coming to light about the weight-loss methods used on the show,
it's arguably evident that those approaches aren't exactly ideal for long-term, sustained
weight loss.
That means that many obese individuals are going to be looking for new ways to shed excess
weight and keep it off for good.
Fortunately, weight loss surgery is looking like a viable option for people, as gastric
bypass patients' metabolisms speed back up within a year, according to Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski,
associate professor of medicine and public health sciences at the Penn State College
of Medicine.
Although the reasons for its success are still being researched, she told CNN that it likely
has something to do with the complicated connections between the brain, the gut, and hunger-regulating
hormones.
Equally important is the perspective that people have about obesity itself.
She explained,
"The take-home point here is that obesity really is a disease.
It's not something that you can treat once and will cure it.
It's something that has to be continually addressed in one's life."
It's unclear if The Biggest Loser will ever return to TV, once again pitting contestants
against one another for that coveted $250,000 prize.
It's certainly not that there's a lack of interest in weight loss reality shows, as
is evidenced by the success of TLC's My 600-lb Life, but perhaps the details that have surfaced
about the Biggest Loser's long-term results have sullied its reputation.
Former executive producer of The Biggest Loser, JD Roth, did throw his resources behind another
show, a six-episode series called The Big Fat Truth in 2017, according to Forks Over
Knives.
"I believe that the way to do this is a way we have not tried on any weight loss show
I have ever done over the last almost 15 years."
The show, which featured former contestants from The Biggest Loser, among others, stressed
the importance of a whole-food, plant-based diet for a healthy weight.
"You're not gonna believe what happens."
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