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The Biggest Loser, a popular television show that pits contestants against each other to see who can lose the most weight through a vigorous diet and exercise program,  is misleading it’s overweight and obese viewers according to many experts.

The Biggest Loser Contestants Before And After

The contestants exercise 5 hours a day with a physical trainer and are put on very low calorie diets supervised by a medical doctor and a psychologist.  Contestants often lose 20 to 30 pounds a week which medical experts almost universally agree is not only unrealistic but very unhealthy.

Unrealistic because most people cannot abandon their families and jobs to seclude themselves away from their homes to exercise all day long locked up away from the temptations of food and drink.  Unhealthy because such great amounts of weekly weight loss are probably losses of muscle and other vital tissues as much as they are weight lost from fat.  

Jillian Micheals, personal trainer and host of The Biggest Loser agrees saying “I would second the notion that the show is not realistic”.  Professor and registered dietitian Wendy Cunningham offered this when talking of The Biggest Loser TV show:

“It is not possible to lose the amount of fat weight in the amount of time… So They are being rewarded for basically losing water weight.”

A weight loss goal of 2 to 5 pounds a week is healthier, more realistic and much more easy to accomplish by the average dieter who isn’t lucky enough to become a contestant on the biggest loser. 

Learn how one of our writers lost 37 pounds in 2 months on “the easiest diet in the world”.