Wow Rx: The Basic Plan
Okay. Enough of that.
What you really want to know is what the plan is. How does Dr. Huizenga, chief medical consultant on The Biggest Loser, propose that regular, at-home folks lose similar quantities of weight?
The plan is based on his work with Biggest Loser contestants, especially his program for the 36 at-home contestants representing various states during Season 3, and his years in sports medicine (as team doctor for the Oakland Raiders — ironically trying to keep weight on those big linebackers while they were intensively training).
photo credit: The Library of Congress
Here’s the plan, in a nutshell:
- Moderate calorie restriction, with intake tailored to your actual body composition.
- “Two-a-day” exercise regimen six days a week, involving vigorous aerobics and/or strength training morning and night for a total of 2-2.5 hours a day.
- Clean eating, with minimal sugars, minimal processed foods, and maximum variety.
Dr. Huizenga claims that people can safely lose 1.5% of their body weight per week, rather than 1.5 pounds per week, as is illogically advocated across the board, regardless of how large or small you are. He is emphatically concerned about people who lose lean tissue (muscle/bone) while losing “weight” and believes that his regimen will almost exclusively burn fat. In fact, most people were shown to gain muscle/bone weight due to the high levels of exercise.
The quote that sums it all up:
People try to lose weight to get healthy. They’ve got it inside out and backward — you need to lose fat, not “weight,” and you’ve got to get healthy in order to lose fat.
January 15th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Oh my goodness, two to two and a half hours of vigorous exercise a day?! I would quit after day one, I’m afraid. But I’ll be slouching on the couch cheering you on with all I’ve got (maybe that can count as my vigorous exercise?)! Good luck!
January 15th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I’ve been averaging a little bit less than an hour of vigorous exercise a day for the last couple of months. To my surprised, pretty quickly the exercise has become its own reward. For one thing, for the first winter in forever, I haven’t been dealing with depression. Wow.
So, I look forward to hearing about how fantastic two hours a day of exercise leave you feeling. I bet they become their own reward pretty quickly.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Hey, my blog’s open for public consumption again! Come on over, the water’s fine!
January 15th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I think the 1-2 pounds per week might be approximating a 1-2% weight loss — just with the assumption that the people in question weigh no more than 200-ish pounds. That a bigger person can lose more doesn’t seem like it should be surprising, but that 1-2 pounds has been drilled into our heads.
I bought the book too and am wondering if I could ever get that much exercise in my life — and I always considered myself fairly active. It’s definitely something I could work toward, though. I have noticed myself that 2-a-day workouts really do make a difference, so even if I start with 1 hour split into 2 sessions, that might still be better than one longer session.
February 1st, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Really enjoyed your review of the book. I’ll be commenting about it, soon.