Chronicles of a Late Bloomer

It surprises me how little press this book has gotten, given the nation’s obsession with The Biggest Loser. NBC frequently pads their news, talk, and late-night programs with previews and follow-ups to The Biggest Loser drama. “Where are they now?” episodes and a market flooded with Biggest Loser powders and paraphernalia all give the impression that the public would at least be a little interested in the nuts and bolts of life on (and after) the Ranch.

Not so, though, which is why the relative silence surrounding Dr. Huizenga’s book is so curious. Seems that the moguls know they can make more money on Biggest Loser branded contraptions, video games, and more-or-less useless exercise books than by promoting the actual science behind the plan that these massive weight-losers undertake.

Where did all the fat go? is obviously not a product of the Biggest Loser marketing machine. If anything, it suffers from branding issues: the cover is unattractive, the title is long and confusing while still managing to be cheesy, and the website which was supposed to accompany the book seems to have never really made it off the ground.

However, this is a “diet book” that really appeals to me and I think it would appeal to many people in my basic demographic — 20- to 40-somethings who are morbidly obese, intelligent, and motivated to lose massive amounts of weight. Here’s why:

1. Dr. Huizenga does not coddle or condescend.He believes that obese people are capable of intense exercise and lifestyle changes. I find this very refreshing, in comparison to the Surgeon General’s recommendations that obese people begin with 10 minutes of moderate walking and work up to two hours of light exercise per week. Research seems to show that this level of exercise may have cardiac benefits, but will make very little impact on weight loss.
2. He utilizes the principles of scientific study and research to demonstrate his thesis — that moderate calorie restriction paired with intense and vigorous exercise can result in a 1.5-2% body weight loss per week in obese and morbidly obese individuals. He employs research methodologies that ring true with my academic experience and reports them in a way that appeals to my logical/practical side.
3. The plan is all-natural, rejecting severe calorie restriction, diet pills, surgeries, and supplements. The goal is to lose fat, not water, muscle, bone, or other “lean” structures in the body. He has measured this with state-of-the-art medical equipment in Biggest Loser participants and verified that lean body composition (including bone density in hard-to-affect places like the spine) actually increases — something previously unheard-of in weight-loss research.
4. Although the program is designed for dramatic weight loss, there is no crowing about quick or easy fixes. This regimen is hard and requires intense sacrifices. It is not for the faint of heart or the dabbler, even without the screaming trainers. The results of this program are comparable with results from weight loss surgeries.
5. This plan has been tested and tried with hundreds of obese and morbidly obese participants under strict medical observation. In short, Dr. Huizenga knows obesity. He has seen people just like me follow this program and have success. He knows what to expect, how to overcome the obstacles, and he tries to prepare you for roadbumps along the way — touching on everything from how to deal with joint pain to how to manage excess skin and how to shop for produce with minimal waste.

What this book is not:

1. An exposé on The Biggest Loser. There are a few mentions of Ranch contestants and game-play involved with losing weight on the Ranch and the behind-the-scenes stuff that occurred in board rooms and conference calls. But, the majority of the book focuses on people who never made it to the Ranch, and/or what happens once they are kicked off. He basically compares the “boot camp” environment of the Ranch with the at-home version that he’s suggesting for the rest of us. The weight-loss results are surprisingly similar.
2. A psychological or emotional exploration. Pretty much, this book is about science, research, and bullet points. If you need to get to the root of your issues with food or appreciate a touchy-feely, clever approach, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
3. Sexy, glamorous, or even enticing. Aside from a strange diversion into perceived changes in penis size after weight loss (c’mon…), there isn’t much to titillate, here. I wouldn’t even say this book is particularly well-edited. It’s fine, really. The errors and diversions aren’t totally distracting. But this seems to be the work of a small publisher and the overall feel is that Huizenga wanted to pack as much information into the book as possible, sometimes at the expense of organization and flow.

Okay. So what’s in the book? Three sections, lots of charts and graphs, and marching orders. 

Content

The first section contains background and basics. Huizenga is an MD specializing in sports medicine who has been team doctor for the Oakland Raiders among other jobs. He’s now on faculty at UCLA medical school and has the endorsement of many of his peers on the book’s cover. The Doc includes his own history with weight and sports (wrestling, bed of male eating disorders), the Hollywood ballyhoo that landed him on the show, and the nuts and bolts of the Wow!Rx and how it stacks up against other diet programs.

The second section is a collection of the weekly emails sent out to the 36 at-home contestants during Season 3, so you can follow their progress and compare it to your own. This is sort of cool because he answers questions that people sent in, which is surprisingly helpful, even though the emails were written years ago.

The third section is labeled supplementary and contains tips and hints for cooking, planning, buying food, etc. It ends with speeches given at the “graduation ceremony” for the 36 at-home contestants which, I have to say, is pretty moving since you follow their whole progress closely throughout the book.

1. Get With the Program — The ABC’s of the Rx
   1. The Biggest Loser: The Bumpy Road to Malibu
   2. Fat-loss Myths and Scientific Discoveries
   3. The WOW!Rx Home Fat Loss Team
   4. Getting Started
   5. The WOW!Rx Step-by-Step Guide
   6. Understanding Healthy Eating for Fat Loss
   7. Understanding Fat-Loss Exercise
   8. Push-Pull-Twist (PPT) Training — the Last Piece of the Fat-loss Puzzle
2. You are Not Alone — Follow the Losers
   1. The Wow!Rx: Week-by-Week Guide
3. Help is on the Way — Supplemental Material to Facilitate Your Journey
   1. The WOW!Rx Nutritional Plan
   2. Mind Over Matter
4. Appendix
   1. Biggest Loser Pre-participation Medical History Form
   2. Personal Physician Statement
   3. Medical Articles Written About Biggest Loser Contestants

The Basic Plan

Huizenga asks participants to get their body fat percentage measured in order to figure out their lean body mass. From these numbers, you calculate your personal calorie intake (he calls it “moderately restricted” and I have to agree) and your goal weight, based on appropriate body fat percentages. The objective, as he states over and over, is to lose fat, not weight.

Armed with this information, you then launch into a two-a-day exercise routine combining intense/vigorous cardio and strength training. This regimen runs 6 days a week, with the following approximate recommended durations:

• 2-3 months if you are overweight
• 4-8 months if you are obese
• 6-12 months if you are morbidly obese

The good doctor claims that if you follow this eating and exercise plan, you can lose 1.5-2.0% of your body weight per week (not the 1-2 pounds that is commonly accepted) and that nearly all (if not all) of that should be fat.

In addition to the restricted calorie intake, he recommends utilizing an old body-building trick and drinking “anabolic shakes” after each workout. Never fear, though. Although you can buy powders and supplements to accomplish this, he gives easy recipes that provide all of the carbs, sugars, and proteins you need from simple grocery store ingredients like fruit, milk, etc.

Because the plan itself is simple, the rest of the book is filled up with recommendations for carb-fat-protein ratios, a section on strength training illustrated with photos of the good doctor himself doing the exercises — all short and sweaty and mulleted — and those week-by-week updates on the at-home contestants’ progress.

Review

I really think one of the reasons this book has gotten so little airtime is that it takes a special kind of crazy to embark on this plan. Two-a-day exercise would be a breeze if you were in a boot camp environment such as the Biggest Loser Ranch. It’s do-able. Believe me, it’s do-able. But, you really have to re-structure your life and make major sacrifices. In the end, it depends on how important it is to you, and how much you believe in the science behind what he is suggesting.

The results are undeniable, if you’re able to stick to it. With success and recidivism rates almost equal to that of weight-loss surgery, it’s really a great option if you are obese or morbidly obese and already considering such a drastic step as surgery.And I do like that Dr. Huizenga doesn’t condescend or coddle. He knows the program is difficult, and he makes no apologies. The message is, “You can do it” — and I don’t mean that in a hippie, summer-camp, feel-good kind of way.

The book is an easy read, but has some tangents and diversions that I wish had been edited out — research on hot vs. cold beverages on hot vs. cold days and the resultant burn of a few extra calories, for instance, seem silly and out of place. Sure, they are researched effects, but they also feel a little game-y, which is exactly the kind of mindset the doctor is encouraging us not to adopt. Honestly, I’m also not sure how he expects us to weigh our water intake and output before/after exercise to make sure we are hydrating appropriately. I mean, c’mon. Like most scientists, Dr. H. can get a little lost in minutiae, and you have to afford him these diversions in favor of the bigger picture. 

At times, I feel he is posturing to adopt, say, Jillian’s hard-ass-ness. You have trouble waking up early in the morning? JUST WAKE UP! You don’t know how to cook? JUST LEARN TO COOK! You just had surgery? BUNDLE UP AND GET ON OUT THERE! Dr. Huizenga is a little short on motivation, but he gets the job done.

With so much information jammed into one book, you can’t expect it to be a work of literary genius. The tone is a bit enthusiastic at times (exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!), and he sometimes over-simplifies away emotional issues in order to make his point. This is not prose. It’s a program.

With the exception of pointers and supplemental materials, there isn’t a lot of assistance on implementation of this plan. Basically, he lays it out there. He cites examples of other people (stay-at-home mothers, medical students, lawyers, clergy, and a dozen other people more busy than you) who have made it work. The basic message is, “Here’s what to do. Other people have done it. Now you go figure out how to make it happen.”

If you can, though, the results seem to be amazing.

This entry was posted Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 5:14 pm and is filed under The 2010 Experiment. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.