photo credit: nDevilTV

From the Happy Accidents Department: this season of The Biggest Loser actually started just after my first week on the Wow!Rx program. It’s a little extra Tuesday night motivation to feel like I’m going neck-and-neck with the contestants. I was hopeful that they would have at-home players this season, and they did!

Two pairs were sent home during the first episode, with the promise of returning 30 days later for a weigh-in and progress report. Awesome. An even better yardstick by which to measure my progress. At-home teams!

From everything I can tell, at-home contestants follow the Wow!Rx, except that those who can afford it do seem to hire trainers. Wow!Rx doesn’t require trainers (and in fact the first batch of at-home contestants were forbidden from using them). I also think that most of the contestants follow this plan after they get voted off and return home, giving us our beloved “transformation moment” at the end of each episode. This last episode (which Jen does a great job of recapping here) brought back the two expelled teams to see if the Blue team or the Yellow team would return as Ranch contestants.

Season 3 was the first time that at-home contestants followed the Wow!Rx and were given a chance to return to the Ranch. I’ll never forget watching  the episode from Season 3 when the top at-home contestants came back and weighed in. I shared the “Ranch” contestants’ reactions when the top 6 at-home contestants all clocked in with a weight loss percentage higher than the lowest Ranch contestant, and the two that were invited to stay in the house had the highest percentage of all contestants.

Jaron had lost 23.2%, Adrian had 23.3%, while Brian was the top Ranch dude and had lost 22.1%. The Ranch contestants moped around. “What are we even doing here, if people can follow a program at home and lose even MORE weight than we can!?”

Well, that wasn’t exactly repeated this week, but the blue team lost a respectable 9.92% and the yellow team lost 11.45%. Without the benefit of a male on my team, you’ll note that my first month percentage is closer to 9% but still. Not bad.

Soon, I’ll post a breakdown of the month because there were definitely some surprises.

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.

photo credit: Bob.Fornal

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.

photo credit: kirikiri

To tell you the truth, I’ve been hesitant to write about Dr. Huizenga’s book and the program that I’ve decided to follow because, frankly, I anticipate some backlash. Like PastaQueen Jennette, who begs and pleads readers not to respond with advice for her chronic headache, I don’t really want to hear it.

If you’ve ever watched The Biggest Loser, you can assume that Dr. Huizenga, the show’s main medical consultant, is no fan of “start small and build slowly” kinds of programs. No, he has shown for many years now that his balls-out, no-holds-barred, zero-to-sixty regimen works for morbidly obese people — at least when $250,000 and tv glory are on the line.

photo credit: stevendepolo

So, I don’t want to hear about how I’m setting myself up for failure, or putting myself at risk, or just downright stupid for even attempting his rigorous training plan. I am pretty sure I know what I am getting myself into. In fact, I’ve been doing it for over 2 weeks now, and I know I can handle it. I may be morbidly obese, but I am not a couch potato.

It’s not necessarily my style to embark on an all-or-nothing kind of deal. But, start googling morbid obesity and weight loss and exercise and most of the results are:

1. Ads for pills, diets, contraptions
2. Proponents of weight-loss surgery
3. Condescending exercise programs advocating 2-5 minutes of moderate walking per day

photo credit: Wm Jas 

Although he has been made famous by the television success of on-campus Biggest Loser contestants, Dr. Huizenga seems most proud of the program he developed for at-home players; that is, the intense exercise and moderate calorie restriction that the contestants use when they are off the ranch or (in the case of 36 state representatives on Season 3 and two of the teams this season) make it all the way to Los Angeles only to be sent home before ever being screamed at by a telegenic trainer.

photo credit: jerryonlife

Dr. Huizenga’s not joking around. He means business. his program is not for the faint of heart, the dalliers, or the half-assed. (No offense, Jennette.) But, he tries to be scientific about it. He certainly is medical about it. And he recounts his personal experience with dozens and hundreds of people like me who have successfully reached their goal weights by becoming healthy from the inside out — by focusing on fitness — and all of it out of the sight of cameras and celebrities.

photo credit: Chris Pirillo

The bottom line is that he doesn’t write much about the show contestants. He writes about the at-home contestants. He specializes in people like me — big people. Smart, funny, attractive people, yes, but big people who live real lives and need to lose weight without the benefit of treatment teams and trainers and television. I am hopeful that his understanding of the unique physiology and challenges of the morbidly obese will bring me better results than just walking around the block twice a week ever could.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: unless you’re an obesity researcher, an MD specialist in sports medicine, or a trainer who specializes in assisting people with BMI’s in the 40’s, and 50’s, please keep your negative comments to yourself.

I’ve had a couple of brushes with casting for The Biggest Loser. Sue me. I live in Los Angeles.

But, of course, appearing on a reality TV show wasn’t really what I wanted. It’s not that I had the opportunity to actually choose (I didn’t get that far in the audition process), but the fact is that I don’t want to be a star. I want to be healthy.

One of the things you do if you are in the casting process and obsessive (as I am) is read Casting Tips and join the comment frenzy over on Matthew McNutt’s blog. Matt was a cast member in season 3 — one of the “at home” contestants who was invited back into the house for a mid-season weigh-in. He ended up losing 176 pounds (for a grand total of 48%) but it wasn’t quite enough to get cast back into the BL Ranch or win the at-home prize. Still, he’s one of the only former cast-members who actively blogs and stays involved with the process, at least in this online-blog-y kind of way. He’s a bit religious for my tastes, but when it comes to casting for the Biggest Loser, he’s sort of the be-all of support.

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Many months ago, while obsessing about the process, I read Matt’s review of Dr. Huizenga’s poorly-designed but apparently super-helpful book. Dr. Huizenga is the wee little sprite of a thing with a curly mullet that shows up at the beginning and end of the season, sometimes. He is usually the one reviewing the results of the in-depth physicals, announcing people’s real-age estimates and trying to put the fear of medical god in the contestants. He’s also the one who congratulates them in the end for reversing diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and whatnot.

Turns out he’s not only a little guy in bad need of a haircut, but he also graduated from Harvard Medical School and specializes in sports medicine. Maybe a guy who’s worked for years with 300-plus-pound athletes (linebackers, etc.) know a thing or two about people my size trying to get into shape, not just lose weight.

I bought the book on November 27th.

Shut up. I met my eating and exercise goals today.

Still, funny.