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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » Don’t Blame ‘Biggest Loser’ Contestants’ Weight Gain on Bad Choices – SELF

Losing weight can be extremely hard. Keeping it off can be even harder. In the show The Big Fat Truth , which premiered this past Sunday, former The Biggest Loser contestants who regained weight are on a mission to lose it again. J.D. Roth, executive producer of The Big Fat Truth and former executive producer of The Biggest Loser , told People that bad decision-making patterns are to blame for the contestants' weight gain. This is despite a National Institutes of Healthsponsored research study demonstrating the damaging effect the shows extreme weight-loss strategies have had on the contestants' metabolisms.

Is the contestants' weight gain due to metabolic changes? Or does it come down to what Roth blithely describes as decision-making patterns that aren't conducive to maintaining weight loss? The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

Though the Biggest Loser study, which was published in May 2016 in the journal Obesity , looked at only 14 former contestants, it still offers an intriguing glimpse into what's going on here. In it, researchers showed that several key regulators of metabolismthe protein adiponectin, the hormone leptin, and thyroid hormones T3 and T4were, in fact, significantly altered after 30 weeks of the contestants being on the show. What's more, some of those changes contributed to contestants regaining the weight.

First up, let's discuss adiponectin, a protein released from fat cells that is important in the regulation of fat and sugar metabolism . Generally, adiponectin concentration is higher in lean people than in those who are overweight or obese, and it's thought to be protective from issues like inflammation and resistance to insulin , a hormone your pancreas releases so your body can properly use glucose (sugar). In the NIH study, the participants adiponectin increased with weight loss, which may demonstrate that their fat cells, along with their fat and sugar metabolism, were more functional after weight loss than before. Since adiponectin is thought to help reduce glucose production and release from the liver and increase glucose and fat uptake into cells, higher levels of this hormone can lead to lower overall circulating sugar and fat in your bloodstream.

However, the story changes with leptin and thyroid hormones. Leptin is a hormone also released directly from your fat cells, and it tells your brain's hypothalamus to dial down the urge to eat. So, when contestants' leptin went way down after weight loss, their hunger most likely went way up. To that point, a November 2016 study in Obesity found that when people who have lost a significant amount of weight are left to their own devices, they tend to eat about 100 calories more every day per kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of weight lost. This phenomenon has been shown in other studies as well.

The thyroid hormones T3 and T4 also went down in most participants, signaling reduced metabolism. And, indeed, the researchers noted that participants resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn simply by being alive) went down by about 600 calories per day, compared with before the show. With a reduced metabolic rate and increased hunger, you have a perfect storm for weight regain. That's not about making bad choices, it's about physiology.

When the researchers went back to investigate if contestants' numbers may have normalized six years after the original study, they found that adiponectin and T3 went up, but leptin and T4 stayed low, as did resting metabolic rate. So, not only did the hunger pangs never abate, peoples bodies were still burning way fewer calories than they used to.

When these Biggest Loser contestants were on the ranch, they were burning, on average, approximately 2,000 calories per day, with about three hours of vigorous exercise, and eating only about 1,300 calories, according to a May 2013 study in Obesity . When they went home, they were exercising about one hour per day and eating approximately 1,900 calories.

Even if every single one of those calories wasn't devoted to healthy food, or if the contestants decided to lay off such a vigorous level of exercise, can this really be considered "bad decision-making patterns"? Is it reasonable to believe that these participants could maintain three hours of vigorous activity every day and a very low-calorie diet in the real world?

The real issue is not that these participants are weak, or need more willpower, or simply don't want to keep the weight off badly enough. It's that living in the real world means we have tight schedules, family dinners, unhealthy yet convenient food around every corner, and all other elements that life throws at us. Were not locked away with every calorie accounted for, hundreds of thousands of prize-money dollars on the line, and cameras rolling. Plus, we're stressed and we don't get enough sleep , both of which can contribute mightily to our weight.

The researchers behind the November 2016 Obesity study even state that individuals who successfully maintain weight loss over the long term do so by heroic and vigilant efforts to maintain behavior changes in the face of increased appetite along with persistent suppression of energy expenditure." Translation: It is absolutely not easy, and it's unfair to blithely blame regaining weight after losing it so rapidly on someone's bad choices.

In an environment like the Biggest Loser ranch, where every meal is prepared for you and exercise is overseen by intense trainers, people dont learn to actually incorporate weight-loss tactics that work in the long term. Losing weight, gaining weight , or otherwise changing your body is a personal process, so it all varies from person to person. But it should never be torture, and it should never require life changes so huge that they simply don't feel practical.

For example, the May 2013 Obesity research suggests that if the contestants had committed to about a 20 percent reduction in calories and 20 minutes of vigorous exercise each day, they would eventually have lost the same amount of weight and most likely would have maintained the weight loss when they went home. Yes, losing the weight would have taken a few years rather than a few months, but it would be a less physically and mentally stressful way of going about it in the first place.

Instituting tiny lifestyle changes, rather than a complete behavioral overhaul, is what has helped many people who have lost weight maintain those results over time. Making small changes doesn't result in a quick fix, but it can lead to long-lasting, sustainable weight loss.

So, perhaps Roth and anyone else who criticizes The Biggest Loser 's contestants for regaining weight should be looking at the process rather than blaming the contestants. When people make dramatic changes to their metabolisms and appetites via grueling tactics that are ultimately far too demanding, the weight is going to come back.

Rachele Pojednic, Ph.D. Ed.M., is an assistant professor in the nutrition department at Simmons College and staff scientist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. As a researcher, her work has a specific focus on physical activity and nutrition interventions for the prevention and treatment of non-communicable chronic disease. Dr. Pojednic has also been an active member of the fitness industry for the past 15 years and is an indoor cycling instructor at Flywheel Sports in Boston. She has been a consultant to and writer for several organizations, including the Today show, the Huffington Post's Healthy Living blog, Boston magazine, Runner's World, Mens Fitness, and Womens Health. She tweets at @rachelepojednic .

Update 6/15: This post has been updated to reflect that The Big Fat Truth is not a spin-off of The Biggest Loser.

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Don't Blame 'Biggest Loser' Contestants' Weight Gain on Bad Choices - SELF

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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » Don’t Blame ‘Biggest Loser’ Contestants’ Weight Gain on Bad Choices – SELF