The Biggest Loser and Regain: Share Tips and Self-Reflection

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

I’m sure most BariatricPal members have heard of, if not avidly watched, The Biggest Loser on NBC. It's a reality show in which overweight contestants compete to see who can lose the most weight during the season. The show largely focuses on extreme workouts.

I just came across this article reporting that the winner of Season 5, Ali Vincennt, gained back all of the 112 lbs. she had lost on the show. She started at 234, weighed in at 122 lbs for the finale, and is now back at 234 lbs. Her regain includes a year in which she gained 70 lbs.

Like the show or not, and agree with its methods or not, you have to feel for Vincennt. All of us who have fought obesity know how hard the fight is. Keeping weight off is often harder than losing it in the first place. Regaining weight is embarrassing and discouraging, but all too common.

As a weight loss surgery patient, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think the show could do more to help its contestants keep the weight off for the long term? How will you learn from Vincennt’s situation to help yourself keep the weight off after you hit goal weight?

[KristenLe 5,979]

I haven't had my WLS yet but the method of losing on Biggest Loser is unrealistic once you return to life. Very few people can workout 5-6/hours a day with a trainer encouraging them along the way. They have to grocery shop for themselves and plan their own meals after the show. I haven't watched in a few years but I don't think they focused on portion size and healthy eating as much as needed. Unfortunately when you leave the Ranch - Jillian Michaels doesn't come home with you and kick your ass into shape every day! I will incorporate changes into my real life - not be in a weight loss cocoon like they are - only to fail once they get into the real world.

[axlr8n 161]

That is so sad and I feel so bad for her... I've done it myself in the past and know how horrible I felt. Erik from season 3 did the same, and so have others from the show. For many of us, this is more about emotions and addiction than just knowing how to lose weight... and the BL program doesn't seem to help too much with that.

Edited April 24, 2016 by axlr8n

[4MRB4PHOTO 3,899]

I never watched the show. It sounded like the exploitation of obese humans for ratings/advertising revenue to me.

Do they work with people, not only in a physical way, but with counseling too?

Do they give any long term follow up help after their TV show usefulness is no longer required?

I guess people wouldn't want to watch a show where people lose weight slowly and in a way they could realistically maintain for a lifetime.

If there is intelligent life in another solar system (I wonder if some of the Earth's lifeforms are intelligent here too sometimes); what would they would think if they received this show's broadcast signals? Probably if they received transmissions of "The Jersey Shore" and other reality shows, they are focusing their antennas elsewhere in the Milky Way, because after receiving those, they probably said "There's no intelligent life there".

[BestDayEver 418]

How will I maintain my weight loss? First, and foremost, learn from my past. This is the first time I've eaten a low carb diet. In the past it was all about eating less and exercising more and as soon as I got to goal, I immediately returned to old eating habits (lots and lots of carbs and sugar.)

This past year I've completely changed what and how I eat. I like the new way I'm doing things. I keep my trigger foods out of the house and just keep on keep'n on. Now that I'm in maintenance, it looks just like what I was doing all this past year to lose weight. I accept I will need to eat low carb for the rest of my life and I can live with that, easily.

Key points: you have to change the way you eat forever if you want to maintain. Keep reading information that inspires you to keep on the path. I will continue to track my food and weight because it keeps me accountable.

I feel bad for Ali Vincent, I know her struggle well and wish her the very best. It's not easy and that's all there is to it.

[BarrySue 602]

I hate TBL. Why? Because it tells the audience that obesity is simply the result of not working out enough. That weight loss is a process of quick-fixes and instant gratification. Dehumanizes overweight people as pathetic and miserable, demonstrates to the world that it's okay to scream and belittle someone to encourage them to lose weight. That weight loss comes from working out until you vomit, jogging until you pass out, and not in quiet, resolute moments where you choose apples instead of a candy bar, or vegetable skewers instead of mashed potatoes for your side. That obesity is due to laziness and we just need to "toughen up." That it fails to acknowledge the forces working against you from the moment you're born: billions of advertisement during kiddie shows, food scientists working for multinational corporations that invent ingredients to act on the receptors of your brain and trick your body into thinking it is not full, cutting P.E. and physical education programs, portion sizes at every restaurant enormous, working more hours per week than people in any other country in the world and not having time to cook meals, psychological care being reduced or cut from most health insurance plans. American culture plays a huge role in developing and sustaining obesity.

The Biggest loser doesn't dismantle the system. It doesn't try to educate. It exists for ratings for a major network, and that's that.

[beachwalker4rny 95]

That's sad, I remember her.

[beachwalker4rny 95]

Beyond tracking what I eat, making good food choices and exercising regularly I plan to seek out a therapist that can help me with the mind stuff if I start to regain.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

I HATE that show. I have always hated that show. I especially hate the trainers -- the verbal and psychological abuse they put participants through.

Bottom line: I hate all reality shows. They're total and utter bullshit.

P.S. I read that Ali Vincennt has joined Weight Watchers. She should be fine.

[beachwalker4rny 95]

I HATE that show. I have always hated that show. I especially hate the trainers -- the verbal and psychological abuse they put participants through.

Bottom line: I hate all reality shows. They're total and utter bullshit.

P.S. I read that Ali Vincennt has joined Weight Watchers. She should be fine.

This made me lol. Not that anything is wrong with Weight Watchers but I have tried it for the past 20 years before doing WLS.

Edited April 25, 2016 by beachwalker4vsg

[NewNewMe 277]

This is why I chose to have the surgery. I spent a year and a half fighting weight off only to regain plus when my life had unexpected stress. It came back on so fast I didn't get a chance to wake up and correct things. After the surgery I know I can't do that kind of damage that fast. I am hoping if I start to gain I will wake up and fix it before it gets too out of hand.

[4MRB4PHOTO 3,899]

I HATE that show. I have always hated that show. I especially hate the trainers -- the verbal and psychological abuse they put participants through.

Bottom line: I hate all reality shows. They're total and utter bullshit.

P.S. I read that Ali Vincennt has joined Weight Watchers. She should be fine.

Yes, look at the Amazing results of it with Oprah, and she has a (10%?) stake in it.

At least she is trying to do something about it. It is too bad they didn't prepare her for a lifetime, realistic, lifestyle.

From what people wrote she lost an amazing amount of weight. I hope that drastic yo-yo of weight did not cause strain to her body.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I am 100% with @@BarrySue on this!

I refuse to watch that show for every reason she articulated. My biggest fear is gaining my weight back. I choose to believe that I am way better educated about real nutrition and because of this I make better choices.

I know that regain is 100% my responsibility and with the help of my new smaller stomach I can better control portions, the rest of the battle is all about choices. I do not want to be one of those bypass patients that claim this surgery doesn't work and I know that it does but I have to put in the effort.

The folks on the biggest loser simply don't learn that they have to make good choices everyday, they actually lean that they can simply stop eating and work out 6 hours a day.

What they don't know is that the older you get, the harder it becomes to lose even a few pounds. I know this because it happened to me. I was a rock star at losing weight. I would lose 80 lbs go back to old behaviors gain that weight back and then some believing that I could simply diet and lose it all again. I can remember when I went on Atkins, it was so easy to lose that 60lbs and I was never hungry. I would think, I will just do that again. When I tried, I would lose 5 or 10 lbs and then gain it plus another 10. Then I turned 45 and couldn't even lose 10lbs.

I wish the best for the young lady that gained her weight back. I totally feel for her.

[rosestara 48]

I have to say that I am a big fan of the show. I have watched every season from the very first year that it aired. What I love about the show is how it showed me that I could do things that I thought I couldn't do. Watching overweight people exercise at the level they exercise and run was a great motivation to me. I am almost 300 pounds and several times I have lost a lot of weight using the biggest loser as my motivation. I did regain the weight which was my fault. I would always go back to my old habits. I don't pay attention to their fast weight loss, I focus on the overall mental transformation that they make. Although a lot of them regain the weight, I think on average they are more successful than the average American is at keeping off the weight. I keep track of a lot of them on Facebook and I have attended some of the biggest loser mud runs and 5k's so I have also met some of them in person so I know quite a lot of them kept the weight off. Just from watching the show, I have worked out with a personal trainer many times and I trained to be able to run a mile at 250 pounds when I never thought I could run for even 1 minute. A few years ago I walked a half marathon and my other overweight friends thought it was impossible. I did all those things because I saw fat people on tv do the same things and more. The show has been one of the reasons that I even tried to lose weight in the past instead of just giving up. It is tv so I know it is unrealistic for real people to work out 6 to 8 hours a day but they did motivate me to get off the couch and just workout for even 15 minutes a day. I just wanted to say something positive about the show. We are all trying our best.

[Clementine Sky 707]

I've never watched the show, but I'm not surprised contestants on it would have significant weight gains after it finished. They were losing weight in a hermetic environment detached from the reality of their daily lives, and knowing that an audience was watching them. I think for weight loss to be sustainable it needs to be realistic. You need to weave the habits that will lead to you losing weight and being healthy into your actual life. My weight loss post surgery has been relatively slow, but I'm not depriving myself on a radical diet or dropping everything else in my life to focus on it exclusively. In the past my weight really yo-yo'd, so I'm more determined to lose weight sensibly and keep it off instead of rapidly dropping just to have it pile back on.

Prior to having the VSG I did watch several YouTube videos, and one was from a former contestant on the show who gave her perspective about her experience, and some good advice about WLS. She'd also gained all of the weight she lost plus quite a bit more in the years after being on the show, before deciding to have the VSG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caB3iv_iSxo