The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now?
by Dr. Carmin Iadonisi
I remember watching the first season of the network show, “The Biggest Loser” and being amazed as participants would weigh-in each week and lose 10-25 pounds a week.
By the end of the show, the winner was crowned and his name was Ryan Benson. In one season, he was able to lose a staggering 122 pounds!
So how is Ryan Benson doing these days?
A recent article in Time magazine checked in with some of the former “Biggest Loser” winners, including Benson who has gained back roughly 90 pounds after the show was over.
He claims that as soon as the show was over, he regained “32 pounds in 5 days simply by drinking water.” This is incredible and points to the fact that when any person loses weight rapidly, (faster than 1-2 pounds a week) normally the weight loss is mostly due to water loss.
The participants of the show are exercising with a trainer between 4-5 hours a day, thus creating a dramatic loss of water. This is combined with 24 hour television coverage of each of the participants, which discourages any “cheating” on the ultra strict diets.
Would you cheat on your diet, knowing that millions of people would witness it?
The article went on to say that last season’s runner-up winner, Kai Hibbard, consumed only sugar-free Jello and asparagus for several days along with jumping in and out of a sauna for six hours prior to the final weigh-in.
The show supposedly tries to discourage such behavior by threatening penalties for being to dehydrated, but has not issued any violations yet. (I guess living on sugar-free Jello and asparagus for a few days is considered safe by the television networks.)
As the article points out, Benson is actually considered a success for still keeping 30 pounds off for over a year. According to the National Weight Control Registry, “only a fifth of dieters with a history of obesity sustain a loss of 10% of their body weight for a year or more.”
Where is Kelly Minner Now?
One former participant who is still losing weight after losing the show is Kelly Minner. The first-season runner-up went from “242 lbs. to 163 lbs. by the finale and now weighs 140 lbs.”
How does she maintain her weight loss?
She exercise 6 days a week for 1 to 4 hours a day. I agree that exercise is definitely paramount to maintaining weight loss, but for the average person, exercising for 4 hours a day is just unrealistic.
With this kind of high exercise volume, I would also worry about the high risk for injuries that could end up stopping exercise altogether.
As mentioned in a prior post, Shaquille O'Neal’s new show is focused on helping obese kids to lose weight. For the benefit of the children, I hope Shaq learns from the Biggest Loser and teaches kids how to lose weight safely.
