A study recently published in the medical journal Obesity (1) presented a sobering perspective on the long term weight loss achieved by participants in the high-rating reality TV series, The Biggest Loser. Spoiler alert: 6 years down the track, all but one of the 14 former contestants studied had regained a significant amount of the weight they lost during the competition, and 5 of them were within 1% of their starting weight, or even above it.
I must confess, reality shows make me want to throw up, so I’ve never actually watched either the original US version of The Biggest Loser or its Australian spin-off. But the premise is pretty simple: take a group of overweight people, equip them with a team of personal trainers who put them on a gruelling exercise regime and calorie-restricted diet, and make them compete to lose weight.
The short-term results are often quite spectacular; some morbidly obese contestants in both the US and Australian versions of the show have lost over half their starting weight (2, 3). But as anyone who’s ever dieted will tell you, losing weight is the ‘easy’ part… keeping it off over the long term is the real challenge.
To explain the dismal results, the researchers presented some fascinating findings on the long-lasting metabolic effects that participants experienced:
- Their resting metabolic rates, which were normal at the beginning of the competition, dropped dramatically, meaning they now burn hundreds of calories less per day in the course of everyday living; and
- Their levels of the appetite suppressing hormone leptin tanked after the competition ended and still had not recovered 6 years later, leaving them susceptible to cravings and compulsive overeating.
But to me, the researchers missed the most important reason why the Biggest Losers couldn’t keep off their lost weight: none of them changed their animal food-centred diet.
Fitness Magazine published a 7-day diet plan developed by the US version of The Biggest Loser‘s nutritionist, Cheryl Forberg, RD (4). The meals are designed to provide
“a filling balance of 45 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein [above the Upper Limit of 25% of daily calories that the Australian and New Zealand governments recommend on the grounds of health concerns (5)], and 25 percent healthy fats”
and consist of animal-based foods literally for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as most of the 2 daily snacks.
On a typical day, you’d be eating 2 slices of bacon, 1 cup of skim milk, 1 1/4 cups of yogurt, 115 g roast beef and 115 g of fish. Your total fruit and veg intake on this day would be a measly 1 wedge of honeydew melon, 2 tablespoons sliced strawberries or raspberries, 1/4 cup shredded lettuce, 3 medium tomato slices, 1 teaspoon chopped basil, 2 tablespoons guacamole, 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms, 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion, 1 cup of green beans, 1 cup of rocket and 1/2 cup of halved cherry tomatoes.
I kid you not, the diet plan insists that you measure your lettuce intake. I mean, what would happen if you lost control and ate half a cup of shredded lettuce instead of keeping it down to a quarter? Game over, man – no weight loss for you.
Seriously though, how does a registered dietitian put her name to such a disease-promoting meal plan that doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of helping people lose weight and keep it off? How many studies have to be published demonstrating that the more animal foods and the less carbohydrates people eat, the fatter they get (6, 7, 8, 9. 10, 11), before this promotion of dangerous and ineffective high protein diets stops?
The authors of the cumbersomely-titled study ‘The potential impact of animal protein intake on global and abdominal obesity: evidence from the Observation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Luxembourg (ORISCAV-LUX)’ (12), which found that the more meat, fish and shellfish people ate, the more overweight they were, put it best, although in the understated style that researchers are trained to use:
“These findings suggest that lower animal protein intakes may be important for maintenance of healthy body weight.”
Here’s the take home message for anyone who wants to lose big: LOSE THE ANIMAL FOODS!!!!!
(Don’t replace them with vegan junk food though 😉 – it’s fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains that keep you slim and healthy!)
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