Former ‘Biggest Loser’ contestant admits show is extreme.
Former Biggest Loser contestant Kai Hibbard admits that the Biggest Loser isn’t always accurate. As in, what we see on reality television isn’t always reality. But then… i’m sure most of you are aware of that. A week on the Biggest Loser ranch could be anywhere from 7 to 12 days (depending on the season and on the ‘week’).
Kai also admits that she had a hard time keeping it real with her weight loss and reportedly at times even substituted coffee with sugar as a meal.
It wasn’t until she started losing her hair and had a family intervention that she stopped her extreme dieting practices as learned from the show.
At the season 3 finale, Kai Hibbard lost an impressive 118 pounds. To date, she has gained back 70 of those pounds.
I would like to think that most of us who watch the show realize that it is “reality” television and so the show’s version of reality (through the editing geniuses) may not be and many times is not in fact, reality. Kai said that a fan came up to her and said she was frustrated because she could not lose 12 pounds in one week as Kai had on the show.
In my own weight loss journey, I have never expected to pull big numbers week after week. I think the most amount of weight I lost in a week was 4 pounds. But I *knew* that some of that weight was water-weight loss — easy to get off and easy to gain back. What about you guys? What is the most you have lost in 1-week’s time?
Dieting is a very tricky science that not only deals with calories in and calories out but also with your emotions, stress levels, hormones and the amount of sodium and water intake. There is a lot that can happen in a week.
What do you think about Kai’s claims about The Biggest Loser? Is she preaching to the choir? Or do you think that more people take the show at face-value than we realize?
Here is a recent interview with Kai on CBS’s Early Show:
Posted in The Biggest Loser
I am not the choir – I did not realize that the weeks were not weeks. And I am sad to hear what she ate (or didn’t eat). I had always thought the show was setting unrealistic expectations of loss for the general public. For me, I have never been obese, and sometimes I lose at only a half pound a week. Slow. A pound or two is good for me.
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I lost 6 pounds one week. I gained 4 pounds back the week after. Not fun. Biggest Loser is inspiring but on the other hand you know in real life that what they do is not realistic for ppl like us at home.
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I watched that show once, and never went back. It made me feel like I was a failure if I only lost 2 pounds a week, and not 10. I’m trying to be grateful for every pound I lose… and I could tell that show wasn’t going to help me do that.
I lost 4 pounds one week (Like a month ago or something), but it was right after TOM, so you know how that goes
It’s usually only 1-2 pounds… but I’m grateful for it, lol! ;D
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I read that article myself and was pretty shocked by it. I know I’ll probably get some flack for this comment but I don’t think that Biggest Loser was ever meant to show us HOW to lose weight, but rather that it can be done. It’s inspired me
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K Reply:
June 25th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more, my friend!
I think that a lot of people forget that The Biggest Loser is first and foremost a game show. So people will do what they have to do to win. I agree that it would kind of be boring television if someone didn’t lose 100 pounds in 9 or 10 weeks. That’s why the contestants’ starting weights seem to be bigger and bigger every season (or so it seems).
It is inspiring NOT because I am learning how to take better care of myself (because aside from challenges, product placements and 1 or 2 meetings with Dr. H., they don’t show much of the *how*) but because I know that it can be done! Long gone are the days where people who are 100+ pounds overweight need to resort to surgery.
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Wow! I have mixed feelings on the show. On one hand I like how they are helping people lose weight but I HATE how they have made it seem that it’s acceptable that people should lose huge amounts of weight per week. It’s just not real. Thanks for posting this!
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I didn’t know that the weigh ins weren’t always at a week, but I’m not surprised either. I think Kai’s video was good, but also sort of whiney. I think it’s stupid for her to call out the producers like they’re bad people and told her to pull big numbers for raitings. She had the experience of a lifetime and it seemed in a way like she was complaining that the show gave her a bad body image and told her to drink coffee and splenda…I highly doubt anyone forced her. I mean, you see contestants who make it to the final 3 and look great and healthy and like they didn’t go overboard. I’m not saying the show is perfect, but it’s inspiring to watch people lose weight and give up all the excuses. I think the show prooves that you can lose weight regardless of your circumstances and that’s why I love it.
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