The most extreme weight-loss TV show of all
It’s called “Fit to Fat to Fit,” and I happened across it by chance when channel-surfing the other evening.
The show is scary, but I was riveted. It features a fitness trainer—a new one each week—who contracts to gain an enormous amount of weight in order to then go through a weight loss program along with a really fat client, both to show the client how it’s done and to gain empathy for the plight of the overweight.
How much do they pay these people? I like my chow as well as the next person—maybe better—but the specter of force-feeding oneself like a Strasbourg goose (see also this) fills me with dread. But there was a certain morbid fascination in watching (I only saw the first episode) a person with about 7% body fat take on the proportions of a more average human being, and then go back again to his formerly ripped state.
And yes, the show appears to be on the up-and-up. You see the trainer without his shirt on, and there’s no question this is happening (you also see him downing several pizzas at a time, and a hamburger the size of a human head). It’s scary, but supposedly the trainers are closely monitored for health problems during the process.
I also observed some things that I found interesting. In this first episode, when the initially hyper-slender-and-fit trainer introduces himself to the client (who at the time weighs in the high 300s), the client is so flabbergasted he’s silent for a while, and then says, very seriously, something like, “I don’t think you should do that” and “You don’t know what you’re getting into.” But he is so moved that, while the trainer is taking a few months to gain the requisite adipose tissue, the client loses 46 pounds on his own. He figures it’s the least he can do.
Another interesting point to me is that, even with 60 extra pounds on his frame, the trainer doesn’t look all that fat. Maybe a bit, but really not all that much. It just proves to me how rigid these people have to get with diet and exercise to achieve the extremely low body fat percentage they ordinarily maintain.
Another thing is that, since this particular trainer was a person who’s never had a tendency to gain weight and has never been fat, he has to eat an inordinately large amount of food to get to what most people would consider normal-ish slight-overweight. In this episode, it involved at least 6,000 calories a day and no exercise, day after nauseating day. The rest of us can manage to maintain that normal-ish slightly-overweight state with a lot fewer calories. In my case, I can easily manage to be 10-20 pounds overweight while eating about 1700-1800 calories a day and exercising on a daily basis.
By the way, not all the trainers in future episodes have no history of overweight; some do. And if you want some photos, that link features quite a few, such as this:
[NOTE: And please, please, I beg of you, don’t go on and on about Atkins or Taubes or very-low-carb diets. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, doesn’t work for me and makes me sick to boot. I won’t bother to link to the many previous posts and discussions of the topic on this very blog, but you can search for yourself.]
Sick premise.
And, get rid of the tats, dude.
Fausta: Sick as in not good or sick in modern parlance meaning good?
That is risky indeed. Remember that Tom Hanks ended up diabetic after filming Castaway.
I’m gobsmacked that neo has the time to watch TV!
snopercod:
I often have the TV on while reading online, especially late at night. Usually it’s a show that doesn’t require much attention. I often turn it off or mute it while writing.
Atkins all the way.
I wonder if the months of inactivity after being highly active people, and then going back to high activity is more difficult and dangerous than the weight fluctuation? Seems like a recipe for stress injuries and organ strain.
Have any of the contestants been over 40? I noticed my ability to drop weight quickly through exercise nearly evaporated after I reached a certain age.
I did this sort of transformation earlier in my life putting on over 100 pounds and taking it back off, but I didn’t do it “intentionally”, and I didn’t do it over a period of a few months, but over a period of 5 years.
And yeah, watching that made me nauseous.
Since we know you’re not engaging in extreme physical activity, the only way you will be able to lose weight is to be on a long term diet. You can lose a pound and a half a week. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s 75 pounds a year.
The trick with diets is to not drive yourself crazy with cravings. There are some technical issues involving glucose and insulin, see Taubes for that, he’s studied the science. Even if you don’t follow his Duke diet, you should know about the rats on low carb diets that lose muscle but not fat.
If you can’t handle low fat, then there are two diets that will shed weight without starving you, assuming you eat less calories than you burn: diabetic exchange diets, and low glycemic diets like Montillac, South Beach, and Sugar Busters. And you will have to avoid alcohol and ice cream for a year. Sorry, Neo, those are the facts. It’s not easy. I’ve sneaked up six pounds a year for the last three years – I like scotch, wine, and ice cream, and it’s cold and snowy – but now I have to cut that out and hit the gym and the diet for four months to get it off. Good luck, it’s hard to do.
KBK:
You’ve obviously not done the research and read my many posts on the subject.
I don’t need advice. I’m just a woman—an older woman, at that—who would love to lose 10-15 well-placed pounds and look the way I did many years ago. I’ve been on a diet and exercise program my entire life, and I’m not medically overweight. To lose more weight, unfortunately, I’d have to eat so little I’d be starving. Doesn’t matter what sort of diet; I’ve tried them all, and very low carb diets (a) make me sick, and (b) I don’t lose weight on them.
Your advice is humorous to me, though. Avoid alcohol and ice cream for a year? I don’t drink alcohol, and as for ice cream, I cannot recall the last time I had some.
I’d be afraid to gain that much weight since the weight gain may well result in permanent changes which are irreversible. The weight gain may do more than enlarge existing fat cells, it may well stimulate stem cells to differentiate into additional fat cells which will live on for many years.
Weight Watchers changed their food program — between Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! and didn’t beta-test the new software, to boot.
That, plus going out of town for a week = 6 pounds back on. Dammit.
However, I finally got back on their tracker. Had lost 10% of my body weight over the last 5 months, taking it easier this time, and letting myself enjoy a dessert on Sundays. It feels so damn good to be back into a size medium, but I also need to lose 15 more pounds to be where I’d really like to be.
But I quit the gym three months ago, more or less, when I “tweaked” my shoulder: doc said it’s an impingement, not a rotator cuff tear. I did the exercises to rehab it once, but it took an hour to get through them all at the gym.
None of this is easy!
Neo, I’ve read your diet posts over the years. I realize you’re particularly adverse to low fat diets. I’d forgotten you don’t drink, that’s a big help. In my experience, one can’t lose weight without being at least a little hungry all the time – the trick is to do it without intense starvation which causes one to go off the plan.
You didn’t mention how these trainers lost the weight gained. Besides diet and exercise, they probably use drugs, diuretics in particular.
As for advice – you make these weight posts every six months or so. You have an interest in the topic. If someone came up with something that worked for you, my guess is you’d do it. I’m just trying to be helpful. I’ll leave it alone in the future.
I’ve twice said “low fat” when I meant “low carb”. Sorry.
KBK:
Sorry if I appeared testy. Probably am testy! Too hungry 🙂 .
But I really have tried a lot, and people keep coming to the blog and making suggestions of things already tried. And then when I hear that I should just stop eating [fill in the blank] food that I basically never eat anyway, I do tend to get a bit short.
I think the real answer is that when women are my age they tend to have gained a few pounds. It’s natural, maybe even healthy. I don’t know. But I would like to lose that ten, and keep it off, without getting sick.
I’ve written this several times here, and I’m not sure anyone disagrees, but I’ll state it again: with the variation in genes and different environments and ecosystems humans evolved to live in I can’t believe any one diet (except literal starvation) will work the same for all people.
Try different stuff. Keep tweaking. Like clockwork, almost every decade I notice significant changes in my body. Through to the age of 30 I couldn’t gain weight no matter what I ate. I was also very active.
During the next ten years I gained weight gradually, but then I hit a certain weight and the increase become exponential. A few minor tweaks (stepping up exercise, not eating after 7PM) and I lost the extra weight in no time.
Fast forward 10 years. I was eating about 1/3 of the calories I used to consume and couldn’t drop a pound no matter how much I exercised. I hadn’t gained much weight, but I could tell I had lost some muscle.
Now, through trial and error I seem to have stumbled onto a process that is working. I dropped 10 pounds and have been keeping them off, even during the winter months. I probably eat 1/5 of the calories I used to eat 15 years ago, but I’m not hungry and feel better than I have in years. However, I am fully expecting more changes and won’t be surprised if I start gaining weight in a few years with no change to my diet or exercise regimen.
Not all of our bodies are the same and our own bodies change. Like neo-neocon, I get annoyed by people who insist whatever works for them HAS TO work for anyone who does it with the underlying accusation that one must not really have the will power to do whatever it is correctly if it is not working. My sister is very overweight. I have spent long periods of time with her and seen her gain weight eating very few calories. There is probably no one closer to me, DNA-wise, yet there are still obvious differences in our metabollism and physical make-up.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, doesn’t work for me and makes me sick to boot.
Ever since I found out that Neo doesn’t like the taste of milk, she is pretty much beyond normal metabolism now. So that certainly makes sense why the ultra modern diets are also bad.
Of course, that’s different from being lactose intolerant, due to an imbalanced microbiome.
And then when I hear that I should just stop eating [fill in the blank] food that I basically never eat anyway, I do tend to get a bit short.
That’s why I talk about the stuff you should take, that you aren’t taking ; )
See, it’s the reverse diet that is the issue, for people who fall outside the norm curve.
There’s also metabolic unlockers like essential oils, muscle conditioning, chi gong, tai chi, and various other blood circulation methods.
Fausta: Sick as in not good or sick in modern parlance meaning good?
Probably the former, judging by my previous memory of which generation she is in.
If she was a bit closer to my generation, it might be the second one though, although that’s limited to certain demographics or regions.
But I quit the gym three months ago, more or less, when I “tweaked” my shoulder: doc said it’s an impingement, not a rotator cuff tear. I did the exercises to rehab it once, but it took an hour to get through them all at the gym.
Beverly,
I would probably try out some sword exercises, low weight, low speed, to see if that helps the circulation and regen in the shoulders there.
It’s similar to the indian club bell maneuvers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfDanltO4TA
Historically, I think it came from Persian/Indian sword arm/shoulder conditioning. I use the behind the back, cut then return movement. Which it doesn’t show.
You don’t need any kind of heavy weight, that would be bad for rehab. Start with like a stick or something.
Ymarsakar:
Many people who are lactose intolerant don’t like milk. It’s a sort of self-protective thing, I guess.
I don’t like milk, and I am 100% lactose-intolerant, the highest degree possible. I had a test long ago. There are varying degrees of lactose intolerance; some people are only partially lactose intolerant.
While I haven’t read all of the comments, I’ve personally lived through this cycle, twice. I can assure you that in the first photo presented the guy is using HGH or some other form of steroids. From experience, you just cannot get that level of definition without them. So when you see these guys (and gals) ripped like that KNOW that they are addicts and have compromised their long term health and mental acuity to look like that. Almost always very shallow, self obsessed people.
Gavinsdad:
I don’t think he’s using steroids. He’s not a body builder and he’s not all that big in terms of muscle mass. I know plenty of people who can do that sort of thing on their own, without drugs—although it takes tremendous discipline to get to such low body fat.
People with really large muscles, body builders, are the ones who tend to use them. It’s possible, of course, that this guy uses them, but it is certainly possible to get the sort of body he has without them.