Blog

My two cents
By Sonya Hansen, MD.
Obesity Medicine
Internal Medicine

Dr. Hansen's mission is to be your most trusted ally in your pursuit of health and well-being. You can stop by this site and find thoughts from my practice that you may find useful.

The Biggest Loser is a popular reality TV show. The latest article that showed the contestants regaining a significant part of their weight despite their many efforts to maintain weight loss are causing a lot of distress in my patients and has sent waves of fear into the hearts of people looking to lose weight.
I'd like to add a voice of reason.
I usually commend the the use of Scientific knowledge to guide the contestants to jaw-dropping results worthy of TV drama.These contestants lose easily over 100 pounds within 1 TV season so as to win a contest. Their diets are very strict and their motivation extreme. They're being watched by millions of people ready to judge them. The prize is not health or wellness, but money and fame. That they feel better is simply a side product of the whole experiment.
But when the cameras stop and they return home, the major motivation is over. By the time they go home, their metabolism has decreased with the massive, quick weight loss, so their efforts will always fall short. They continue to exercise, and eat right. However, real life can never compare to the 24/ 7 attention to diet and exercise they had while on the show. Can you extrapolate their results to progressive, sustainable, methodic weight loss that is part of your normal life? I say, no.
We can still turn to them and learn a lot about the physiology of quick, massive weight loss, maintenance and regain. But we need to keep in mind, the Biggest Loser is in fact the "mother of all crash diets" and we know how those go....
​​Here's to living life to its fullest.