ON NBC's whip-'em-into-shape weight-loss show, "The Biggest Loser," the contestants spill an ocean of tears. Tears of frustration and tears of joy. Lips quiver. Chests heave. Noses run as tears well up then flow down dirt-streaked cheeks. And that's just the men.
But the physical and emotional shellacking that the morbidly obese contestants undergo while dieting and exercising their way to dazzling new figures is only part of the show's can't-look-away formula. The reality series offers the tantalizing suggestion that excess pounds can be dropped quickly, without surgery, and that they can be kept off. That's right. Poof. As celebrities such as Kirstie Alley and Janet Jackson conduct well-publicized battles to slim down -- and stay slimmed down -- the notion that real, permanent success is possible for everyone has made the weekly show a certifiable franchise.
The jury is still out among weight-loss experts. Long-term success, they say, is extraordinarily difficult.
Nonetheless, the show has spawned a bestselling weight-loss book, cookbook, DVD and an online community of folks who are paying $20 a month for "The Biggest Loser" diet information and support. It has also fueled a blood lust for competitive weight loss at schools, hospitals, fitness centers and even military bases, where creative dieters are using the principles of the show, albeit without the public flogging, to form their own contests.
Although most obesity doctors recommend losing weight slowly with moderate calorie reduction and moderate exercise, the physician and wildly telegenic trainers involved with the show are going about it differently. They think that their extreme, exercise-based diet plan may prove superior to slow-but-steady garden-variety diets at keeping weight off. "Most of these people had never been told that they could go out and get aggressive with exercise," says the show's physician Dr. Robert Huizenga, a Beverly Hills internist and sports physician.
And aggressive they are. Four to six hours a day of cardio and resistance training. For anyone, that's intense; for the contestants, it's a killer.
The goal is to get them close to a normal weight in a short period of time, while preserving as much muscle as possible. Because muscle burns more calories than fat, Huizenga thinks the contestants will burn more calories at their new goal weight than they would have following a traditional diet -- and thus be better positioned to keep the weight off.
