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This is a question I sometimes get when training my clients.  Weigh-in day comes, off comes 1 or 2 lbs., but guess what, it's not enough.  Why's that?  Well, the night before, my client just watched The Biggest Loser on NBC and saw Neil or Amy lose 10 lbs. in a 1 hour show.  The Biggest Loser is a great show, talk about motivating, but it's also very misleading to the typical weight loss individual. 

What I try to explain to those who may be disappointed with their weight loss of only 2 lbs. is that The Biggest Loser contestants are not typical clients.  The first thing to realize is these contestants are extremely obese.  Your body isn't made to be this obese (it's way out of it's comfort zone), so it wants to get rid of excess fat as fast as possible.  This is part of the reason why they're able to lose an unbelievable amount of weight in the first few weeks; the body has so much excess fat, which means it's a lot easier for it to get rid of the fat.  If you keep watching the show, though, you'll see that after the first few weigh-ins, the weight loss pace is much slower.  The body starts to get closer to it's ideal weight, so it's not as easy to burn excess fat off.  It's just like a slushy.  At first it's easy to drink the slushy through a straw, but after a while, the slushy is a lot harder to slurp up.  (There's less slushy available.)

The second thing I explain is for the typical weight loss person, 2 lbs. per week really is the most weight someone should lose in a week's time.  Anymore than 2 lbs. per week may result in muscle being lost, not fat; this isn't a good thing.  From a calorie standpoint, a pound of fat equals 3500 calories, so to lose 2 lbs. in a week, that means you need to burn off 7000 extra calories in a week, that's 1000 calories per day!  So for example, if you eat 2000 calories in a day, you'd need to burn off 3000!  That's very hard to do, but it can be done.

In a week's time, there are 168 hours.  You figure, the average person works out about 3 times per week for 1 hour.  That's only 3 hours out of 168 hours in a week that are devoted to exercise.  How much can you really expect to lose in that amount of time?  What you don't see on The Biggest Loser is all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the 1 hour show.  The contestants on this show are subjected to a boot camp-type program that includes working out for many hours each day for each week between episodes.  The contestants are also under constant watch by professionals in areas such as fitness and nutrition.  They have their meals monitored, as well as their hours of exercise each day.  Back in the real world, most people trying to lose weight don't have these luxuries.  Even those who hire trainers only see their trainer for around an hour every other day.  Their trainer can't hold their hand outside the gym and make sure they're making smart choices with eating, exercise, and other lifestyle choices at home.  For many exercisers, there's the task of trying to balance their workouts with their job and home life, something The Biggest Loser contestants don't need to worry about.

So before you get discouraged with not keeping up with The Biggest Loser contestants, realize there's so much more to their lifestyle changes than just what is seen in the 1 hour episode.  Keep up the hard work because your 1 to 2 lb. weight loss should be something to be proud of! 

Dan Falkenberg is the cofounder of Your Live Trainers.  He can be reached at DanFalkenberg.com.

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Tags: cardiovascular exercise, nutrition, weight loss