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Comment by QuantumAphid | Hacker News Reader

For those who believe that it's a simple as "move more, eat less", consider that the Biggest Loser contestants weren't able to keep their weight off long-term. This approach also damaged their metabolisms-- their resting metabolic rates were 400-600 calories lower than when they started their program, even 6 years after the fact.

https://idmprogram.com/biggest-loser-diet-explained/

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Regardless of whatever metabolic damage may have been caused, the biggest loser is a bad approach to weight loss, as well as a bad case for trying to see if a weight loss approach works. It's like an addict taking a 3 month detox and then throwing them right back into a pile of needles. They are divorced from every trigger they have in their everyday lives and forced to exercise and restrict, and when they get out, there's the cash prize to try and keep their weight loss until the final episode. After that these people don't have any healthy, sustainable habits, just insane routines and rules. Given how warped their initial approach to food and diet was before the show, it's no wonder they revert to form given enough time.

I think the metabolism damage is the greater danger here. These are people who had some of the most intensive training available to learn how to eat healthy and exercise.

And yet having your resting metabolism driven downwards 400-600 calories virtually guarantees that you will yo-yo. Every calorie above your low limit will erode any gains you've made.

Having your metabolism drop should mean that the individual can adjust their eating / activity levels to compensate, but only if they are paying attention and NOT falling back into old habits. I'll bet they aren't. The article says that Sean Algaeir put back on all the weight he lost (~170 lbs). That's not yo-yo weight. That's return to normal behavior weight.

"Mr. Cahill knew he could not maintain his finale weight of 191 pounds. He was so mentally and physically exhausted he barely moved for two weeks after his publicity tour ended. But he had started a new career giving motivational speeches as the biggest loser ever, and for the next four years, he managed to keep his weight below 255 pounds by exercising two to three hours a day. But two years ago, he went back to his job as a surveyor, and the pounds started coming back." <- he went back to old habits and gained the weight back.

Like the quote from Dina Mercado says - "The cravings are there.” I'll bet after a time they gave up and largely went back to your old habits.

Exercising for 3 hours each day isn't a sustainable habit for anyone except perhaps Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Mr. Cahill gained close to 60 lbs over a four year period. At that rate, it sounds like he was on his way to regaining the weight as soon as the program was over, rather than just when he returned to his surveyor job. When your resting metabolism is 400-600 calories too low, the fate of your weight loss goals is pretty much sealed.

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