You know, I’ve always wondered this too. On some shows they set a weight loss goal of 5 or 6 pounds a week for some people, then seem very dissapointed when the person ‘only’ loses 2 or 3 pounds! I too wonder how long they can keep the weight off when they return to a normal lifestyle with the stresses of work, etc.
Aside from intellectual curiosity, why do you care? A pound or two each week is perfect. Manageable, sustainable, healthy.
As far as how they do it, well… It’s “reality” TV. Very little of it is real.
These people do NOTHING but exercise. Have you seen The Biggest Loser? They’re sequestered on a ranch with trainers. I could lose six pounds a week under those conditions, too. Alas, I have work and children preventing me from spending 8 hours a day exercising.
And sanity. Don’t forget sanity.
That’s what makes me wonder how fast they put it back on. When they get back to kids and work and drive-thru restaurants, wouldn’t the pounds just come back?
What’s that saying? 30 days to change your life? I could not possibly go back to eating the way I did before, ever. Case in point, yesterday we had take-out fried chicken. It is delicious. However, the grease did a number on my digestive system and I was gassier than the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I will spare you further detail.
I’m suffering through this now, too. We had some bar food the other day and, even though I managed to get a grilled chicken sandwich, I still had some fries and I’ve been having cramps, bloating and other gastronomic discomfort since last night. So not worth it for a handful of fries. Gak.
I abstained from fries at MickyD’s on Saturday.
Granted, it was because while twisting round in my seat to help my four-year-old with his drink of milk I dropped the cardboard cup on the floor between the seat and the door, spilling all of the fries, and the floor’s so manky down there I just couldn’t face it, but I think that counts for something.
Weigh-in in about twelve hours, I’m hoping for something close to 255. Update will follow, good or bad.
My eating has been all over the place lately so my response to that was to not weigh myself for about 4 days.
But today I weighed in at 169 which is just fine and dandy with me.
I’ve decided to challenge myself. I’d like to lose 10 lbs by New Year. That’s about 1.5 lbs per week by my pre-coffee, haven’t looked at a calendar calculations.
Usually I put on 10 lbs over the holidays. Not this year. This year will be different.
I love to watch the biggest loser because I’m a sucker for a makeover story and these people are very much making themselves over.
Still, I’d like to see how the contestants from the first season are doing now. The ones who got kicked off the show early usually don’t do so well.
Just to add, in case it wasn’t clear, the fries incident above was in the car. Wouldn’t want anyone to think I’d even consider eating floor food in McDonald’s! 
And I still haven’t found all the darn fries, either.
Well, I’m still weighing in at 192. I blame my body. I have my period, and my body clearly hates me. I’m not going to stress over the 1lb gain, though. For one thing, it’s a pound more than my lowest weight, but still a few pounds less than last month at this time. So all in all, a net loss. For another thing, this damned water retention will sort itself out eventually, and then we’ll see what happens.
Whatever happens, I’m still firmly below 200lbs which was my goal to start with. In fact, I used an online BMI calculator, and figured out that my BMI was 52.2 to start with, and is now 29.6. Pretty impressive!
In another NSV, my 16-year-old daughter told me I should look for jeans at Deb, as they have “booty jeans” (yes, she actually said that). She just bought a pair. So I asked her if I could try hers on, so I could gauge how much too small they were for me, so I’d know what size to go for. Long story short, they actually freakin’ fit me!! Yes, my teenage daughter’s jeans fit me!
They are lower rise than I normally consider in jeans, but they’re on a great sale, and they did make my butt look nice! (As per my husband, who is disappointed I’ve lost my butt!)
Oops. Duplicate.
Well, I’m down 1.5 pounds this week, though I wonder how much of that was due to yesterday’s delightful experience from the previous day’s junk food. Whatever it is, I’ll take it!
253, down 5½ from last week and 35 from eight weeks ago. I’m stunned, but in a good way. Today I had one small Italian biscuit this morning and shorted myself by a compensatory amount at lunchtime; this evening I dined on liver, bacon, a small dollop of mashed potato, sprouts and carrots, and gravy. Yum. There were sweets and cakes at work today owing to various birthdays and weddings, all of which I closely inspected and left alone. Unless I’ve just lost lots of water weight again, 252 next week should be a formality.
This is fun. 
There was a NY Times article on the Biggest Loser not that long ago. Ah, here it is. (Sorry, registration required.) A key paragraph notes:
Interesting article.
I am partway through Week 7 of exercising 6 days a week, and Week 3 of cutting out after-dinner snacking. I still haven’t lost any weight, but I can attribute that to, well, eating too much the rest of the day. I may need to step up this making things a habit idea.
Are you sure you aren’t losing fat and gaining muscle mass ? That might result in no net weight loss but a significant change in body composition. As much as you’re exercising I’d suggest taking measurements and maybe even investing in a skin fold caliper so you can measure body fat.
7 weeks of exercising 6 days a week is damned impressive. You’re doing great. Don’t forget, progress, not perfection.
Ditto that. Even if you’re not building muscle mass, you’ll be improving the tone no end, which will make it easier to persist with the exercise, which will help to burn calories, which will help get the weight off. Only help though; unless you’re exercising to an amazing degree, it’s hard to shift more than a few ounces a day like that, though it all adds up and the associated benefits of exercise can’t be praised highly enough.
I find that by paying really strict attention to portion size two meals a day, and cutting out the snacks, I don’t have to think too hard about the day’s main meal, though I still have to be sensible. I’ve even got away with the occasional splurge - enough to convince me that I don’t really want to eat way too much at the moment, though the less I tempt myself the better.
Mal’s Magic Pill ® consists of a total of 600 calories or less as the combined total of breakfast and lunch - less if possible - and a dinner that pays some but not obsessive attention to composition and size; obviously, fat, starch and sugar all have to be kept down. That plus an hour and a half walking every day, if possible. Some days I can only do the lunchtime stint, about fifty minutes. Some days I can do better. I’m steering clear of snacks of all kinds except a modest amount of fresh fruit, and fortunately I already drink diet sodas and don’t take sugar in tea and coffee.
Bottom line though, once you’ve made exercise a habit, you’re halfway there.
Wishing everyone a safe, happy and holiday (full of self-discipline)
Be safe, come back weighing less.
Well, I’ll settle for coming back weighing the same! 
I weighed in at an even 191lbs this morning, down .4lbs from my previous low weight. If I’m still at 191 Friday morning, I’d be good with that!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Yep. Today’s weigh-in just went to once again prove how extremely stuck I am. Up 0.1 from last week.
Tomorrow I’m cutting loose with the food. I’ll reign it in in a few days.
November is really a bad month to set the goal I set for myself. Birthdays, Diwali, Thanksgiving, social engagements – At least I’m keeping up with the exercise part of it to keep it all in check.