Weight – 127.0
Even though I lost a pound, this week was a complete bust. I was snowed in for much of the week and didn’t go to the gym at all. Partly because I’m still in my funk from being off for the holidays, but I’m recharged this week and I’m hitting the gym hard again. I expect to be SUPER sore from my time off. My eating was less than something to display on here as a shining example of how to eat healthy, BUT I’ve already made out my food plan for tomorrow (Monday) and I’m ready to go.
I always get energized by watching Biggest Loser… and I was so excited it started again this week. I love the show, but don’t like some of the things they do. Here are some of the things I’d like to see the producers change:
- Allow contestants to be at the ranch for at least 3-4 weeks before eliminations begin
- Eliminate contestants based on overall loss percentages (accumulated from week 1). Each week after about week 4 someone (or two people) goes home based on lowest percentages overall since week 1… and each week’s new loss factors in to the overall percentage.
- Also, factor in body fat percentage (Season 1 did include BF%!!! Did y’all see that season?) The show has had contestants do crazy amounts of cardio at home and goofy diets to try and lose tons of water weight before the shows finale. When weight loss is achieved through cardio AND resistance training… it has much healthier results and more amazing to see!! Tell me that Ali didn’t lift any weights to look this fit!
- They also need to stress the amount of time the contestants are working out, the high chance of injury doing so, and the actual foods they are eating during the process. Twenty-nine pound weight loss in a week or 10 days is just not realistic. It makes for amazing TV though, doesn’t it?
- Quit having contestants run a mile on Day 1!! Or ride a bike for 26.2 miles (between two people) to have the chance to stay at the ranch. I realize there are doctors off camera, but it’s just not appropriate in my book to start off with that immunity carrot hanging in front of their unhealthy faces within the first five minutes of arriving at the BL campus. Just sayin'.
Chime in here if y’all have something to add or comment on…
Anyway, now that I’ve got BL9 on TV, it helps me to stay motivated. I love the challenges that let them apply their new-found fitness levels. The athlete comes out in them and that is so motivating to me!! Remember Tara pulling that car… and whipping the guys!!! Favorite moment for me!
On another note: I’ve had a couple of questions from this blog and I was trying to figure out if I should answer them by email or by blog posts. One of the questions was about the reasoning behind a planned fast day (from the Eat Stop Eat program). The basis of it is to lower overall weekly caloric intake for weight loss, while also shocking your body (tricking it only long enough to not go into starvation mode). It also allows you more room for “normal” social eating during the days you eat. The plan is to pick one or two days a week to fast. The fast would be for 24 hours only, so you might stop eating on Sunday night at 6 PM and start back eating on Monday night at 6 PM. While I did this for a short while… because I will try just about anything in the fitness/nutrition realm … I didn’t have any trouble going without the calories for a day. I didn’t feel sick or headache-y or anything. My workouts were around mid-day so they didn’t seem too affected by the lack of calories. All in all, for me, I didn’t think it helped much, I didn’t lose any weight really. I’ve heard of some people that swear by it. For me, the best thing about it was that I didn’t have to even think about food for a whole day (or two) a week. That was rather liberating. It’s easier to not think about it at all than to have to try to eat healthy all the time. I would NOT recommend this for someone who could lean toward an eating disorder at all. There are scientific pros and cons to a planned fast… so I can’t say it’s completely unhealthy, but it just doesn’t seem as healthy as just plain eating right to me. And, in truth, I found it to be just an experience I’ve tried and moved on from. Do you have any thoughts on it??
On to week 2… (which will really be more like week 1 for me, but oh well. :)
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