THE WINNER OF one season of weight-loss competition The Biggest Loser has regained over a hundred pounds since his victory in 2009.
And a new study which has followed contestants on the reality show for the past six years shows the difficulties they have had in maintaining the weight-loss they achieved.
Danny Cahill, the winner of the show in its 2009 run, lost a mind-boggling 239 pounds in just seven months. Although his current weight is a far cry from the 430 pounds he once weighed, he has since regained over a hundred pounds and now weighs 21 stone.
A new study of the contestants from that 2008-09 season in the journal Obesity by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows the remarkable extent to which the human body resists weight loss.
The issue is related to a person’s metabolism. While each of the contestants on the show was greatly overweight at first, their respective metabolisms were functioning normally for people of their size.
By the time they had finished their weight-loss programme their metabolisms had slowed down to a remarkable extent meaning their bodies were not burning enough calories to maintain their new weight.
The greatest discovery contained in the study is the fact that over time the contestants’ metabolisms did not recover – in actuality they slowed further which made keeping the weight off next to impossible. In effect their metabolisms were working as hard as possible to return each contestant to their original weight.
This means that though a contestant may drop to a certain weight level, their body burns far fewer calories than another person of a comparable size.
“It is frightening and amazing,” researcher on the project Dr Kevin Hall told the New York Times. “I am just blown away.”
In all 14 of the original 16 contestants participated in the study. Of those, just one did not experience extensive weight gain in the aftermath of the show’s finale.
As his body gained in weight despite his best efforts over the last six years, Cahill quickly realised that something was wrong. He now maintains his current weight by consuming at least 800 less calories a day than another person his size would have to.
“All my friends were drinking beer and not gaining massive amounts of weight,” he told the New York Times.
The moment I started drinking beer, there goes another 20 pounds. I said, ‘This is not right. Something is wrong with my body.’
“I won’t be a victim to this,” he added however. “It’s the hand I’ve been dealt.”
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