HHS HealthBeat (November 26, 2012)

After “The Biggest Loser”

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

To most of us, “The Biggest Loser” is a TV show. To Kevin Hall, it’s also a research project. The scientist at the National Institutes of Health saw the weight loss program as a way to see what happens when really big people diet and exercise a huge amount to lose a lot of weight.

The TV program doesn’t tell us what happens after the show ends. So Hall used a computer model to project it. He says the biggest losers wouldn’t need a monster regimen to keep the weight under control:

“They would have to have about a 20 percent calorie cut from where they started, with about 20 minutes a day of vigorous exercise.”

And he says this is doable for a lot of people – including those not on the show.

The study is in the journal Obesity.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 26, 2012