Fit to Fat to Fit: the “human” Biggest Loser (maybe)

It’s called Fit to Fat to Fi t , the program whose title takes up the experiment of a few years ago (it was 2012) by personal trainer Drew Manning , whose photos went viral: Manning in fact purposely put on 30 kilos in six months demonstrating that the poor quality of the diet and the sedentary lifestyle were actually “obesogenic”. And he lost the same pounds in another 6 months, making his diet and training path free and asking overweight people to take the same weight loss path with him.

Now, Fit to Fat to Fit has become a show produced by A&E last year , in which ten personal trainers with sculpted bodies have gained a lot of weight and then lose it together with their overweight or obese clients. A kind of The Biggest Loser in a human key , whose story I had anticipated for one of the personal trainers involved, that Adonis, here.

The experiment “I gain weight and then lose it again so I will show you how easy it is to lose weight if you only want it” is not new, in general . For example, even the British star Katie Hopkins , the famous “fat-shamer” who, to demonstrate that everyone can lose weight, purposely put on 20 kilos and shot a documentary about it. I tell his story of her here.

There are some points that I find questionable about such experiments:
– I wonder how much they really motivate: that is, seriously an overweight person must have a person who has put on weight next to him to find the motivation to lose weight? – I do not think it is very healthy to take 20 to 35 kilos in a few months and then lose them again, all within a year. Which also puzzled me when I read about Drew’s experiment. – weight loss is not just a matter of calorie deficit and training:

no doubt these two things do most of the work, but they are two weapons that need to be managed. Many people slow down their metabolism in order to lose weight, with unplanned fasts in a professional way, non-cycling diets, drastic cuts in calories. Overtraining also slows down your metabolism. Instead of teaching people on TV a smart approach to weight loss, it wins to show them that a low calorie diet and lots of exercise work. Yes, but you already know. The question is how to do them.
– many obese or overweight people have health problems that caused those extra pounds, and not vice versa:it is thought that in overweight subjects with pathologies, these are a consequence of being overweight. Sometimes it’s the other way around. There are cases of insulin resistance, polycystic ovary, thyroid problems, in which being overweight was a “defensive” side effect of the body. Take a look at Dr. Peter Attia’s testimony on diabetes , which wonders if diabetes is causing obesity and not the other way around.
This is not to say that people with some pathology cannot lose weight:only that it is more difficult, that this series increases that of people who tend to be obese for genetic reasons. Let’s add environmental predispositions, stress and so on: it is no coincidence that overweight people are more and more, and it is naive to think that they have never tried to lose weight. These people need to be helped with a personalized approach, not with a program that shows the “right way”.