The Biggest Loser: how do they do it?

I've been wondering how the contestants on the Biggest Loser manage to work out at the intensity and length that they do day in and day out.  After paying attention to the show for many seasons and reading about it on the NBC website it's not hard to understand how they are able to drop weight the way they do. The dramatic weight loss (8+ lbs a week) requires contestants to workout and burn approximately 5,000-6,000 calories a day in exercise while maintaining a diet that is just below their basal metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a day of just rest).  They eat a low calorie diet with a specific percentage of carbs, fats and protein. Then at a minimum they do two hours of intense cardio and one hour weight/strength for approximately three hours a day.  I get the diet part.  I don't wonder about that.  It makes sense to me.  What I don't understand is how they do (a minimum) of three hours a day of intense exercise seven days in a row.  How do they do all if this and manage through the fatigue and avoid injury (not every contestant has been injury free but the majority are).

While racking my brain I think "wow they must be determined", but then I think about my toughest training weeks during Ironman.  I was determined to be the most prepared but I don't think I could have done 3 + hours of working out everyday with no rest days or days with reduced intensity.  The questions that come to mind are: How do they go from little exercise to 21+ hours a week?  When do their muscles recover? What about the muscle fatigue?  Do they take ice baths every night?  How do they manage to have the electrolytes to not bonk during workouts (it doesn't look like the use a sports drink, wouldn't that mess up their calories for the day)?  Do they get massages every day to deal with the muscle fatigue?

I'm not questioning the biggest loser program itself, in fact the show brings tears to my eyes when I watch the success each member has.  I understand that these people are at a point where drastic measures must be taken.  They have seasons and seasons of proven success so the program works.   I just want to know the secret.

Holiday Runs

There are two specific runs I do each year that are my favorite out of any other run of the year.  Every year I do a Thanksgiving morning and the Christmas afternoon run. There is something magical about these runs.

First, I must give you some background about the my family and the holidays.  I always travel:  My sister is in Palo Alto, brother in Atlanta, 'rents are in Birmingham, Alabama. For those of you who know me you aren't crazy.  I didn't grow up there.  Mom and Dad moved there 6 years ago and will be ultimately returning to Northern Virginia upon their retirement.  My boyfriend's family is also split up; brothers in Boulder/Denver and parents in Albany.  Year year we decided to be be fair and split the holidays (and also test the relationship).   Thanksgiving was in Albany and Christmas was in Birmingham.

Each holiday is full of a few common denominators; Inside a house there are more people occupying it than usually do so there are people usually everywhere you look in the house.   It's nice and warm as a result of a fire, at least one person is stressed out about the meal preparations, someone is chasing a pet who got out the door and shouldn't have, a TV that's on too loud with music in the background, someone is always laughing at something or someone and there is always LOTS of food.  Beautiful cookies that the neighbor brought over are sitting on the breakfast bar.  Coffee with fresh coffee cake is ready when you wake up and tempting you before you even clear the morning eye away.  Cheese and crackers in case you want something while your watching the game.  I'm not complaining about the food.  I'm just saying it's there.  Oart of me feels guilty for loving the food so much.  I'm supposed to feel guilty about it, our society tells me I'm supposed to.  Anyway, I won't go off on a tangent.  But I usually start of the day feeling guilty about eating those days.  So these houses full of people and food are what make the run so much fun.

When I go out for my run it's quiet and cold.  I don't have a specific workout I do every year or anything.  This run doesn't really matter, I'm usually in my off season so just do what I feel like.  Sometimes it's a nice hard 60 minute interval workout and then other days it's an easy 30 minute so I can say I did it.  I'm in a neighborhood that I don't know that well that is usually in suburbia so there is lots of space to run.  It's the opposite of inside the house.  The contrast is nice and it lets me transition into some me time where I reflect on the holiday.   The air feels clean mostly cause my head is. It's really quiet, I don't see any other runner out there.  With no people watching to do, I get lost in my thoughts.  I'm not thinking about work, I'm not running cause I'm relieving some stress (no my family doesn't stress me out, at least not yet in my life), I'm not training for a race cause it's the middle of the off season.  It's just me, thinking about all the things I'm thankful for or remembering a holiday I had when I was a kid, or grinning over the look on my father's face when he opened up a present.  It's just fun.  I also love looking at all the other houses in the neighborhood and wondering how they are celebrating inside.  I don't know any of the people because it's not my neighborhood.  A few days ago on Christmas afternoon I was running in the snow in Birmingham and I saw a father playing with his daughter in the snow.  I took of my headphones and I heard her say that she couldn't believe she it was a white Christmas in Alabama.   I wanted to tell her that I didn't either but I didin't want to be the annoying stranger who ruins the moment.
When the run ends I come inside and I'm warm and wet from building up a sweat.  As soon as I walk in someone always asks how my run was.  I don't tell them how amazing it was for the reasons I explained so I usually just rattle off the workout I did.  I can tell that they aren't really listening to my workout so I wrap it up with "It was just really awesome, I got my heart rate really up there" and they respond by offering me a cookie and saying "Great job! Now go get yourself cleaned up".  I like that no one cares about what workout I did or didn't do.  They just love the smile on my face when I come walking back in.  That's what families are.  They don't care as long as you are happy.  So I take the cookie, get cleaned up, and continue with the holiday traditions! 

It's winter . . .

Winter is in full effect here in Chicago.  A few weeks ago I started my pre-season training group. Tuesday nights we meet and do a brick work out (bike/run with some strength training) and Friday morning we swim.  The first week was fun.  Being back on the compu trainer with 15 other athletes grinding through a workout is lots of fun . . . the first few times and then reality sets in.  I'm sitting on my bike, take that back, I'm peddling on my bike, looking around at everyone in the mirrors and then all of a sudden I realized that this view would be the same for the next 4 months (at least).  Grrrrrr.  are you kidding me.  No more flying by fields, no more dealing with the elements out on the road, no more flats, yeh, no more riding outside.  The sadness that comes with this moment.  I'm sorry to complain.  I really am. I understand that I have made a choice to live in Chicago.  And yes I knew before I came here two and a half years ago that I would have to get used to tough winters.  This moment is still very hard for me though.  It's like I've put up a white flag. 

I have mixed feelings about the compu-trainer and gyms in general.  On one hand I love the numbers that I get to see when I'm on the treadmill or the compu-trainer.  It's fun to start thinking about it when I'm running and I can measure myself.  Then again, nothing spells "REALITY CHECK" better than the computer on the treadmill.  It tells me when I've slowed down, it tells me to go faster (you ever tried one of the interval workouts on it), It also tells me I'm cheating (When you take your feet of the belt for more than 20 seconds it threatens to turn off).  It also says "you're faster now" also which is nice.  I also love the fact that my gym workouts are more efficient from a time perspective.  All the equipment is right there and I can move from my bike to an exercise ball in about 5 seconds.

It still sucks though, cause i'm inside.