The issue here is that the way very large people can lose weight in a healthy manner is deadly for TV. Everyone can agree that the trick is to eat just enough n

The issue here is that the way very large people can lose weight in a healthy manner is deadly for TV. Everyone can agree that the trick is to eat just enough nutritionally balanced food each day to fulfill the most basic need for vitamins, minerals, proteins and a small amount of dietary fat, and then remain just active enough to work and have mild recreational activity to keep BMR up without injury. This does not make compelling TV. There is no drama, and in fact, boredom is the most likely outcome. Nobody wants to watch someone eat 500 calories of roast skinless chicken and steamed broccoli for dinner, then walk a couple of miles, even though nobody can deny that it's an incredible combination for effective weight loss. In the Biggest Loser model, a combination of extreme starvation and overactivity can easily result in the loss of lean body mass (ie, muscle and essential organ mass) in addition to fat, resulting in lowered metabolism and poor long term health outcomes. It's entirely possible to lose a large amount of weight without affecting your BMR or health by ensuring that protein requirements are met and by staying active but not over-exerting yourself in a combination that maximizes fat loss but minimizes the loss of healthy lean body mass. But there's just not a whole lot to watch when you do that. (I understand the value of strength training, but for people with an especially large amount of weight to lose, it can be best to wait on heavy training until after caloric restriction is less necessary.)