Now let's take a look at Michaels' weight-loss claims using the example of a middle-aged woman who weighs 190 pounds. Since there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, to fulfill Michaels' promise of losing 5 pounds a week, this woman needs a weekly deficit of 17,500 calories.
Part of this massive caloric deficit can result from dietary restriction — but not too much or it could cause her metabolism to slow down and she would experience intense hunger. A minimum intake for our hypothetical woman is around 1,400 calories a day, which is about 500 less than her typical weight-maintenance diet. Over the course of a week, she could lose 1 pound this way. So just 4 pounds — or 14,000 calories — left to account for.
Kettle bells can be a tremendous calorie-burner in the hands of an experienced user. But since Michaels' DVD is targeted at overweight and out-of-shape women, I think a generous estimation of how many calories our hypothetical woman can burn is about 600 an hour. Considering that she would burn roughly 100 calories sitting on the couch, the actual extra calories burned from doing Michaels' workout is 500 per hour.
Dividing that into the remaining weekly deficit of 14,000 calories, we find that our poor woman needs to use Michaels' kettle bell DVD for 28 hours each week. That's four hours of kettle bells a day — every single day.
Two fitness experts who are experts and certified in kettle ball training called Michael's kettle ball technique appalling. Yikes.
She's suing.
Wow...I wonder if anyone actually checks her stuff before it goes out to the public?
ReplyDeleteNO SUCH THING AS METABOLIC SLOWDOWN. THAT IS A MYTH. She can comfortably live on 900 calories a day, like the rest of us that are on a diet.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, there are numerous studies that show that metabolism does slow down when calories are overly restricted.
ReplyDeleteI cared for Jillian one way or the other. I think this whole thing is pretty funny - jokes on her, but NOT her fans.
ReplyDeleteI own the DVD. I do it. I also do not expect to lose up to 5 lbs a week. You know what Jillian Michaels does for me? She and Bob inspire me to move my fat ass off the couch and burn some calories. It is a stepping stone to a new, healthier me. It is not, however, the only stepping stone in that journey.
ReplyDeleteHey NewMe,
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, I back up my info with actual medical facts and references. Please supply some rather than throwing things out.
I would love to see an online bloggy debate of NewME and Allan addressing this issue. I think lots of us area so confused about it. I know that I read the conclusions (I find the actual data yawn-inducing) of several studies pertaining to THYROID patients (ie, hypothyroid patients like me) who do have a bad increase in reverse T3 and of metabolic slowdown within a rather short period of VLCD. This is why I personally eschew it. I already am metabolically F-ed up due to autoimmune destruction of my thyroid, and I don'tl ike the idea of adding more reverse T3 into my chemical internal soup. But a courteous debate with studies and discussion--this might do good.
ReplyDeleteThanks, NewME, Allan (et al) for your comments.
I am currently scouring the Internet for studies concerning metabolism, resting basal metabolism resting basal rate and the effects of dieting on metabolism.
ReplyDeleteI will be writing further on this issue in the near future.
With respect to a debate with Allan, I'll be frank: it is not something I relish. Without saying anything further, now that I am on his radar, I know I might nevertheless be subject to a torrent of @#$% from him.