Hello, this is Monica Reinagle, and you're listening to the Nutrition Diva

podcast. The big story in nutrition last week was the publication of the so-called biggest loser study,

described in detail in a New York Times article that about 300 of you forwarded to me for my comment. If you missed it, this study tracked the progress of 14

contestants from the biggest loser reality show, each of whom lost a massive amount of weight over the course of several months on the show.

Six years later, all but one of those contestants has regained a significant amount of weight.

Four of them are now heavier than they were before the show began.

However, as the study demonstrated, this isn't just a simple failure of willpower.

In large part, it's due to the fact that the contestants metabolisms are now

dramatically slower than they were before they lost the weight. Even when they

stick to the number of calories that should allow them to maintain their lower weight, they gain weight anyway.

As I read this article, I had a strong sense of deja vu.

This is essentially the same finding that different researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine five years ago,

which also led to a New York Times article, which was also forwarded to me by about 300 listeners.

And what I wrote in response back then

applies equally to this latest study.

This research really just shows that dieting is counterproductive and that extreme dieting is extremely

counterproductive.

As the biggest loser contestants have learned the hard way, when you lose a lot of weight in a short period of time, it can do serious and lasting damage to your metabolism.

And although the composition of your

metabolic rate,

metabolic rate, those relatively modest effects are dwarfed

by the impact of rapid weight loss on metabolism.

...