Biggest Loser: VO2 max and how people win: easy gainers

Why do women usually loose on Biggest Loser Why are the fatter people a threat? How does VO2 max exercise physiology come into play in this game? How come some people seem to consistently do better in the biking and running challenges?
VO2 max (VO2) is a measure of a person’s ability to transport oxygen while exercising; (ml Oxygen per kilogram of their weight per minute).. It is very highly corelated to running speed ability and ability to burn calories relative to time when exercising. There are genetic, age, training and gender factors in a person’s VO2 measurment.

Points to consider on contestant winnings:
Women usually have a lower VO2 then men, by 50%, so can only run (or do other exercises) at a slower speed and burn less calories per minute on average

but women generally have better endurance then men (why they win in Survivor when they have to hang onto things) so women in theory could just exercise longer to burn the same calories; however there are only so many hours in a day. Some reports say that the contestants exercise 6 hours a day 7 days a week, but I am not sure how accurate that is.

Some contestants have the ability to burn more calories then others at the start of the show; VO2 values vary from 20 to 75 for sedentary people, which the contestants are at the start of the show. For women the range is roughly 20 to 45; for men it is rougly 35 to 66. So you can see that men have a distinct advantage from the get go. A contestant with good genetic VO2 for their gender could burn up to 2.5x more calories per unit time exercised per pound of body from the get go then the theoretical worst contender!! I wonder if any obesity research is being done on this issue.

As you train, you soon get to your max VO2 max for your personal ability of 50% higher than sedentary (one reference said it takes about 2 years for people who train an hour a day another said a few months so I am not sure on this). Some contestants may not get to their max VO2 max as fast as other due to mental factors, genetic factors, illnesses, not knowing how to exercise properly or being over trained or injured by the trainers

The longer you train the longer you can train at a higher heart rate so the people who train less due to injury, mental block, inexperience or possibly diseases that cause exercise insufficiency such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, hypothyroidism, genetic inability to process fat and other metabolites normally, etc. will not be able to train at that sustained high heart rate as fast in the game as the other contestants.

Some contestants weigh a lot and so are not able to loose all the weight they need to in the 5 (?) months that the show runs; others run out of fat to loose and so can’t keep losing the whole show.

The smaller contestants have to loose less weight but also burn less when they run just as fast as a heavier person. For example: how many calories you burn at a given speed on a treadmill is directly proportional to your weight. VO2 takes weight into account.

VO2 max goes down as we age so younger contestants would have an advantage over older. You can see this effect on the standard heart rate chart hung in most gyms.

The most you can improve from sedentary to best VO2 max during the game is roughly 50% increase. The average VO2 for sedentary Americans (male and female) is 35. So say the women (probably all contestants are naturally lower in ability to get to VO2 max compared to average which is why they are so fat) start at 25; they can only go to 37.5. Let’s say a man starts at average 35 (which is lower than average for men only) and then can get to 50% more or 52.5. They can then burn 40% more than the women even if they are genetically worse at burning than the women in relative terms.

Granted, this does not take weight into account which the contest does, so I am not sure if percentage wise it makes a difference since most of the men are much heavier than the women (may explain why the shorter men do better???). Men are often around 400# to start and women often 200# to start so men have to loose 2x as much as women because of the percentage rule.

You can see from my calcs that these assumptions are pretty close to what we see based on a reported 6 hours a day, 7 days a week exercise schedule. At the end the weight loss calculated is higher than what we see, possibly as a result of the contestants not being pushed as hard or because of accummulated injuries from working out so much.

Muscle increase: some people are hard gainers meaning they don’t easily put on pounds of muscle. Others are medium or easy gainers. Many of the contestants appear to be very stocky, easy gainers. So they are piling on pounds of muscle…easily a pound a week, as they are loosing fat. Since the game only counts pounds lost, not fat lost, the easy gainers may end up behind. Their increased muscle WILL increase their basal metabolic rate however, so that may work in their favor as they sleep. I am guessing that the moderate calorie restriction the contestants do compensates for most of their muscle gains.

21 Movie Review and Blackjack Training Site link

I love Vegas, so I was first in line to see the 21 Movie when it came out. On top of that, I went to Grad School for a year at Boston University, near MIT, around the time that the MIT BlackJack Team was successfully winning and I am good at math and always thought that I “should” be able to count cards if I practiced. The movie did not disapoint, and I would like to see it again. Kevin Spacey has been good in every movie I have seen and this one was no different.

The movie is a fictionalized version of the more boring truth, but the most disturbing parts of the movie are not true, so that is good. The leader of the group was not a corrupt teacher and there was no beating by the casinos. As a former pre-med student, I was relieved to read on Wikipedia that the real lead character was not a premed student but rather an EE major. No sane premed student would take such hard couses in Math and risk a low GPA and would probably not be able to do robotics but would be much more focused on Biology study. That part of the plot made no sense to me and was added as a noble motive for the main character to make the story more interesting and give the movie a start and an end.

On the other hand some good parts were not true; a video interview of one of the real players , Mike Aponte, reveals that the team only won $1 million over 6 years. While that sounds like a lot of money, that is only $30,000 a year for a team of 5 players. Not bad for a part time job but certainly not as much as a smart person can make doing things that actually help society.

Other glaring fictionalizations from what I can gather from Wikipedia: The team was not so secret at MIT, I don’t think there were any girls, many of the Vegas casinos shown in the movie had not been built in the 90s, and the team appears to have been mostly Asian in reality, not mixed like in the movie.

The movie captures the fun of Vegas in a unique way. I wouldn’t say it captures every part of the fun but it does a pretty good job.

You can read the bestseller of the story, Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas to get more of the details.

Mike Aponte is creating a card counting tutorial website, but it currently is not up and running. You can practice basic strategy for free here.

Journeyman is like the Time Travelers Wife

My new favorite non-HBO TV show is Journeyman….Oh wait, after Lost that is. I think most of the reason is the main actor who also played in Rome, Kevin McKidd. It is a real joy just to watch him act and he is pretty cute too (OK, I have a thing for stocky blonde men and english men, so he gets a bonus for that with me).

I also grew up near SF and lived there for a year in the 90s so I love the blast to the past each week. I also enjoy the intentional perspective the writers give of how much has changed…mostly for the good, but sometimes for the bad like with the increased resistance of bacteria to anti-biotics nowadays (the end of the antibiotic age is near…say all microbiologists like I once was).

I also love Sci Fi and read a select few well written books from time to time. The Time Travelers Wife was one such book that was really romantic and fun to read (but sad). Journeyman seems to be roughly based on the story, although I could be wrong that it has it’s direct inspiration from the book.

The episodes are distinct enough that you can watch them without seeing the whole series but they are best watched all together. I wonder how the Lawrence Livermore scientist will be involved in his time travel…and what happened to the FBI agent who got shot who seemed to know about time travelers as a group??? Only time will tell….

How to pick a movie to rent on Netflix

I love Netflix (see affiliate link in blogroll). There are so many good things about it, I think it is easier to talk about what I don’t like about it. The only thing I don’t like is that you don’t get to get out of the house to see what other’s are renting when you are in that mood. I usually am not in that mood and going to the store was often a hassle so I am glad those days are over.

Here is how I create my To Rent List in Netflix and decide what movie to rent:

First, I choose movies by looking in the new release area to see if anything appeals to me. I will only watch it if it has 4 stars or higher OR it has something else of high interest to me such as subject matter, favorite actor or has special effects, which I love.

I try to keep no more than 15 movies in my List. It is not realistic that I can watch more than that. If I get more than that, I weed out by star rating or by asking myself “Would I go watch that right now if I had it in my hands?”. That keeps me from ordering movies I feel I “should” watch.

Sometimes I will type in the name of a favorite movie star. I then order all the ones I have not seen yet with a rating over 2 stars. The problem is that you get a whole bunch of movies with the same star in a row that way, so try to spread them out in your rental list.

I also try to mix the genres that I have at home, so I have a comedy, documentary, family movie and thriller, not all the same type. That way I will probably be in the mood to watch at least one kind of movie. I monitor my list when I get a notice that a movie is ready for rating.

My rating system is a bit harsh but it is consistent:
1 star = did not finish watching the movie
2 stars = finished it but wished I hadn’t
3 stars = liked it but won’t watch it again most likely
4 stars= have watched it more than once or most likely will watch it again
5 stars= I own the DVD (a small collection).

That leads me to my recommended list. I go through that about once every 2 months, and probably rent about 1% of what they recommend. I also find movies on the window that pops up as related movies when I order one.

I wish that I could order movies from my TV. Right now when I see a preview I either have to write down the name, hope I remember to order it, or hope it will show up in the new movie release area when I look. I am sure that day is not too far off!!

Boston Legal: fat episode

I love Boston Legal. It has two of my favorite actors in it; James Spader and William Shatner. I think I had one of my first crushes ever as a kid on William Shatner. He is still sexy and now so funny!!

I don’t like Boston Legal only for the reason that it sets a bad example for the employees of the law firm I work for. The outfits are WAY too tight on the women and there are a lot of things that make law firms look bad. I have to give the show credit for occasionally pointing out that it is not like a real law firm. I also love the way they incorporate the occasional “We are on TV” viewpoint by saying things like “this episode”.

I also have to admit, that along with The Daily Show, Boston Legal is one of my top sources for understanding complex political issues. I am always amazed what a good job James Spader (and the writer of course) does in arguing against injustice.

I saw the fat episode on Boston Legal and had to comment on it since that is a big issue for me (no pun intended). I think they really did not take too bad a stance on it considering it was from fat phobic Hollywood, but I still did not agree with it.

Fat and Health

The thing that sticks in my logic craw is that studies don’t show any improved health for people who are fat and diet, only for people who are always ideal weight. So even if medium weight is better, if you are fat, then too bad. Also, a lot of studies show it is more dangerous to diet than not to.

So, basically, I think they need to do more research and piece it all apart better so they can get some more consistent answers about fat and health. Maybe it is what causes you to be fat that is bad for you…if they could prove that and figure out what it is, that would be better more effective for health care cost reduction than trying to sell some half-baked studies. They also need to do more controls on socio economics, fat percent and other things that may be mucking up the results.

The Biggest Loser TV show and fat percent

I have been on a calorie restriction diet for the last 4 months, so I could not help but finally watch the reality show “The Biggest Loser”. I guess you have to be paid a lot of money to be called a big loser on TV. Overall, I find the show a little boring, but I think it is worth the airtime for several reasons:
1. it introduces people to the concept of fat percent, albeit in a modified form, but better than nothing
2. it stresses fitness in addition to starvation.

Of course, there are many things I would like to change about the show. The main thing would be to give each contestant a dunk tank fat test each week instead of the weigh in. The other would be to have a competition on how much muscle you can build up, not just fat lost.

I also wonder how people can loose so much weight so fast and still be healthy. I would like to see how many calories each contestant ate and how many calories they burned and how many hours they spent in the sauna.

I personally believe calorie restriction is dangerous, especially if you take an approach that can lead you to illness. I have not done any for many years but finally had to cave into pressure from society. I also found a study I felt was valid on fat percent and health by age that I could use instead of the usual BMI table crud

I also would like to see “where are they now” shows to see how many people actually kept it off. Most people gain all the weight back after a diet.

Bee Movie Review

I went to Bee Movie yesterday with my daughter. I laughed at half the jokes and my daughter the other half so I guess overall it was a succesful kids movie.

I love Steven Spielberg, especially since I saw him at a hot dog stand in Santa Barbara and that made him all the more human to me. I also love Jerry Seinfeld and watched all his episodes.

While I wish it had been more interesting to me, I realized that I loved the Shrek movies and my daughter did not, so it is possible for a movie to pander too much to the adult audience. A good kids show needs to be balanced like bugs bunny cartoons were.

Do You Think Survivor China is Boring So Far?

I am a long time Survivor fan, but I think this series is the most boring yet. They just voted out Jean-Robert (my favorite to win) and have the second jury member, but I think it may continue to be boring this season. I think they need to torture them more to make it interesting. Anyone else have an opinion???

Starvation in America in 2050 due to energy crisis

I love those doomsday movies of how the world will end or at least how one city will be wrecked. I think some of them may have even helped avert disaster in the past.

I would love to see a movie about the idea espoused by many population study professors that people in America will begin to starve in 2050 unless we get our population down to 200 million down from a current 300 million and a projected 600 or so million by 2050. It would be a timely movie with the raging immigration debates and gas price interest at hand. Here is a great article on the subject of impending starvation in America (warning…very depressing!!)

I don’t know how the movie would end happily or even satisfactorily, but I think it would send an important message to people who are in denial about the issues. It would not have to be a Soilent Green or Mad Max remake, but maybe could relate to how we will become like Africa is now with millions of babies dying each year. Maybe something related to the black plaque which killed 1/3 of Europe and half of Asia. Maybe focus on one family from LA who happily makes it to a farm that grows plenty of food in a sustainable yet modern fashion while braving gun fights along the way, wild west style.

TV shows you would like to see

Are there any mini series you would like to see? Favorite in depth books or time periods? Favorite destinations or places in time you would like to travel to each week? Let the public know and you may just get your wish. No registration needed to post comments although they will be held for moderation.