One Health24 reader recently asked DietDoc in her forum, “Why don’t I lose as much weight as the Survivors? Some contestants shed up to 30 kg, while I can’t lose more than one kg, if that!”

It is understandable that readers who are struggling to lose weight view the emaciated bodies of the Survivors with envy and ask themselves what they are doing wrong. In this article DietDoc takes a look at the conditions under which the Survivors lose so much weight.

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Harsh conditions
In each one of the Survivor series to date, the contestants have been exposed to extremely harsh conditions, such as:

• Unrelenting heat, which causes dehydration.
• A monotonous diet based on a single staple carbohydrate food, e.g. maize meal in Africa, manioc in the Amazon.
• Practically zero fat intake.
• Tiny portions of protein, if they are able to catch fish or trap animals.
• Great physical exertion when they have to build shelters, fetch wood and participate in challenges.
• Extreme and constant psychological stress and anxiety.

In addition, many of the contestants started out on their Survivor adventure carrying much weight. None of them were actually overweight and certainly none were obese.

Comparisons
If you are sensible about life, you will realise that the Survivor conditions, which induced weight loss in the participants, differ radically from the conditions most of us experience who live in comfortable homes, look after families and hold down a job.

You cannot even try to recreate the same conditions. And there are excellent reasons why you should really not attempt to copy the Survivors.

Negative effects of starvation
Readers who only have eyes for the many kilograms that the Survivors lose, do not see, or want to see, what other negative physical and psychological effects these men and women develop because of their forced semi-starvation.

In general, the contestants who stay in the game long suffer from the following negative effects induced by starvation:

• Deficiencies of vital vitamins and minerals, which cause infections, skin conditions, poor wound healing, hair loss, and exhaustion (some, or most of the long-lasting Survivors will probably start developing anaemia due to a lack of iron, folic acid and vitamin B12).
• Emotional fragility and depression caused by lack of vitamin B complex and amino acids, such as tryptophan.
• Extreme lack of energy and tiredness due to the low energy content of their diet.

Now those of you who intend on copying the Survivors by attempting semi-starvation plus excessive physical activity to lose weight, will probably also start suffering from these ill effects. This is not what a sensible weight-loss programme is supposed to do.

The sensible alternative
If you're set on losing weight, it is much more sensible to use a balanced, low-fat diet that still contains sufficient energy derived from carbohydrates and all the protective vitamins, minerals, trace elements, essential fatty acids and bioflavonoids. At the end of your slimming exercise you'll reap the following benefits:

• Desired weight loss
• Plenty of energy for exercise and work
• Are still emotionally stable and not depressed
• Are bursting with good health
• Not going to regain all the weight you have lost

The latter disadvantage of starvation diets is a normal reaction of the human body to replace lost weight as fast as possible when it has been exposed to a period of great deprivation. This survival mechanism has kept the human race going for thousands, if not millions of years. We are programmed to replace our fat stores when they have been depleted by famine and if this were not so, we would have died out as a species long ago.

It is, therefore, much better to reduce your energy intake moderately and reprogramme your body to require less food and less energy over time, while using up extra energy by doing exercise.

If you use a sensible slimming programme, you will keep the weight you have lost off forever and hopefully have reeducated your metabolism and appetite so that you will never overeat again or stop exercising. – (Dr I.V. van Heerden, DietDoc)

Any questions? Ask DietDoc

 

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