Biggest Loser Australia 2009 was, I think, one of the best seasons yet. Once again although the majority of contestants were not particularly likable a couple did stand out as being bright lights throughout the competition. One of these competitors (and I must admit our pick to win) was Sharif Dean who came into Camp Biggest Loser weighing in at 178.3kg - Sharif entered Season 4 as the heaviest male competitor. What appealed to me about Sharif and his 'couple' team mate Teresa was that, unlike many of the contestants, they were smart, articulate, intelligent and focused on the task at hand - losing weight, not playing the bullshit games to 'win'!
With this is mind, I was really lucky to be able to track Sharif down who, since his amazing Biggest Loser challenge which saw him eliminated and then win a place back in the Camp to become one of the 2009 finalise, has started his own Personal Training Business called Sharifit.
Sharif, the G-Star and I met over coffee so that I might pick his brain and harness his experience in terms of the Biggest Loser Competition. What was really interesting was, Sharif debunked a number of my pre-conceived notions about the competition and highlighted there are a number of fundamental differences between what actually goes on in the Biggest Loser Camp and what we see for our entertainment consumption. With this in mind, I thought it would be good to share the information I gleaned from Sharif to provide some clarity and context around the game I am currently playing.
First and foremost contestants are not forced to train. Contestants are only obligated to be available for filming between the hours of 8am and 6pm - during this time the teams receive between a 20-45min group training session with trainers Michelle or Shannon which is filmed for the nightly program. During these training sessions contestants have to acquire as much knowledge about training techniques and strategies in order to be able to put these in to practice on their own if and when they chose to exercise for themselves.
For Sharif that meant approximately 4 hours of cardio per day. Sharif's typical day looked something like this:
5am - Wake up - Drink a hideous concoction of instant coffee and egg whites- 1 to 1.5hours slow burn cardio (Heart Rate of between 65%-80%) usually on the treadmill or cross trainer. This also included interval training to get the heart rate peaking throughout the session.
7/7.30am Breakfast: 1/2 cup of oats, punnet of strawberries, blueberries, 100g natural yoghurt, frozen raspberries and 5-6 egg whites.
8.00am Start Filming
10.00am Morning Tea
11/11.30am On Camera Training Session (aprox 45min) - Group Training Cardio + Super Sets
1.00pm Lunch
2.00pm Filming - if possible tried to get another hour of cardio (interval) training in
6.00pm Finish Day's Filming
7.00pm Another cardio session and dinner
8.00pm Cardio session for 1-1.5hours slow burn and interval
10.00/11.00pm - Bed
In terms of food consumption there was another myth debunked for me...all the contestants are required to cook their own meals. They are given the opportunity to fill out grocery shopping lists which are filled and kept in the kitchen however there are strict controls on what items can and can't be purchased (overseen by Shannon and Michelle). A treat was had once a week usually after weigh in and this consisted of a low fat ice block. In terms of Sharif's food control to say he became an authority on caloric in-take and out-put is a bit of an understatement - he knew down to sugars, carbohydrates and salt in foods and how they could adversely affect his weight loss. In terms of food and weight loss the contestants are taught on a purely caloric basis - watch the number of calories in the food and calculate require caloric out-put in order to achieve weight loss.
Another interesting tit bit of information was that the program is not actually tapped in a 7day cycle. Rather contestants train for 7days and the 8th day is weigh in day. On weigh in day the filming takes all day so no training can be done. In the case of Season 4 when individual teams (Blue or Red) went to elimination then that was another day of training out the window as Eliminations take all day to film.
Other than re-stating how absolutely fabulous Sharif still looks, I'd like to end this blog by highlighting that Sharif is a great, intelligent, informative and really nice guy. I really appreciated the time he gave me and I hope to be catching up with him again soon so I can fill in more of the gaps about the show.
Til then, yours in fatness
LBL
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