Shed weight like a Big Loser?
Surrey man gained $100,000 for his performance, but experts warn about TV show’s ‘toxic’ methods.
Planning ahead to avoid the lure of fast food helped Jordan Alicandro of Surrey lose 143 pounds and take home $100,000 from The Biggest Loser television franchise this week.
Speaking Friday over the phone from Disneyland in California the day after his win, an elated Alicandro said the most important change he made was thinking more about what he ate.
“I’m on the road a lot and it’s really easy to eat unhealthy on the road,” says the regional sales manager for a door and window supply company. “Fast food is right in your face. If I was going on the road for a day or two, I would make meals ahead and bring them with me in a cooler.
“In the past, I would always take the lazy way out. This way is a little extra work, but it helped me accomplish my goals in a way I couldn’t even have imagined. It’s still surreal for me,” said Alicandro, 32, whose before and after photos resemble two different people.
A typical diet recommended by The Biggest Loser’s nutritionist comes in at about 1,500 calories a day — many contestants go lower — consisting mainly of vegetables, fruit, lean protein, limited starches and no added sugar.
The series has been criticized for taking an extreme approach to weight loss that is far too rapid, requiring overly strict diets and more than four hours a day of exercise. Last year’s winner, Rachel Frederickson, launched a storm of online comments when she appeared in the finale at a gaunt 105 pounds, less than half of her 260-pound starting weight. Former contestants say they’ve gained some or all of the weight back.
Obesity specialist Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an author and University of Ottawa professor, calls the show “toxic” because its radical regimen slows down participants’ metabolism, making regaining weight inevitable.
Alicandro lost 44 per cent of his body weight in seven months, even though he was eliminated after three and a half months and sent home from “the ranch” in California where contestants are sequestered. The format of the show, now entering its 17th season, winnows down the original group of candidates to three finalists with a $250,000 top prize announced at the finale. That means Alicandro completed the second half of his transformation from 323 to 180 pounds on his own, with only phone support from The Biggest Losers’ team of fitness experts, a nutritionist, psychologist and doctor.
Not only that, his wife gave birth to a boy named Sawyer just after Alicandro returned to Surrey in October.
“Being a new dad and going through all these changes, I had to make sure to carve the time out for myself. Every morning, I’d be at the local YMCA for their 6 a.m. classes and get an hour and a half in there. Then try to walk during my lunch break and go back in the evening.”
On the road, he took up running in all weather.
What’s he going to do with his win? Set up an education fund for three-month-old Sawyer and make a down payment on a home.
This season’s Biggest Loser featured contestants who had formerly been athletes. Alicandro was a talented baseball player who started gaining weight after being sidelined with a knee injury. He was already 220 pounds by the time he met his wife in college; 300 pounds when they married.
“Our relationship has improved quite a bit,” he says now. “She can’t keep her hands off me. And I’m not complaining at all.”