Biggest Loser 2011 Week 9

OK, I’m a little late getting this post out but here it is….just in time for Week 10’s episode.

Remember when I made my first  post about The Biggest Loser (it was only a couple weeks ago). I said that I hadn’t watched the show since the first season. That was because the contestants kept voting off the people who were losing the most weight. WELL HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Before you tune me out because you think I’m going to rant; don’t, I’m not!

Here’s what I know…whether you have 5 or 500 pounds to lose, you can find inspiration in the success of others. And I’m going to focus on that success and inspiration, because that’s what makes The Biggest Loser good! (I might rant a little too).

In this weeks episode everyone went back home for two weeks. I was really excited about this episode because “home” is where YOU live. And if you’re going to succeed at reaching your weight loss goals, you’re going to have to figure out how to do it where you live.

I believe that it’s pretty easy for everyone to lose weight on The Biggest Loser’s compound. They are in a controlled environment, they have guidance 24 hours a day. All they have to do is workout and eat healthy food. There is little to no temptation at the ranch.

 I was most interested in seeing how everyone would handle being back in the comforts of their own homes (the place where all the weight gain occurred originally). I wanted to see how effective the lessons learned at the ranch would carry over to real life situations. Honestly I expected most of them to struggle.

From what we could see in the show, everyone made really good choices and didn’t give in to opportunities to sabotage their own success. I was impressed. I didn’t expect that the show or the trainers were really preparing the contestants for the real world. I feel like the show’s number one priority is to show huge and rapid decreases in weight each week. Not to prepare them for long term success…

When they returned to The Biggest Loser compound, everyone would compete in a 5K race. The order that each person finished would determine the order that they could each select which trainers they wanted to work with.

This turned out to be a HUGE deal. Remember I started watching the show again during the middle of this season, so I missed the main drama. But it goes something like this. Aurther (who is a member of the black team) worked out some sort of swap of teammates. And this move didn’t sit with the red team (who all have a weird reality show pact). The assumption was that  the lady that he sent from the black team to the red team (so he and his father could move to the black team) would use her vote to move back to the black team.

So he had to avoid coming in last to avoid being sent back to the red team. Here is Arthur’s delimma. He weighs 406 pounds. At his peak he weighed over 650 pound. The chance of him coming in last was very high. I’ll tell you what happens in the next post…..

JUST KIDDING!

As expected Arther came in last and got sent back to the red team. His only hope to stay on the show was to lose the most weight at the weigh-in and earn immunity.

Everyone on the black team rocked the weigh-in. They each lost between 10-14 pounds (over a two week period, when they were home). I was impressed for two reasons. One,  obviously Bob and Gillian (and/or the behind the scene trainers/staff) are teaching this team how to be successful in the real world. Two, the black team is mainly women (who tend to lose weight slower than men) and are all much smaller (have less total weight to lose), than the red team.

So the red team had to lose an average of 17 pounds to win the weigh-in and avoid voting off a teammate.  The red team sucked! Ken and Moses only lost 5 pounds each, and they are 291 and 322 pounds respectively. Kaylee did worse, she only lost 1 pound. This is over a two week period. It’s obvious the producers of the show left their struggles while at home out of the show to surprise us (and it worked).

I think that Cara and Brett are being totally out classed by Gillian Michaels and Bob Harper. The black team seems to dominate the weigh-in every single week. They are making two big mistakes. One, they mainly do boxing, kickboxing, martial arts type workouts. Those workouts are designed to make boxers, kick boxers, and martial artists perform better at their disciplines. And while they are difficult workouts they are neither fitness or weight loss workouts. And two, they obviously are not preparing the people on their team to succeed on their own once the show is complete.

So it appeared that Arthur had one last hope….lose the most weight. His new teammate on the red team Rulon Gardner lost 17 pounds (the most of anyone during the two week period). So if Arthur lost 18 or more pounds, he’d be immune from elimination. For the sake of TV drama, of course he was the last to weigh-in.

Arther lost 16 pounds and he was voted off by his team.

Now for the rant!

Arthur used to weight 650 pounds, he now weighs  390 pounds. He is the heaviest contestant ever on The Biggest Loser. This is a matter of life and death for this man. He needs to be on this show. He needs the help. Both he and Rulon lost well over 100 pounds in 10 weeks. They are the biggest losers. Plus on a show where your team can avoid having to vote each other off by winning the weigh-in, you want the people who consistently lose the most weight (i.e. Arther).

Instead of voting off, not totally committed, easily distracted, dead weight contestants (Ken, Moses, and Kaylee), they vote off Arther, because of a team pact? What idiots! OK, here’s my prediction for the rest of  the season…

The black team (with trainers Bob and Gillian) are going to continue to crush the red team week-in and week-out until only Rulon is left!

Now that rant wasn’t too bad. I want you to find inspiration in the success of the contestants on The Biggest Loser. To help here are this weeks quotes…

“I don’t want to die, I want to live and be healthy”

“I get a choice, and that’s the ultimate”

“I deserve a rest, don’t I” (actually on the nutrition program I recommend you get a cheat day/meal once a week)

“Saying no is in turn saying yes to myself”

Remember I love your comments….leave them below! Thanks.

Enjoy, see you next week!