The Season Finale of Extreme Makeover Weight Lose Edition
Chris Powell chose Krista a 34 year old stay at home mom, who definitely has had some bad things happen to her in her life. The most significant thing was that her daughter began to have seizures at the age of two. The doctors decided to remove the left side of Krista’s daughter’s brain. Her daughter, Gabie, seemed to recover fine, but definitely has some special needs.
Krista began putting on weight about the same time that Gabie began to experience the seizures. It was classic emotional eating. But Krista gained so much weight that she realized that she wanted to stop the cycle and lose weight. She realized that Gabie would need her to live as long a possible to help her with her needs.
Krista’s start weight was 445 pounds. Chris set a goal to lose 100 pounds in the first 3 months of the program. If she did, she’d win a brand new car. This was a big deal because Krista and her husband only had one car to keep their expenses down. So they could afford the special care that Gabie required. Krista felt like a prisoner in her own home, because her husband had the car all day.
Chris also took her shopping for a wedding gown, so that Krista and her husband could renew their vows. She found a dress that she loved but the largest size that it came in is 18 and she is currently a size 28. Her goal for the end of the year is to fit into the dress so that she can have the wedding ceremony that she never had.
At the 3 month weigh-in Krista lost a total of 105 pounds and now weighed 340 pounds. She won the car. A Mustang!
The goal for the second 3 month phase was to lose 60 pounds.
During the second phase Krista began to have problems. She really began to struggle. She told Chris that she was worried about her finances and may need to find a part-time job. She stopped returning calls and emails for three weeks. On day 140 Chris surprised her with an unannounced visit. He showed up at 11am, and woke her up.
He confronted her and all she did was make excuses as to why she couldn’t do this. Chris kept pressing her until he found out the real reason. Krista was scared that something bad was going to happen to Gabie again and her fear was resulting in her reverting back to emotional eating again. He asked her if she wanted to talk to someone about this on a regular basis. I think this was a good call on Chris’ part. Her emotional trigger is very deep rooted and beyond the scope of a fitness and nutrition expert to deal with.
Krista seemed to respond well to this and got back on track. At the 180 day weigh-in she weighed 295 pounds and had lost 45 pounds during the second phase. Although she didn’t reach her goal both she and Chris were happy with the progress. That’s because when Chris weighed her during his surprise visit, she had actually gained weight. So it appeared that she had really turned the corner.
Her goal for the third 3-month phase was to lose 75 pounds.
Oh Yeah, she also ran a half marathon and the Disneyland resort. It wasn’t easy, but she did finish it. As I watched this part of the show I realized it was just an ad for Disneyland. Plus don’t forget that Disney owns ABC…
During the third phase Gabie began to experience seizures again. This caused Krista to struggle with staying on track, and understandable so. At the 9 month weigh-in Krista weighed 325 pounds. She had gained 30 pounds. But the good news is that Gabie’s condition stabilized and that allowed Krista to get back on the program.
There was no mention of the skin removal surgery in this episode. I don’t know if that’s because Krista never planned to have it done or if her struggles during the second and third phases of the year eliminated her as a candidate. Either way I really like the episodes where the people don’t have the surgery. I like to see them put in a full year of weight loss, or better yet, complete the weight loss process entirely before electing to have the skin removal surgery.
So with Gabie stabilized and Krista back on track the goal to get into the size 18 wedding dress was still a reality during the fourth phase of the year. At the reveal it was obvious that Krista had a good three months, and had lost a considerable amount of weight.
At the final weigh-in Krista weighed in at 265 pounds. She lost 60 pounds in the fourth phase and a total of 180 pounds for the year. She fit into her wedding dress and she and her husband renewed their vows.
I’m glad that they used this episode for the final. There are a couple of really important things that happened in this show that I think everyone can learn form and be inspired by.
The first thing is that it’s important to understand that things may come up in your life that negatively impact your weight loss goals. When they do, deal with them. Don’t let distractions become an excuse to abandon your goals. Deal with the distractions and then get back on track. Krista had some really significant and genuine distractions, yet she never gave up. Although she might have been able to lose more weight, she still lost 180 pounds in one year. If she can do it, anyone can.
Second, It was beautiful to watch the sacrifices and unconditional love both she and her husband had for Gabbie.
And third. By the end of the year Krista had found that inner confidence that always results from eating right and exercising. It can’t be denied. She was confident that she was going to keep losing until she reached her goal of 160 pounds. And you know what, I believe her.
Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition is done for the year. I hope it comes back. I know that Chris Powell is genuine! I do hope that they tweak the format a little. The process of every episode was essential the same, so the last few episodes did become somewhat predicable.
Chris Powell is awesome and the eight people that he helped this season are inspirational!
Here are the quotes from this weeks episode
“The pain that you feel now is far greater than any workout.”
“Until Krista stops making excuses and stops justifying her actions she can lose all the wight in the world, but she’s not going to keep it off. It’s gonna come right back.”
“You don’t have to do shit!. I want you to want this too.”
“What you decide to do, is going to define who you are.”
“No matter what, we always finish what we start.”
“It’s about falling down and getting back up.”
“Just do more than you did before.”
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