Chris Powell’s done it once again – Another amazing transformation!
In this episode of Extreme Makeover; Weight Loss Edition, Chris Powell chose to work with Alex. Alex is 23. The sad part of this story is that Alex’s mom passed away when he was a senior in high school. When she was sick the made her promise that she’d be there for him the next day. Near the endof her life, instead of promising to be there for him, she asked Alex to “get healthy for her”. It was obvious that Alex has struggled with the loss of his mother. And instead of honoring her wishes to focus on his health, he turned to food to deal with his emotions.
As someone who has yet to lose his mother, let alone losing a mother at such a young and pivotal age, it’s hard for me to relate to what Alex was experiencing. Even though I can’t relate I can understand. It’s not uncommon for people who are dealing with deep rooted emotional issues to turn to food and self-sabotage their health.
There is another reason why Alex became morbidly obese, his environment. His father was overweight (though not morbidly obese), his mother was overweight in the video footage from the show and both of his brothers (I think he had two), are overweight and well on their way to becoming morbidly obese. Alex is a baseball fanatic and apparently quite good, but he was so overweight in high school that we was unable to make the team.
So his environment, his behavior, his habits were already in place for him to become morbidly obese prior to the passing of his mother. That was just the trigger that sent his health spiraling downward.
In comes Chris Powell.
The show followed the same format as the premier episode. Chris and Alex went to LA for “Boot Camp” (one week of Chris educating Alex on what it will take to be successful). Then the weigh-in, Alex’s starting weight was 459 pounds.
Just like in the first episode Chris took Alex through a tough workout to see if he was “ready”. He was, if he wasn’t there wouldn’t have been a show…
The goal for the first 3 month phase of Alex’s journey was to lose 100 pounds. If he did, he’d win season tickets to the Atlanta Braves. I love this type of reward, it has nothing to do with rewarding yourself with food. Alex lost 97 pounds during the first 3 months. He came up short of his goal but both he and Chris were proud of his efforts and progress, and rightfully so!
During the first 3 months Chris lived with Alex and they set up a home gym. To help motivate and keep Alex on track they put up a large picture of Alex’s mom in the room. It was to remind Alex of his mom’s wish for him to focus on his health. While it makes for great TV, in principle I don’t agree with this type of motivation.
I believe that the motivation, and determination to improve one’s health must come from within. If you are doing it for someone else, you’ll reduce your chances of success. When you make yourself a priority and focus on improving your heath it will also improve the lives of everyone around you.
Instead of winning season tickets Chris and Alex went to a Braves game. They got to go into the clubhouse and meet a bunch of the Braves. You get to do some really cool crap when you get a TV show!
Alex’s goal for the second three month phase was to lose 60 pounds. Chris had some security cameras set up in Alex’s house and monitored his program. The show made it seem like Alex was playing video games and procrastinating on doing his workouts. At the 6 month weigh-in Alex weighed 341 pounds. He only lost 21 pounds. So I guess he was not fully committed to his program.
It’s interesting to me to see that people struggle at times during their weight loss journey, even under the guidance of Chris Powell. The important thing to learn from this is that if you’re planning on losing weight you should understand that you’ll have some struggles along the way. When you do you’ll have two choices, give up and put weight back on or find the inner strength to battle through the struggles and reach your goals. CHOOSE THE LATER!
After the 6 month weigh-in Alex went to 24 hours of Army boot camp. Which I think was an advertisement for the Army. It was interesting to watch and they made it seem like he found something in himself during the 24 hours. His third phase goal was to lose 70 pounds.
Maybe the Army thing worked because he seemed to be fully engaged and dedicated during the third quarter of the program. At the nine month weight-in he weighed 264 pounds. Alex lost 77 pounds in three months. He also appeared to have found his self-confidence.
He went into skin removal surgury. Then he showed up at the reveal for his friends and family. His final weight was 243 pounds. He lost a total of 216 pounds in 1 years. The city dedicated a baseball field in his mom’s name and everyone cried!
Awesome work Alex that was an incredible transformation, both inside and out.
Now for the quotes of the episode;
“It’s a new day, a new person. It’s time to change for good.”
“I get the feeling that Alex has never believed in himself.”
“What are you waiting for? Get up and finish this fight!”
“You’re stronger than you think.”
“When you set a goal, you want to reach it.”
“He can be a winner. He can choose to be a success or he can shoos to be a failure, and whichever one he chooses that’s what he’s going to be.”
“Consistency is the key, that’s what it’s going to take.”
“One vision, one goal, get to it and fulfil your mission”
Remeber to leave your comments below, I love them!
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See you next week…
