OK, I’m going to combine two posts into one this week. I took a short trip and had to DVR the next to last episode. Then I was off to Dallas for a Fitness Convention the following weekend. So last night I watched the week 20 episode, immediately followed by the Finale. It was a The Biggest Loser marathon.

Which is fine because not that much really happened….Except we have a brand new “Biggest Loser!!!”

Last week the Final Four were Jay, Irene, and sisters Olivia and Hannah.

The show started out reviewing how far each person had come.

• Jay started the show at 400 pounds and has lost 154 pounds
• Irene started the show at 255 pounds and has lost 108 pounds
• Olivia started the show at 261 pounds and has lost 108 pounds
• Hannah started the show at 248 pounds and has lost 98 pounds

Then there was a Jenny-O commercial. Each person would make a turkey burger for a group of kids. The winner would be the person who got the most kids to choose their burger as the kids’ favorite. The winner would win $5000 and also could have a friend or relative receive a two week stay at The Biggest Loser Resort. The prize was pretty cool, but it was actually very boring TV. Nothing to get excited about. Good try Jenny-O.

Anyway, Jay won with his “Volcano Burger”

Then it was on to the challenge. This week was “The Weight Back On Challenge” This was pretty neat to watch. Each person would carry a golf bag that was weighted with poles and flags that matched the total amount of weight that each person had lost thus far. They each had 19 flags, each flag matched the amount of weight that they lost during that week of the show. They all had to walk the golf course and place the flags on the green. Slowly shedding the weight. At the 18th hole they’d rid themselves of the last two weeks worth of weight.

The winner would win a $15,000 home gym from Cybex. Yes another ad, but this at least seemed to flow into the show.

Jay could barely carry his weight. He was bending over resting and quickly fell very far behind. Olivia did great, on the first hole. But shortly after the first hole, she began to have trouble breathing and was having spasms in her back. She took the weight off and needed some treatment.

Hannah got off to a pretty good lead. But Irene actually started running, even with all of that extra weight, to try to catch her.

Jay just kept plodding along, He wouldn’t quit. Olivia put the weight back on and continued to struggle. Hannah was in a zone. She kept very focused and just kept moving along.

Irene couldn’t close the distance on Hannah. As more weight came out of the golf bags both Jay and Olivia, began to recover and move much faster.

Hannah cruised to victory.

This was awesome to watch. It was amazing to see four people walk a golf course carrying the amount of weight they had lost during the previous 5 months. And struggle big time to do so. It was an absolute great example of how much extra weight will negatively affect your life.

The other thing that was awesome was that all four of them persevered.

None of them gave up. “Dont’ give up, don’t ever give up!”

At the weigh-in the top two would be on to the Finale. The bottom two would go to a vote of the American public to decide the third finalist.

• Irene lost 3 pounds
• Jay lost 3 pounds
• Olivia lost 4 pounds
• Hannah lost 4 pounds

So Olivia and Hannah are on to the Finale. And America would decide between Irene and Jay. If Irene were to win it would be an all girl final, a Biggest Loser first!

I’ll combine quotes from that last two episodes at the end.

Now for the Finale.

To start out both Irene and Jay came onto the stage to find out who would be the finalist. America voted for Irene. That wasn’t really a surprise.

Then they weighed in the rest of the contestants to see who would win the $100,00 “At-Home” prize. Now that’s a pretty good prize. I won’t bore you with the details for all 18 weigh-ins, but here are the highlights.

The first person to weigh in was Anna, who is Irene’s mom. She lost a total of 109 pounds (42.75% of total body weight) She was in first place!!!

Three people later Dan weighed in and he had lost a total of 124 pounds (43.21% of total body weight)

That held for seven weigh-ins then Austin weighed in and lost a total of 174 pounds (43.94% of total body weight). At this point I figured he had it locked up. He was the last person voted off of the ranch, so he had the benefit of working with the trainers and being away from temptation for the longest period of time.

Boy was I wrong. Just two people later Deni weighed in and she lost a total of 125 pounds (48.83% of total body weight). On her own, and she is 59 years old. No more excuses people!!!

Deni won the $100.000 at home prize.

The “Total Loser” award goes to Rulon Gardner. You remember him, the Olympic Gold Medalist in wrestling. Anyway he quit the show, because he had figured things out and needed to learn how to continue to lose weight in the real world. OK that sounds logical. Except he “figured” things out about two weeks after he was caught eating entire bags of chips, because he “felt like he deserved a treat”.

Let me tell you something. If you eat a whole bag of chips, because you deserve a treat. It’s going to take longer than two weeks to figure out what ever it is that you need to figure out.

My prediction. Rulon will put a ton of weight back on, and in a hurry! Plus he’s a quitter!!!!

The Biggest Loser didn’t even acknowledge his existence. And I’m glad they didn’t…

Now for the final weigh in

• Irene’s start weight was 255 pounds, she lost a total of 116 pounds for a final weight of 139 pounds (45.89% of total body weight)
• Hannah’s start weight was 248 pounds, she lost a total of 120 pounds for a final weight of 128 pounds (48.39% of total body weight)
• Olivia’s start weight was 261 pounds, she lost a total of 129 pounds for a final weight of 132 pounds (49.42% of total body weight)

Olivia is this season’s Biggest Loser!!!

I have to say that I’m very happy for her. She did Awesome and definitely deserved to win. But I was totally pulling for Hannah. I picked her to win about six weeks ago. And she came damn close. I picked her to win because she seemed to figure out the trick to weight loss first. And I think she really did. But right after I saw something in Hannah, Olivia began to shine. And she simply became a weight loss superstar.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Olivia figured it out right after Hannah did, because they are sisters. I think the support system really paid off for them both. An I couldn’t have predicted what I saw in Hannah was going to rub off on Olivia. But I’m glad it did. They both did great.

What was it that I saw in Hannah, you ask?

1. An understanding that weight loss comes from inside
2. You have to change your mind first, the changes to your body will follow
3. You have to embrace the journey
4. You have to feel good, that the good things you do for yourself are the rewards
5. You have to have a positive outlook, about everything
6. You have to have (or find) confidence in yourself
7. You have to believe that you’ll be successful
8. Then and only then will you reach your health, fitness and weight loss goals

Now for the quotes of the week

“If you want it, if you can dream it, you can go and get it.”

“It’s always in the ending, how you finish things.”

“The outside is just a product of what happens on the inside.”

“I let the weight rob me of everything, of who I am.”

“It’s about finishing what you start.”

“Your best is enough.”

“You can’t wait to live your life, the world is waiting for you.”

“What you’re for, strengthens you!”

“I changed my mind and I believe in myself.”

“That jump, saved my life.”

“I want this.”

“It’s not how you start your journey, it’s how you finish it.”

Asking someone to help me and reaching out was the bravest thing I’ve don in my life.”

 

Awesome show. I’ve grown to appreciate the challenge of weight loss. I’ve learned and I’ve grown. Isn’t that all we can continue to do. Thanks Biggest Loser!

So what’s next, you ask? Start following my blog post next week as I follow and comment on “Extreme Makeover; Weight Loss Edition”. My good friend, Chris Powell, is the host/trainer. It’s going to be super Awesome!!! I can’t wait.

Until then…