The Biggest Loser, Week 5

Dude, does Tracey have a lucky charm hidden up the sleeve of her Biggest Loser T-shirt? I couldn't believe she won the "Choose Teams" challenge tonight, and I obviously wasn't the only one. I'm very conflicted about Tracey. On the one hand, I can understand her strategy of always doing what is going to get her more weeks on the show and thus more time with the trainers. After all, she's there because she needs to be, and I genuinely want her to lose weight and get healthy. But on the other hand, it seems every challenge she wins earns her more enemies. Take Liz, for instance. Up until tonight's episode, I hadn't seen her get really fiery. But, whooee, did she get fired up after Tracey split up her and Danny. I had to chuckle when she said that gals from the South don't get mad, they get even. Perhaps not the healthiest or kindest attitude, but I could understand it.

It wasn't until tonight that I realized Liz is from a little town probably an hour away from where I live. So, I've got to root for the local gal. Plus, I went over to NBC's The Biggest Loser site and watched her introductory video, and something she said rang true with me. She said something to the effect of, "I'm from the South, and we don't eat healthy. It's fried chicken and biscuits." Southern cooking is really tasty, but it's got to be some of the worst food in the world for anyone wanting to stay healthy and fit.

Back to Tracey -- when she started out by keeping Daniel and Shay together because they needed each other, I thought maybe she was taking this third challenge win to rebuild some of the bridges she'd burned in earlier episodes. Not so much. You can tell that even Bob and Jillian are not liking her much at this point. That's unfortunate because it sets her apart with no support system beyond herself. The only person who has had her back, Coach Mo, went home tonight.

I felt sorry for the teams that got split up tonight, but something Rudy said to Dina made me pause. He told her he wasn't happy about being apart, but that maybe this was what she needed to help build confidence in herself, to depend on herself. A lack of self-confidence seems to be a common theme with many contestants. I honestly think that's what's keeping Dina from hopping up on that stool. She's psyched herself into thinking she can't do it. It's a mental hurdle, not a physical one.

When the blue team lost the weigh-in, I thought Tracey was gone for sure. But, hey, I should have known better. I've watched Survivor enough to know that editing is everything, and the show's editors led us down that path until Coach Mo fell on the sword because he was in pain and didn't feel he was carrying his weight. But how cool was it to see how well he's been doing at home?

Favorite players of the week:

Liz -- for getting fired up and working so hard that she got immunity tonight -- she didn't even let passing out stop her. Also, for letting Danny watch his video from home instead of seeing her own.

Shay -- for losing 16 pounds! You go, girl!

Rudy -- for sticking by Dina and telling her what she needs to hear even though they aren't on the same team anymore.

What were the highlights of the episode for you? Anything you saw or hear really resonate?
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Today's progress:

It's Day 1 of my Pre-Holiday Weight Loss Challenge (which, sadly, no one has joined me in), so I had that in mind all day.

Calorie intake: 632 (Too low, but I slept in today and my eating schedule was off and I had one less meal than normal.)

Exercise: 3 hours of push mowing

Steps: 16,591