Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Biggest Loser Contestants Face Reality

Last night was the second episode of Biggest Loser Couples, and it had the contestants facing facts, facing fears and just facing reality. Early on, we found out that John feels like his family is cursed because they've had so much tragedy. Within a year, he lost his father, grandmother and older sister. He said he doesn't want to be another death in that family, another tragedy. He has a 1-year-old son to live for -- perhaps one of the cutest kids I've ever seen. Just adorable.

It was what I like to call the seasonal Dr. Huizenga show, where he talked to the contestants about the health problems they were facing because of their obesity. For instance, Michael had to watch as trainer Bob was loaded down with more than 300 pounds of weights -- the extra body weight that Michael is carrying around. Bob was stunned that Michael could even move. The purple team had to watch a video from home where family members talked about how Patti's and Stephanie's obesity affected them. They came away from the viewing determined to make changes. Dr. Huizenga said, "We'll show you the road. You'll have to walk it."

The red team of Lance and Melissa got a visual of how much their obesity is going to cost them over the rest of their lives in lost wages and health care costs when an armored truck pulled up holding $3 million! Lance, who used to make good money as a commercial diver, can't do it anymore because he can't pass the dive physical. Jillian faced the orange team of Cheryl and Daris and had to eat a meal they would have eaten before coming to the Biggest Loser campus. Jillian tried, but she couldn't do it. She was seriously grossed out. Ashley of the pink team got the devastating news that though she's only 27, she's diabetic and her inner age is 57.

The challenge this week had the contestants carrying beach balls down a balance beam over a pool. The first team to get 10 balls across won immunity, and the last team had a 2-pound disadvantage at the weigh in. The red team won, and the white team came in last after Maria's severe fear of the water (to which I can relate) kept her off the balance beam. In fact, she freaked so much that she fell and cracked her nose on the concrete side of the pool, necessitating a trip to the hospital. I felt so sorry for her as she realized her fear had cost them the challenge, making them vulnerable to elimination. Jillian did get her in the pool later, helping her to face her fear.

At the weigh in, the green team of Miggy and Migdalia won the percentage lost even though Migdalia only lost 4 pounds this week. The biggest numbers were put up by John of the brown team (10 pounds lost), Michael and Maria of the white team (11 and 10, respectively), and Darrell of the black team (10). Melissa of the red team actually gained a pound, but it was strategy on her part. By not trying so hard this week since she had immunity, she's hoping that next week she can put up big numbers. In the end, the purple team fell below the yellow line and Patti asked to be sent home since she had a support system there and her daughter, Stephanie, didn't. So Patti was the second person voted off this season. In the Transformation Moment at the end, we saw that Patti has lost 43 pounds, is sporting a great new haircut, ran a 5K with her husband, is taking dancing lessons with him, and works out at the gym with her other daughter every day.

What were your favorite or most eye-opening moments of this week's episode?

3 comments:

Michelle Butler on January 13, 2010 at 9:01 AM said...

To my surprise, this episode really hit me. The contestants are SO big, and the health messages from the good doctor were so dramatic. I really found the bit about seeing how a healthy-weight person would react to your lifestyle very powerful.

Trish Milburn on January 13, 2010 at 11:53 AM said...

I did too, Michelle. The look on Bob's face when he had to pack around Michael's extra weight was one of stunned disbelief.

Michelle Butler on January 13, 2010 at 12:01 PM said...

I know! And, Jillian's absolute disgust at the fast food the orange team regularly ate was really powerful.

Kessler spends a lot of time on this concept in his book the end of the american insatiable appetite as well. One of his recommendations for people to strive for is to start feeling disgust at double-fried combinations of sugar, fat and salt as opposed to seeing it as a call to action to dig in. I've been working on that. After a year of "dieting", I have noticed how "sick" or just uncomfortable I can feel after eating something fattier than my usual meals.

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